Fermentation Fridge

Hello

Been making beer and wine for nearly 2 years now and so far ive been pleased with my efforts, recently bought a fermentation fridge which i will use on my next batch.

Would be good to hear feedback from those who use a fridge for temp control and to see if this has made your beer/wine better due to having a more controlled fermenting environment.

Cheers

Stevie

Mainly make beer from kits but I think it has improved my brewing. Never seem to get any funny flavours or the "twang" since using them.

Added bonus is that all my brewing is now also kept in my garage so no cluttering up the utility room with fermenters which score points with the wife.

Liked my fermenting fridge so much I've now got two.

I wouldn't be without mine now. My kit beer has definitely improved, but I think that's probably a combination of the fridge and my brewing education (which has come from this forum). I make less mistakes than I used to!

Given that off-flavours are known to come from fermenting at higher temperatures, I always now ferment at the lower end of the temperature range and the fridge and Inkbird allow me to do that with ease.

Prior to my fridge I had to use the utility room worktop for fermenting. Being near the back door meant temperature was never fully controlled and I was constantly moaned at for using all the space up. Bottom line, I wouldn't be without it now as I can do a brew and put it in the cold/hot (depending on time of year) garage and leave it to it.

Beers have definitely improved because of the more stable temperatures.

I wouldn't be without mine a well, and am thinking of acquiring another; possibly one that is made from a broken fridge and a tube heater as 9/10 it's heating the brew rather than cooling it.

It’s a brewing essential.

I would say that it's been great but because i'm fermenting at a higher temp than I was in the utility room i've had more escapees from the fermenter than I ever did before!

Graz said:

Mainly make beer from kits but I think it has improved my brewing. Never seem to get any funny flavours or the "twang" since using them.

Added bonus is that all my brewing is now also kept in my garage so no cluttering up the utility room with fermenters which score points with the wife.

Liked my fermenting fridge so much I've now got two.

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Yes, a little tidier is an added bonus!

WierdFish said:

Prior to my fridge I had to use the utility room worktop for fermenting. Being near the back door meant temperature was never fully controlled and I was constantly moaned at for using all the space up. Bottom line, I wouldn't be without it now as I can do a brew and put it in the cold/hot (depending on time of year) garage and leave it to it.

Beers have definitely improved because of the more stable temperatures.

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Sounds like a winner

GhostShip said:

I wouldn't be without mine now. My kit beer has definitely improved, but I think that's probably a combination of the fridge and my brewing education (which has come from this forum). I make less mistakes than I used to!

Given that off-flavours are known to come from fermenting at higher temperatures, I always now ferment at the lower end of the temperature range and the fridge and Inkbird allow me to do that with ease.

Click to expand...

My fridge came with an inkbird, easy to use i hope!

stephen1546 said:

My fridge came with an inkbird, easy to use i hope!

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If you don't have instructions a quick search of the net should help, or YouTube. Once you've used it a couple of times it becomes second nature. Other than varying the temperature, depending if I'm fermenting or storing, I haven't touched anything else since getting it.

stephen1546 said:

My fridge came with an inkbird, easy to use i hope!

Click to expand...

I'll be using my fermentation fridge for first time hopefully this weekend. A bit annoyed that it won't be as neat as I hoped as the drain hole in my fridge isn't big enough to feed heater cable through and I am not drilling it as it's a brand new fridge. Excited to have proper temp control though. The inkbird is really easy to set up as well so don't worry and it maintains your settings so if you always want to ferment at roughly same temp you won't need to touch it; as @WierdFish says, and if you do need to change some parameters, it is easy as anything.

How much are we talking for one of these? I'd probably get a small one as space is an issue in our flat.

While I do my brewing in the garden under a canopy, fermentation and conditioning had to be done in my shed (SWMO) which during a hot summer’s day could reach 30 and in the winter night’s 3. A “fridge” was therefore essential to maintain an even 20 during fermentation and then down to 4 before bottling then up to 12 for conditioning. Makes life a lot easier. Got mine off Gumtree for £30 then another £30 for temperature controller, heater, cable, plugs and enclosure care of Amazon and ebay.

Buffers brewery said:

While I do my brewing in the garden under a canopy, fermentation and conditioning had to be done in my shed (SWMO) which during a hot summer’s day could reach 30 and in the winter night’s 3. A “fridge” was therefore essential to maintain an even 20 during fermentation and then down to 4 before bottling then up to 12 for conditioning. Makes life a lot easier. Got mine off Gumtree for £30 then another £30 for temperature controller, heater, cable, plugs and enclosure care of Amazon and ebay.

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Going to put a wine in the fridge tonight, once i suss out the inkbird lol

BradleyW said:

How much are we talking for one of these? I'd probably get a small one as space is an issue in our flat.

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I paid 50 quid for fridge,inkbird and heater

Hengoedbrewer said:

I'll be using my fermentation fridge for first time hopefully this weekend. A bit annoyed that it won't be as neat as I hoped as the drain hole in my fridge isn't big enough to feed heater cable through and I am not drilling it as it's a brand new fridge. Excited to have proper temp control though. The inkbird is really easy to set up as well so don't worry and it maintains your settings so if you always want to ferment at roughly same temp you won't need to touch it; as @WierdFish says, and if you do need to change some parameters, it is easy as anything.

Click to expand...

How did you get on?

WierdFish said:

If you don't have instructions a quick search of the net should help, or YouTube. Once you've used it a couple of times it becomes second nature. Other than varying the temperature, depending if I'm fermenting or storing, I haven't touched anything else since getting it.

Click to expand...

Will do that tonight, looking forward to getting started with it. Going to put a wine in it.

stephen1546 said:

How did you get on?

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Really well with the brewday; got up at 6 yesterday, mashed in by 6.45, no problems with mash temp or boil, nice rolling boil on my portable induction hob, no chill seemed to work okay as well. HOWEVER- I should have set the fridge up as best I could for as soon as pitching temp was reached. Had a big problem as the slatted wooden shoe rack I intended to sit the FV on (with the heater underneath) was very slightly too wide for the fridge, so had to sit the FV on one of the glass shelves instead. As it is only an 11l brew not too heavy thankfully.

After much sweating and cursing managed to get the yeast pitched, FV into the fridge and heater and fridge plugged into Inkbird. I set to ferment at 19c with 0.5 temp differential. I stuck the temp probe inside a bubble wrap pocket and taped pocket to the side of fv. Bungee corded the fridge shut to keep inquisitive toddler out (hopefully) and to maintain tight a seal as possible over the cables for Inkbird and heater. Checked Inkbird this morning and fermenting temp of 19c was exactly the same as measured temp of the wort.

Some lessons learned in terms of being better prepared with new brewing techniques. Annoyed at myself as usually I am meticulous in pre-planning as I don't get much time to brew. Anyway- pleased the fridge appears to be working as it should. Now crossing fingers for the fermentation and that the baby isn't yanking on the bungee cords and getting in there!!

stephen1546 said:

I paid 50 quid for fridge,inkbird and heater

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pretty reasonable that!