Fridge for fermeting/conditioning or glycol chiller?

[Omega]

Hi, everyone,
I have recently acquired a brand new fridge AEG RCB736E5MX, and it has 2 years warranty. Is there a way to use it for fermenting/conditioning beer without significant modifications so that I do not lose warranty? It has built-in temperature control with external display
Or should I look at glycol chiller instead?
Thank you very much

 

[Rodcx500z]

If it has a manual thermostat that can be turned to full you can use it with an inkbird to control the temp, in conjunction with a tube heater

 

[Alastair70]

Glycol is a significant outlay, but offers much better temperature control for your FV (which will likely be another significant outlay). If you’re doing a lot of temperature critical brews like all year round lager brewing or wheat beers, then you can make a strong case for glycol.

If you can get by with controllable environment to stick an FV in, or bottle condition a batch, then an inkbird and tube heater will do the job for a fraction of the price.

 

[Omega]

No, it

Glycol is a significant outlay, but offers much better temperature control for your FV (which will likely be another significant outlay). If you’re doing a lot of temperature critical brews like all year round lager brewing or wheat beers, then you can make a strong case for glycol.

If you can get by with controllable environment to stick an FV in, or bottle condition a batch, then an inkbird and tube heater will do the job for a fraction of the price.

Thank you. I thought about Inkbird and Tube Heater, but all videos I saw required me drilling the wall of the fridge and this will void the warranty my fridge that costs over £1100 in Currys. Are the wiring and tube thin enough to close the fridge door that it seals?

 

[Rodcx500z]

Are the wiring and tube thin enough to close the fridge door that it seals?

That's how mine is set up, the only problem i can see is the inbuilt thermostat we have a hi sense and there is no dial inside the fridge it is all done on a panel on the door

 

[Mash Monster]

I’ve managed to utilise the drain hole in my fridges to pass the inkbird cable through . I trap the heater cable through the door seal. On one I have to use gaffa tape to stop the door opening but it all works for me .

 

[Alastair70]

No, it

Thank you. I thought about Inkbird and Tube Heater, but all videos I saw required me drilling the wall of the fridge and this will void the warranty my fridge that costs over £1100 in Currys. Are the wiring and tube thin enough to close the fridge door that it seals?

I drilled out the drain hole in my fridge, the power cable and inkbird temp prob then both fit through easily. It’s not something that’s obvious on casual inspection and you’d probably get away with it if the need to us the warranty came up.
The tube heater lead is big and will affect the door seal.

EDIT - looks like @Mash Monster has a workaround for the heater lead.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

I would stick with a fridge myself. As others have said, no drilling is necessary. I just close the door and trap the inkbird heater and probe in the seal.
The other benefit is when not fermenting, you could use it for carbing, conditioning, extra fridge storage etc.

 

[Speccy]

I use a reptile tank heater similar to this: Finest-Filters Reptile Heat Cable for Vivarium

It's thin enough to pass through the drain hole along with the Inkbird probe - no need for drilling or dangling things out of the door.

 

[Omega]

I use a reptile tank heater similar to this: Finest-Filters Reptile Heat Cable for Vivarium

It's thin enough to pass through the drain hole along with the Inkbird probe - no need for drilling or dangling things out of the door.

Could you tell me how does it read the temperature? Or it uses Inkbird for this purpose?

 

[Speccy]

Could you tell me how does it read the temperature? Or it uses Inkbird for this purpose?

The Inkbird monitors the temperature, and switches on either the heater or the fridge as necessary. You just need to turn the fridge up to the maximum setting so that, when it comes on, it stays on rather than cutting in and out.

 

[Omega]

The Inkbird monitors the temperature, and switches on either the heater or the fridge as necessary. You just need to turn the fridge up to the maximum setting so that, when it comes on, it stays on rather than cutting in and out.

Then it is unlikely to work for me - the freezer of my fridge-freezer is full of venison, I do not think switching off temporarily will be any good... And I found another thing with my fridge-freezer - it has in-built temperature control, the fridge-freezer should get to the ambient temperature before switching on or it will keep showing error (checked it and this is what the manual says)
If I keep the temperature at 8 degrees Celsius, will it work? Or it is too low temperature
Thanks

 

[Speccy]

Then it is unlikely to work for me - the freezer of my fridge-freezer is full of venison, I do not think switching off temporarily will be any good... And I found another thing with my fridge-freezer - it has in-built temperature control, the fridge-freezer should get to the ambient temperature before switching on or it will keep showing error (checked it and this is what the manual says)
If I keep the temperature at 8 degrees Celsius, will it work? Or it is too low temperature
Thanks

Ah, didn't realise you wanted to keep the freezer running as normal. That is indeed unlikely to work, then - presumably both the fridge and the freezer are running off the same plug, so every time the Inkbird switched off the fridge, you'd lose the freezer too (along with all that tasty venison).

Not sure I'd trust a fridge's own thermostat to ferment my beer (which is normally done at 18-20 degrees anyway, lagers aside), but it should work for conditioning once the beer is bottle/barrelled and has had a chance to carbonate.

 

[Deadhead]

I actually have no experience of a fridge fermentation chamber - but plenty with a glycol chiller setup (Grainfather). And I will say the glycol chiller is beyond amazing for temperature control. Depends on how deep your pockets are and what styles of beer you like to brew.
I love to brew lagers , so it's worth it to me. (I saved up for many years in a separate savings account, and sold off old equipment for my glycol setup. Wish I had endless deep pockets for brewing equipment!)

 

[chopps]

I found with some gentle encouragment using the shaft of a screwdriver I could widen the drain hole to take both the inkird sensor and the flat 2 core mains cable on the tube heater (double insulated so no earth) I did u
have to cut off the plug and fit a new one

 

[stripeyjoe]

A fridge freezer is no good for a fermentation chamber if you want to use the freezer to freeze.
You’re much better off with a cheap (or free) larder fridge, room to fit a taller fermenter and also useful for conditioning kegs of beer when you’re not fermenting.
I ferment in my garden shed where the temperatures can vary between freezing and mid-30‘s and I never have an issue maintaining steady temperatures and can cold crash down to 0 in all but the very hottest weather. A fridge will use less energy than a glycol system as it is much more insulated, you also don’t get any issues with condensation if you are cold crashing in warm weather.
Unless you regularly have 2 different brews on the go requiring different temp profiles and you have the space a larder fridge is the way to go. I’ve got two, one was free and the other was a bit posher and cost £150.
I’d also recommend spending a bit more money on the control side and get the Kegland RAPT temp controller and a Pill floating hydrometer, seriously looking at swapping my inkbir/iSpindel set up for that to enable the SG to drive the temp.

 

[MashBag]

I think you have loads of ideas here. Proof it can be done in a number of ways.

I wouldn't & didn't go Gycol chiller route.