finally....

[Clint]

Hello all
Finally managed to get the brew fridge up and running! I spent a few hours sorting out the garage then set it up ..it's controlling nicely at the moment. First brew in....Festival Pilgrims Hope.

Cheers

Clint

 

[Fil]

lookin good

 

[pvt_ak]

Best thing I ever did [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Clint]

Yes it's great to get one sorted! A few things to think about....ply shelf could be a bit thicker, had to have a rummage in the recycling for a smaller blow off bottle...luckily I finished off the olive oil earlier!
Work out a method for siphoning into bottling bucket!

Cheers

Clint

 

[Manxnorton]

M8 joining you lads to say chuffed to bits..a posh high end brew fridge well executed,.:thumb:
Like it's said the best thing I've done to get s ferm fridge
Lata pal
Bri

 

[Clint]

Cheers Brian.

Atb

Clint

 

[braziliain]

Great stuff :thumb:
Got mine going this week too. Feel like a pro now :lol:

 

[Dutto]

....... had to have a rummage in the recycling for a smaller blow off bottle ......

Looks to be a great job! :thumb:

My advice is "Go back to the bigger bottle!" 'cos when the krausen decides to leave the FV you will need plenty of space to catch it!

This was installed after the bubbles overflowed from the original bottle (similar to the other one in the photograph).

Note the foam in the tube. It held back the CO2 just enough so that when it finally came out of the end it was followed with a blast of CO2 that promptly blew the foam out of the bottle.

 

[Clint]

Yes I know what you mean....I have a larger bottle but space is a bit tight and the door squashes against it. I shall keep a close eye on it and react accordingly.
Lots of lid pressure this morning so somethings happening!

Cheers

Clint

 

[Tanzanite]

i have access to has many fridges has i would need. does any one know if 3 to 4 could be set up in tandem using one controller , would each fridge need its own thermostate or could one control all

 

[hoptoit]

Each would need their own as fermentation happens at different temps in each fv. Also each fridge will cool at different temps depending on size of compressor.

 

[dps51]

if you take all the door trim off where the shelf was and just keep the rubber seal on that will give you a bit more room

 

[Bigcol49]

i have access to has many fridges has i would need. does any one know if 3 to 4 could be set up in tandem using one controller , would each fridge need its own thermostate or could one control all

Hi!
You could get away with a tall larder fridge and two FVs - it works fine for me with one STC-1000.
As @hoptoit said, each fridge needs its own controller.
If you do have multiple fridges you could build the controllers into one unit - that would look much neater.
Not only that; as fridges seem to be rated at about 100 to 200W you would only need one 13A socket for all of your controllers (a 13A socket can handle a continuous load of 3120W, or 15 fridges rated at 200W).

 

[Dutto]

i have access to has many fridges has i would need. does any one know if 3 to 4 could be set up in tandem using one controller , would each fridge need its own thermostate or could one control all

I refer you to the "Today's Screw-Up" Thread where I plugged in the fridge, left the STC 1000 probe on the work-top in a cold garage and then wondered why the STC 1000 didn't indicate that the fridge was warming up!

The same thing would happen if you attempted to use just the one STC 1000 with more than one fridge. i.e. there would be no control over the internal temperature.

I use the STC 1000 mainly for the fridge because it has "heating" and "cooling" facilities.

However, for fermenting and carbonating in winter time I mainly use straight "heating" controllers and rely on ambient temperatures to do any cooling required.

PS

If all the fridges were interconnected with some form of air circulation system then "Yes, you could use a single controller to control all the fridges at a single set temperature." :thumb:

 

[Fil]

you would need 4 x controllers for 4 x fridges as without reprogramming a stc1000 type controller can only read the temperature of one probe. a more complex controller such as the brewpi or smartpid can control more than one fridge, if its controller cost thats an issue
and you are diy inclined you could employ some cheap as chips esp8266 controllers https://github.com/vitotai/BrewPiLess.

 

[Tanzanite]

thanks lads great info

 

[Clint]

This is chugging away nicely and the garage smells nice!

 

[Pirate_Pete]

This is chugging away nicely and the garage smells nice!

Well done Clint. I have two brew fridges and wouldn't be without them.

Although I always get told, "the garage smells like a brewery". Not the garage smells "nice".

 

[Dutto]

........

Although I always get told, "the garage smells like a brewery". Not the garage smells "nice".

What a lovely compliment! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

It's when SWMBO says "You smell like a brewery!" that you've got a problem! :whistle: :whistle:

 

[JapanBrew]

Having four independent fridges would be a dream. You could have different styles... one could be a crashing fridge (just install airbags). I might be getting a new fridge for the kitchen and I'm dreaming about the old one getting a place in my beer room. However, wife says no because it's old and electricity is expensive on it. Sad!