Make/Model for fermentation fridge?

[lexuschris]

Heyas,

I'm thinking about getting a refridgerator to ferment 10-15 gallons in. Initially, I'd be using 2 of the 6-gal plastic buckets. Someday, I might just go with a sanke-keg fermenter, once I hear about how dry-hoping works on those.

I think I'd prefer a side door to the fridge, as opposed to a chest freezer with the lid on top. Its a lot easier to load them from front, rather than over the top & down.

Anyways, any recommendations on fridge's with a front door? I'll end up getting a temp controller to keep it at temp during the fermentation....

Thanks,
--LexusChris

[bwarbiany]

I've been using the Sanke system for ~1.5 years now, and dry hop quite often. Dry-hopping works just fine in this setup.

If you end up with the Sanke, pretty much any standard fridge will fit just fine. If you want to do two buckets, you'll be a lot more pressed for space.

[backhousebrew]

This is a 20 cu.ft. single door freezer. It holds 4 fermenters and provides storage for bottles on the top shelf and wine bottles on the door. I found it on Craigslist. Don't get the kind that has the cooling tubes built into the shelves. These shelves are removable. I built a plywood shelf as needed to get the correct spacing. The external thermostat keeps the temp where needed.

freezer.JPG (89.62 KiB) Viewed 1745 times

[JonW]

If you're going to go the sanke route, look for an old kegerator. I've seen several for around $100-150 that are not the prettiest, but would be fine for fermenting in.

[BrewMasterBrad]

I have a kegerator that I picked up at a patio warehouse store for $100. It had a dent in the door and the tap tower was missing, but it was new other than that. Works great with a Ranco controller and it is much easier (as you stated) to get the sanke fermenter in than my chest freezer that I use for fermenting as well.

[lexuschris]

Well, I picked up a sanke keg for my fermenter off craigslist. A little Oxyclean and elbow grease and it should fit the purpose nicely.

sanke keg

keg_fermenter.jpg (101.55 KiB) Viewed 1645 times

I'm still looking for a good solution for the fermentation fridge. I looked at several kegerators & upright freezers on craigslist this weekend. They would certainly work well. How much head space should I leave for the sanke fermenter kit from Derrin? Do I need space for anything else? How best to probe the temp? Drill a hole in the fridge for the thermocoupler and put in the thermowell of the kit?

The keg appears to be 15.5" wide and about 24" tall. I've seen some small upright freezers tha are 22" W x 24" D x 46" tall... that seems like it would fit one sanke real nice.

Anyways, any suggestions are appreciated!
--LexusChris

[JonW]

Chris,

You should try to leave 4-6 inches above the keg for the sanke kit from Derrin. Any kegerator that fits a sanke plus the sanke coupler will work fine.

Yes, just drill a hole in the fridge (obviously, away from the chiller plate/coils) and poke the probe in there. You can always seal the hole up if you wanted, but I've never done that. For a kegerator, another way to put the probe in is to remove the top of the kegerator and drop the probe down the existing center hole for the beer lines. You can then just sandwich the wire between the kegerator and the top piece with no drilling. That's how I did both of my kegerators.

- Jon

[DrDually]

I use an 18 cu ft fridge with Sanke keg and kit from Brewers Hardware and it fits in this fridge
The door gasket will seal around thermo couple wire eliminating need to drill holes
If you decide to drill holes, doing so thru side will work nicely...just stay away from rear area and seal hole or warm air will get into fridge