How many fridges does everyone have?

[Clinckle]

Hey all,
I'm seriously considering getting into all grain brewing at the end of the year after I've sorted the garage out. Have been reading Greg Hughes's book as well as Euan Ferguson's, and also Ferment magazine. Have several questions but my first, and possibly the biggest, is how many cheap/second-hand fridges should I get? My research suggests I need a beer fermentation fridge and also a conditioning fridge, as well as a DIY kegerator further down the line. I could condition the beer in my house but I'm pretty certain that no room has a constant temperate of 12 degrees both night and day.

Does 3 fridges sound about right? I could condition the beer in the fermentation fridge but that would mean I would only be able to brew every 4-6 weeks.

Does anyone bother with remote smoke alarms in their garages with all this electrical rewiring?

 

[Clint]

I got one brew fridge for fermenting. Bottles are carbonated for a couple of weeks in the house in a cupboard then put in the shed outside to condition. If it's a bit warm I put any required in the fridge in the house. Seems to work just fine. This time of year I will also brew on a controlled heat pad with a couple of thick towels wrapped round the fv.

 

[sdt7618]

It gets a bit complicated.....

Started of with an under the counter fridge and an inkbird. Then came the second under counter for lagering in.


The my mum was changing her kitchen and asked if I could use her old larder freezer. So now I have that hooked to another inkbird. Can take two fv,s to either ferment in or lager both at the same time all the way down as far as I want now.

Trouble is the wife now thinks I am running a fridge sanctuary :lol:

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
One large fridge (holds 2 FVs) with a clumsily mounted Inkbird in the door. There's a double pub display cooler, for 2 corny kegs.
Once the weather gets cold enough, I have an insulated fermentation chamber that will hold 2 FVs at a pinch - I knocked it up from a couple of lengths of T&G floorboard that was going spare. It has a tubular heater controlled by an Inkbird unit - I don't need to worry about cooling it as nature performs that task very well!

 

[MarkF]

I have one fermenting fridge, picking a second one up tomorrow to stick the keg in for serving, currently using an under counter chiller, but its too cold, gave up on bottles CO2 suits me, but I am going to try bottling again now my processes are getting better and beer clearer at kegging/bottling time. Plan on a 3rd for keeping a lager keg in or second beer keg as I have two taps.

 

[Leon103]

Just one for fermentation. Carb in the house and condition in the garage.
No rewiring so no smoke alarms. Doubt I would hear them from my house anyway

 

[user 18729]

Space is an issue for me so I have a wood-clad kegerator that fits two sankey kegs and once empty, double as a fermentation fridge

 

[Poochops]

Just one for fermentation. Carb in the house and condition in the garage.
No rewiring so no smoke alarms. Doubt I would hear them from my house anyway

Same here, this works fine for me I can brew every two weeks or less if needs be. Also if I fancy doing a lager, which isn't that often TBH then I choose a time when I've got plenty of stock in the garage (which is most of the time these days)
I'd suggest you get one fridge and see how it goes, you can always get another later on.

 

[Kman]

I have one fridge as space in house is at a premium, mostly used to ferment in, when I can I put my one corny keg in to chill my beer to serve that night


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[MickDundee]

None, I don’t have room! I fermented in a cupboard under the stairs (with an ink bird and heat belt), either carbonate in the same cupboard or in the corner in the kitchen and condition in the shed.

 

[Wilfy]

One fermentation fridge and a keezer.

 

[Graz]

Hey all,
I'm seriously considering getting into all grain brewing at the end of the year after I've sorted the garage out. Have been reading Greg Hughes's book as well as Euan Ferguson's, and also Ferment magazine. Have several questions but my first, and possibly the biggest, is how many cheap/second-hand fridges should I get? My research suggests I need a beer fermentation fridge and also a conditioning fridge, as well as a DIY kegerator further down the line. I could condition the beer in my house but I'm pretty certain that no room has a constant temperate of 12 degrees both night and day.

Does 3 fridges sound about right? I could condition the beer in the fermentation fridge but that would mean I would only be able to brew every 4-6 weeks.

Does anyone bother with remote smoke alarms in their garages with all this electrical rewiring?

I've got two undercounter fridges which will hold a standard fermenter, use these for fermenting and priming/conditioning. I've also got a tall larder fridge for serving, currently just put the King Keg in it, but intend to convert it into a kegerator at some point or another.

Funny you should mention smoke detectors as since we had our loft converted we've got them in every room, except the garage where I make my beer! I've have thought that I should probably think about putting one out there to give us an early warning incase anything does go wrong. Apparently you should use a heat detector in a garage much the same as you would in a kitchen as a smoke detector is far more likely to false trigger is a garage environment (and probably in the middle of the night!).

 

[IainM]

Only the one, but it fits two fvs.

 

[m_rawdin]

I currently have 4, 1 for food, 1 as a beer fridge for cans/bottles, 1 as a kegerator and 1 as a fermentation fridge. I will be getting another one for the bar once it's up and running.

 

[Clint]

...crikey be like shopping at Iceland in your house!

 

[WierdFish]

Depends how much you are going to be brewing. I have one fridge in the garage which doubles as brew and conditioning. It just means I can't do a brew for a couple of weeks while the initial conditioning is happening, but that suits me.

 

[Gusr1200s]

2 fermenting fridges controlled by inkbirds. 1 large larder fridge which holds 4 corney kegs and a bottle/can/ yeast fridge.

 

[andydj]

Just the one but then again I don't brew high volume. Under the counter fridge STC1000 control with tube heater. I ferment then once kegged or bottled change the temperature then carbonate and condition. After that just keep on shelving in the garage or if I have space and not brewing another for a while keep at drinking temperature in the fridge.

 

[yeastinfection]

i have 2 in the garage, and yes depends on how and when you brew. i got all excited when i started using a fridge and thought to myself that when im fermenting and conditioning in one fridge i would need another one otherwise i couldnt brew,
turns out i could of done with just one as i dont brew very often. but it is nice to have the 2 as when i order grains i like to get my moneys worth from the postage and order enough to do 2 or 3 brews, thats when 2 come in handy, if i had a lhbs i could collect from i would only have one fridge,

 

[Clinckle]

Thanks everyone for their help. Think I'll start with one and see how I go. I'll need to bypass the thermostat so it can be used for fermentation, cold crashing, conditioning, the lot.

Next question. Can I use the inkbird 308 during the mashing process, in the HLT and the boiler? The only reason I ask is that I was interested in buying this item https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.u...er-with-Tap-Hop-Strainer-and-Thermometer.html and noticed that it suggested using the 308. But surely the 308, with its two plug sockets, would be overkill as a thermostat for this stage of the process?