Best fridge to use as a fermentation chamber

[tommos76]

Hi, I built my own fermentation chamber back in February this year with heat only and now in the summer months I'm struggling to maintain a steady 18 degrees. Being new to the brewing game I'm learning as I'm going along, made a lot of mistakes and decided that It would be more beneficial if I could have a system that would ferment then perform a diacetyral rest followed by cold crash and conditioning without the need to keep moving the fv.
I currently have a glass carboy and a mangrove jack's budget stainless steel fermenter. What would be the best fridge/freezer to use to fit these in with space for an airlock.

 

[Ghillie]

So here’s what I’d do (again)...

1) Buy used. People can’t get rid of old fridges and freezers. When I say old I mean they’ve changed the kitchen so it has to go. Nothing wrong with them. Frequently come up on Guntree for <£30 and often free to uplift.

2) Have one fermentation chamber per FV. Personally I have two undercounter fridges stacked on top of each other. This allows you to ferment different styles (with different fermentation temps, schedules, etc) at the same time. Also cold crash in one, or ferment at different intervals, etc.

Most plastic bucket FV’s will fit in your typical undercounter fridge, but it’s best to rock up (with the intention to buy one) complete with your FV in the car. Make sure it fits and then take away your new fermentation fridge. If it doesn’t fit, apologise and disappear with your money in your pocket haha. Old ones tend to be larger inside due to having less insulation vs new.

Good luck!

 

[tommos76]

Thank you for your advice. I'm off to see one in the morning so fingers crossed the fv will fit in it. I'm looking into building a brew pi and allready have a couple of st1000 so advice is needed whether I should build one.

 

[tommos76]

I've also looked at fermentrack to control the fermentation process. Has anybody got experience on here using this?
I like the idea of combining the ispindel, fridge temp and ambient temp onto one system which I can also control remotely as my parents house is 15 miles away from my house.