Brewing Master

Question:

Er, there’s no refrigerator involved in my system; it’s a freezer locker.  I have a separate fridge to dispense the beer.  Another freezer locker for food and a fridge/freezer in the kitchen.  I have my cake and am eating it; 2 freezer lockers and 2 refrigerators makes this possible.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – TRUE IS, in this instance, you CAN’T have your  cake and eat it too. With domestic refrigeration, used for brewing purposes, it’s either going to be to warm in the freezer section for frozen food or not cold enough for the refer side for lagering. It’s only one freon system taking care of two sections. Forget using the freezer, concentrate on the refer, it’s lager. ED You could do that or you could wire up an Intel 80186 an ADC some logic chips, hook up a thermistor and a couple of relay switches connected to a 100 watt light bulb and the freezer then write a program to turn on the light bulb to warm things up or turn on the freezer to cool things down to keep the fermentation temperature in the proper range.  At least that’s what I ended up doing…Oh yeah, there’s on old lap top connected to it via a serial port printing out the measured temperature and telling me if the light bulb is on so I don’t have to open the door to check… wrote in $49 is reasonable for anything you find on the market. If you are comfortable building your own, you can get by a little cheaper, but $49 is reasonable. I paid ~$100 for one just recently from www.williamsbrewing.com, but it has a heating circuit also. Good luck, Dan Cole

Response:

You could do that or you could wire up an Intel 80186 an ADC some logic chips, hook up a thermistor and a couple of relay switches connected to a 100 watt light bulb and the freezer then write a program to turn on the light bulb to warm things up or turn on the freezer to cool things down to keep the fermentation temperature in the proper range.  At least that’s what I ended up doing…Oh yeah, there’s on old lap top connected to it via a serial port printing out the measured temperature and telling me if the light bulb is on so I don’t have to open the door to check… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – $49 is reasonable for anything you find on the market. If you are comfortable building your own, you can get by a little cheaper, but $49 is reasonable. I paid ~$100 for one just recently from www.williamsbrewing.com, but it has a heating circuit also. Good luck, Dan Cole

Response:

TRUE IS, in this instance, you CAN’T have your  cake and eat it too. With domestic refrigeration, used for brewing purposes, it’s either going to be to warm in the freezer section for frozen food or not cold enough for the refer side for lagering. It’s only one freon system taking care of two sections. Forget using the freezer, concentrate on the refer, it’s lager. ED   – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – You could do that or you could wire up an Intel 80186 an ADC some logic chips, hook up a thermistor and a couple of relay switches connected to a 100 watt light bulb and the freezer then write a program to turn on the light bulb to warm things up or turn on the freezer to cool things down to keep the fermentation temperature in the proper range.  At least that’s what I ended up doing…Oh yeah, there’s on old lap top connected to it via a serial port printing out the measured temperature and telling me if the light bulb is on so I don’t have to open the door to check… $49 is reasonable for anything you find on the market. If you are comfortable building your own, you can get by a little cheaper, but $49 is reasonable. I paid ~$100 for one just recently from www.williamsbrewing.com, but it has a heating circuit also. Good luck, Dan Cole

Response:

Yes, electrical supply stores carry them. I paid about $34 for mine.  One thing I have noticed while using this device was very disconcerting.  My refrigerator which is a 20 year old Whirlpool in excellent condition, got out of whack.  Seems the defrost element in the freezer section is on a timer, and the remote interferes with that cycle.  Be careful as you may end up with a freezer full of worthless defrosted food. Mark – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Where is a good place do purchase a refrigerator thermostat bypass? I have checked with several home brew shops, they run about 49 bucks, will an electrical store carry them??? My fridge stays at a constant 32 degrees with it dialed all the way down. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Brian

Response:

Where is a good place do purchase a refrigerator thermostat bypass? I have checked with several home brew shops, they run about 49 bucks, will an electrical store carry them??? My fridge stays at a constant 32 degrees with it dialed all the way down. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Brian

Response:

$49 is reasonable for anything you find on the market. If you are comfortable building your own, you can get by a little cheaper, but $49 is reasonable. I paid ~$100 for one just recently from www.williamsbrewing.com, but it has a heating circuit also. Good luck, Dan Cole

Response: