I'm looking to get a compact refrigerator to ferment in. Anybody on here use one of these for that purpose? If so, what kind do you have, and do you use buckets or carboys in it? I've been looking on craigslist, but it's hard to tell if I could fit anything in there from the ads. If I have a few models to look out for I could probably find something.

I'm tempted to go full size, but I really don't have the room for it. I suppose room could be made... but that means throwing stuff out.

Full size is MUCH more for the money and costs the same to run and more likely to be available esp in early summer when folks move ..I have both...4.6 cu ft style-easy to bend up the bottom of the freezer and cool 5g Corny,3 g carboy,1 g jug and 2 liter glass bottles-9.5gs...when converted it tends to be very cool so watch out for freezing...why not us the full size for food and beer?

I think a lot of people use the Sanyo 4910,4911,or 4912. I think I hhave the 4911. The best part is that it doesn't have a freezer compartment. You can easily fit 2 5G cornies in there. I think people also ferment in them with minimal adaption.

check out

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=64815

Another option is a chest frezzer with an external refridgeration thermostat. That is what I did when I switched to kegging (best decision ever), and I can fit three kegs or two kegs and a fermenter. Would like to get another one just for fermentation, but golf is an expensive addiction.

The chest freezer option is the one I want to go with. It seems much more convenient than a stand up fridge for holding fermenters and kegs.

I'd look into a chest freezer. Sure, the extra $65 or so for an external thermostat is pricey, but it works for all varieties of chest freezers. That means you can find the chest freezer that will fit in the space you have available. From my personal opinion, I'd look at 9 cu ft and up for a chest freezer, but that's mostly so I could easily fit at least two buckets/carboys in the chest freezer at the same time. If you're only wanting one, you can look smaller. Personally, I found a 18 cu ft chest freezer on craig's list for $100. And I've seen somewhat better deals since, but I love the space for two kegs, the CO2 tank, two fermenters, some ingredients, and bottles.

I have the Kenmore w/o the freezer comp. and it fits (2) cornies perfect, but I think it would be a tight fit for fermentation with a carboy/bucket.
I would go for a midsize fridge.

I got a 7 cubic ft freezer put a temp control on an can put 4 -5 gal cornys & 2- 3 gal cornys on top of the compressor box so I have 6 beers on tap @ all times
lager
corona
octoberfest
ipa
apa
hefe

I have the sanyo 4912 and it is good as a kegerator. I guess you could lager in it too- maybe two buckets stacked on each other or in the two cornies. It is very energy efficient too.

I'm looking for a fridge to lager multiple batches in, so I would recommend a larger fridge. Just because there is a volume constraint... Otherwise, a freezer would be nice with a controller, but I've heard the compressor can burn out if it cycles too often.

Well I'm not just looking to get it for lagering temps because I have a hard time keeping temps stable in my house. This summer is going to be out of control. I just want a temperature stable environment. It'll probably be at 65 most of the time, so the difference in electricity usage between a full size and a compact wouldn't be much. It's more about the space that they take up.

Now I'm thinking about looking for an upright freezer and putting a digital controller on it. Anybody here use the Love Controllers? They're about half the price of the rancos.

If you want it small, the wine cooler variety can work. I use one because I had it. It only goes down to about 39 degrees. It fits a fermenter or carboy with the shelves out.

Richard-
are those tall enough to fit a corny?

Scott, thanks for opening this thread because I have the same problem. I've been using my kegerator to ferment in so that I can use an external thermostat to keep my beer at the proper temp for fermentation. Most fridges will not work in the 60+ degree range. I stole some space in an extra fridge in the garage to serve the beer and I am always stuck using the picnic taps when I have a perfectly good kegerator in the basement!
I would look at a small chest freezer enough to hold at least 2 carboys or 2 buckets. You can use the external controller to maintain the proper fermentation temps and then also lower the temp to cold crash before bottling or kegging.

I have a Johnson Controls thermostat and it works great. The whole set up is also down the basement where the temp never rises above 65 so the freezer doesn't need to kick on all that often, particularly in the winter. The one downside is moisture, which I deal with by wiping the interior walls pretty regularly. Hopefully this summer I'll be able to rig up some sort of fan or some other air circulation system to take care of the problem.

My wine fridge is just barely too small for regular cornies. I tracked down two low-profile cornies on ebay and use those for serving. It works out fine, because it gives me the opportunity to store in one keg at cool temperature while it is waiting to be served and then tranfer to the serving keg. This helps clear the beer and the serving keg gets relatively little yeast in it. My wine fridge is the Haier brand. I think the size/design is pretty common, but I can't speak for other brands.

Check out Craig's List for chest freezers or refridgerators. You can find some great deals.

Yeah I already have a 16 cu/ft chest freezer as a kegerator. It would definitely have a moisture problem if I didn't change out the damp rid in there pretty regularly. I keep it at about 39 for serving.

This is the controller I was looking at:

http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_view.asp?sku=9352000

I was talking to a guy on another forum who uses it, and it performs basically the same as the ranco digital, except at a fraction of the cost.

I can get 2 cornies and a 5# tank in mine wine cooler. It's a very tight squeeze. I have the space, so I bought a chest freezer. I'm going to put a collar around it with four taps. The wine cooler is still being used for a lager chest.

Brian,

I had the same problem with condensation last summer. I went the damp-rid route. One of those little buckets 10.5 oz buckets kept the freezer moisture free for the whole summer (Boston summer). I think I'll keep spending the 5 bucks per year instead of getting something more complicated.

My damprid doesn't last that long. I'm usually chipping off the top layer once a week or so, and changing out the whole thing every month. Even then, I still have a little bit of sweat from the coils near the top of the freezer... but nothing as bad as it was before I started using it.

damprid is cheap, but I'm going to look into one of those rechargeable dessicants.