Braziliain's Brewfridge

[braziliain]

Have you checked how low your fridge will go. issues I have had are the fridge being old would only go down to 6-7 degrees, enough to ferment lagers etc, but not great for actual lagering.

I haven't checked yet to be honest, but once my bottles have finished carbonating on Sunday, I'll crank the temp down to see whether I can use it for cold crashing/lagering. 7.5C is as low as I have had it so far.

There's a recipe for a black lager I quite fancy having a crack at.

 

[sdt7618]

I haven't checked yet to be honest, but once my bottles have finished carbonating on Sunday, I'll crank the temp down to see whether I can use it for cold crashing/lagering. 7.5C is as low as I have had it so far.

There's a recipe for a black lager I quite fancy having a crack at.

Just doing kits at the moment, have two fridges, one with an inkbird 308 which I can get down to below 0 degrees so use this to ferment with as it was freezing the beer if just used as a normal fridge. must have a screwed stat. but the other only goes down to 6-7 so again OK for cold storage etc but not quite enough to lager properly.

Will have to look out for a replacement but in no hurry. plan is to build a brew den in my shed( its a bit bigger than shed at 7m * 8m) and place the itc 1000 Inkbird into a length of 100mmx100mm trunking beside the sockets. should look neat and tidy.

 

[Brett74]

I have an electrolux fridge and took a chance and modded it to go lower, I wanted the fridges thermostat to still work but not kick of at 2 dsgrees like it was designed, I found the thermometer that the fridges system used and drilled into the insulation from the inside, the same size as the thermo. I then inserted the thermo into the insultaion 10mm. The fridge kicked off at 1 degree, pushed it in 5mm more and it kicked of at -1, a bit more and kicked off at -2,7degrees. I don't dare to take it any lower due to a phenomenon called "liquid slugging" were the temp is so low that refrigerant doesn't evaporate and gets back the compressor as a liquid and the compressor gets buggered. I have no trouble cooling 2 FV's down to -0,5 degrees now. But remember if you try this, it is at your own risk as fridges are not designed to be this cold.

 

[Dutto]

I have an electrolux fridge and took a chance and modded it to go lower, I wanted the fridges thermostat to still work but not kick of at 2 dsgrees like it was designed, I found the thermometer that the fridges system used and drilled into the insulation from the inside, the same size as the thermo. I then inserted the thermo into the insultaion 10mm. The fridge kicked off at 1 degree, pushed it in 5mm more and it kicked of at -1, a bit more and kicked off at -2,7degrees. I don't dare to take it any lower due to a phenomenon called "liquid slugging" were the temp is so low that refrigerant doesn't evaporate and gets back the compressor as a liquid and the compressor gets buggered. I have no trouble cooling 2 FV's down to -0,5 degrees now. But remember if you try this, it is at your own risk as fridges are not designed to be this cold.

If I read things correctly, you are shielding the control element from the temperature being controlled by moving it into the insulation.

The insulation is of a finite thickness so, over a period of time which may be a matter of days or weeks, the internal temperature of the fridge may:

A) Increase as the cooler temperature penetrates the insulation to reach the control thermometer.

B) Decrease as the external temperature rises during the coming summer and the cold in the fridge no longer penetrates the insulation to reach the control thermometer.

A simpler solution would be to place the fridge's control thermometer outside the fridge (so that it will run continually if left to its own devices) and then use the probe from an Inkbird (I use an STC 1000) to control the temperature inside the fridge by switching the fridge on and off as required.

The STC 1000 has a Compressor Delay and Temperature Differential function which combine to prevent the fridge from "hunting" for the set temperature.

Hope this helps. :thumb:

 

[Brett74]

My fridge is in my basement, in a new house so the temp there is whatever I dial in on the thermostat for the room. If it is 30 outside it might go up a bit, my system is working great. The temperature diff that is happening in the insulation is what is tricking the fridge to go so low a few degrees warmer outside and I might have pull the thermo a little further out of the insulation, I have a new controller coming that joins the wifi at home and let me monitor and control it remotely. It is called a Sonoff TH10, Fil just posted about it in the equipment forum....

If I read things correctly, you are shielding the control element from the temperature being controlled by moving it into the insulation.

The insulation is of a finite thickness so, over a period of time which may be a matter of days or weeks, the internal temperature of the fridge may:

A) Increase as the cooler temperature penetrates the insulation to reach the control thermometer.

B) Decrease as the external temperature rises during the coming summer and the cold in the fridge no longer penetrates the insulation to reach the control thermometer.

A simpler solution would be to place the fridge's control thermometer outside the fridge (so that it will run continually if left to its own devices) and then use the probe from an Inkbird (I use an STC 1000) to control the temperature inside the fridge by switching the fridge on and off as required.

The STC 1000 has a Compressor Delay and Temperature Differential function which combine to prevent the fridge from "hunting" for the set temperature.

Hope this helps. :thumb:

 

[braziliain]

So it seems my fridge won't get down very low.
I set the STC1000 to 4C and left it over night. This morning it was on 4.9C. When I got home from work it was 8.9C....

Fridge was running continuously for 24hrs so set it to 10C to give it a break!

Update:
It seemed to hold 10C well, so have set it to 7C before work and will check later.

 

[Spapro]

My first second hand fridge off ebay wouldn't go lower than 7°C, picked up another one off ebay and it goes down to 4°C no problem.

I only have room for one fridge in my garage so skipped the first one and running the good one only now.

Seems to be luck of the draw with a second hand one unfortunately.

 

[braziliain]

Yep, it looks like my fridge is a duffer. It won't go below 9C.

I tried cleaning the condenser coils and it made no difference. The compressor is running constantly and is red hot.

Looks like I'm on the hunt for another 2nd hand fridge. This one is fine for fermenting ales at the moment, but I'm sat here enjoying a Brooklyn lager thinking that I'd like to make something similar.

 

[Brett74]

Yep, it looks like my fridge is a duffer. It won't go below 9C.

I tried cleaning the condenser coils and it made no difference. The compressor is running constantly and is red hot.

Looks like I'm on the hunt for another 2nd hand fridge. This one is fine for fermenting ales at the moment, but I'm sat here enjoying a Brooklyn lager thinking that I'd like to make something similar.

Maybe a chest freezer is the way to go ? If your back can handle the lift ? Could always rig a pulley?

 

[Manxnorton]

Nice one pal so far.
I've got a tall fridge that wouldn't go down nuff for lagering..the small one only 4c...
But if I put nuff frozen 1l bottles in there's a difference..
This was the tall fridge being trial with two frozen cubes..
Over kill you might think...but I need a new controller and the fridge would work..got a new one and it cooled straight away...
Can't remember the exact temps,sorry..but other fridges work differently.
I think doctoring the thermostat is the way to go!! Not sure tbh.

A royal pita...
Hope you get sorted.
Bri

 

[braziliain]

Frozen bottles ain't a bad idea Bri.
I think the thermostat is ok as the compressor never actually shuts off. Seems like it is trying to cool but is low on compressed gas or something.

Will stick to producing cloudy ales until I find another one :)

 

[Manxnorton]

Frozen bottles ain't a bad idea Bri.
I think the thermostat is ok as the compressor never actually shuts off. Seems like it is trying to cool but is low on compressed gas or something.

Will stick to producing cloudy ales until I find another one :)

aye, my fridge has a shut off phase...if its called that
n i thought the fridge wasnt working....but all of a sudden it worked..
good luck pal.
one of brian's useless posts lol :lol:
bri

 

[Dutto]

.............

Will stick to producing cloudy ales until I find another one :)

1. Never realised that North Yorkshire was sub-tropical for so much of the year that brewing beer needed a refrigerator! :whistle:

2. Old Formula to be used instead of a fridge is

"Time + Gravity = Clear Beer"​

:thumb:

 

[braziliain]

1. Never realised that North Yorkshire was sub-tropical for so much of the year that brewing beer needed a refrigerator! :whistle:

2. Old Formula to be used instead of a fridge is

"Time + Gravity = Clear Beer"​

:thumb:

You could be forgiven for thinking it was Brisbane, Aus up here today actually, it's bloody lovely. You are of course correct that I don't need refrigeration to make a decent beer and haven't used one to date. I just fancied seeing what all this cold crashing was all about

 

[Manxnorton]

You could be forgiven for thinking it was Brisbane, Aus up here today actually, it's bloody lovely. You are of course correct that I don't need refrigeration to make a decent beer and haven't used one to date. I just fancied seeing what all this cold crashing was all about

'''Tis a good question! Both me n u just fancy what loads of HB'ers have...honest :lol:
Time...time...had loads of patients with my brews ova the years..mind in the 80's we drank quicker than I could brew it!!!
Lata lads
Bri

 

[Dutto]

........ I just fancied seeing what all this cold crashing was all about

You've probably missed your chance for just now ...

... but come November you should be okay even without a fridge! :thumb: