Chest Freezer or Refrigerator?

[roger456]

FWIW:

My first kegerator was an upright freezer. There was a fan to circulate the air throughout the unit. It squeaked like hell and I ended up pulling it out to replace it. There was a sticker on it that indicated that it was only for use below 0*F. The freezer didn't last too long, but I'm not sure if it was because the fan ended up conking out (again) or because it was an older freezer.

[RLinNH]

Hoppy Brewah, Waving at ya from Weare, NH.

[RLinNH]

I went through the same decision about a week ago. I a going with a Chest Freezer. Like some have said above, less loss of Cold air when you open it, and if something bad happens, the beer will be contained. Now I justy need to go to Lowes and pick one out that's big enough for 2 6.5 Gallon Carboys, along with a Blow Off tube setup.

[Sent From My iPhone]

Sandwich, NH is a cool little colonial town between the lakes region and white mountains. Here's a little info I googled about the naming of Sandwich in 1764:

Sandwich was named in honor of John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich. The Earl is most famous as the inventor of the sandwich, a thin slab of meat placed between two slices of bread, which he consumed while spending a day at the gaming table.

That's awesome, my father grew up in Sandwich and my aunt's family still has a Summer house there. I spent every Summer there from the age of 7-15, climbing Whiteface and swimming at the Pot Hole (no, not as in "cousin"). We still go to the Sandwich Fair every once in while.

[Hoppy Brewah]

I went through the same decision about a week ago. I a going with a Chest Freezer. Like some have said above, less loss of Cold air when you open it, and if something bad happens, the beer will be contained. Now I justy need to go to Lowes and pick one out that's big enough for 2 6.5 Gallon Carboys, along with a Blow Off tube setup.

Hey RLinNH - good to see other NH brewers on the BN. I bought a used 7 cu ft chest freezer on Craigs List for $100, however I am using it to store hops and frozen food and as extra counter space to dry fermenters, etc. I used to store hops in my kegerator (the upper part had a freezer), but when I added a temp controler to the frige and set i to 40 f, it no longer kept the freezer frozen. So, I am trying to decide how big a chest freezer I need. The 7 cu ft one will only hold one 6.5 gal bucket with an airlock. I suppose it would also fit a 12-15 gal bucket for when I go to 10 gal batches and it fits 3 corny kegs, so I could lager with it too.

[Hoppy Brewah]

That's awesome, my father grew up in Sandwich and my aunt's family still has a Summer house there. I spent every Summer there from the age of 7-15, climbing Whiteface and swimming at the Pot Hole (no, not as in "cousin"). We still go to the Sandwich Fair every once in while.

Hey Sheen - Sandwich is a great place to live with lots of cool mountain hikes nearby. I work on Squam Lake at Rockywold Deephaven Camps and our family spends a lot of time recreating on the lake. The Pot Holes is a cold river with smooth, naturally carved rocks. Drop me a line next time you come to Sandwich and have a homebrew.

[Happy Smurf]

Where is your temperature sesnor? Air temp will swing much faster than 5 gallons of beer. The fermenting will also increase temps over the ambient temp.

My temperature probe is on the outside of my fermentor. I put some insulation around it (made out of kitchen\bath caulk). I plan on buying a thermowell this week.

Just as an example, I had my temp controller set at 64 deg F, and less than an hour later I saw 61 on the temp display. I'm hoping that is just a small region around the outside of the fermentor and that the majority of the beer is not changing so rapidly.

[Mylo]

My temperature probe is on the outside of my fermentor. I put some insulation around it (made out of kitchen\bath caulk). I plan on buying a thermowell this week.

No need for a thermowell, unless you really want one. Jamil did some experiments with a thermowell vs. a probe taped to the outside of the carboy - wrapped with bubble wrap for insulation from ambient air temp swings. He found that there is little if any difference between the two (especially during active fermentation where there is a lot of convection).


Mylo