How high is your fermentation fridge?

[Buffers brewery]

I’ve just moved my beer from my FV to a King Keg for carbonation etc. It occurred to me that after cold crashing me beer to get the yeast to settle out, I have to lift the FV with 5 gallons of beer sufficiently high to enable gravity to do it’s thing. Invariably, this moving/lifting operation disturbs the brew. So, if my fridge was raised, I could decant my beer without moving the FV. Anybody do this already?

 

[samale]

I can see another macgyver invention coming

 

[Graz]

I've got two, a low one and a high one. Basically a fridge stacked on top of another fridge. I'd not really thought about transferring from the top one without taking it out but that fridge is smaller than the bottom one and doesn't leave much room to manoeuvre. Could imagine things going wrong when trying to tilt the FV to get the last bit.

I do try to be careful when taking them out, it's just a short lift from them to a chest freezer we have out in the garage that I use as my worktop but inevitably due to the weight and size of the things they do get rocked a little bit. To be honest though I've never had much of an issue with the clarity of my beer after a few weeks of conditioning and it's surprising how little crud there is in the bottom of the Corny when it runs out. Much less that I used to get when using pressure barrels and priming. In fact I'd say if you do add sugar for secondary fermentation / priming then the additional yeast generated by that is way more than the little bit you might stir up by moving the fermenter.

 

[Buffers brewery]

I hear what you’re saying @Graz . Perhaps I’m over-thinking it (or just looking for something to do ). It’s just that when I lifted my FV with my latest brew out of the fridge and up to the worktop, I had a “near miss” and things got a bit shaken. Hence the question. My FVs have bottom taps so I don’t tilt, just run it out til it stops, leaves the last 6-7 mm (including yeast) in the bottom.

 

[Neil Whittaker]

If you wanted to upgrade, then you could always go the pressure fermentation vessel route. That way you could keep the FV in the same place and do a closed loop transfer. You would also get the added benefits of a pressure system too; less oxygen, pressure ferment and a lighter wallet.

 

[Buffers brewery]

If you wanted to upgrade, then you could always go the pressure fermentation vessel route. That way you could keep the FV in the same place and do a closed loop transfer. You would also get the added benefits of a pressure system too; less oxygen, pressure ferment and a lighter wallet.

The only upgrade I was thinking of was making a plinth out of off-cuts from the shed to support my fridge.