Nah I've never had an issue with fermentation fridges, doesnt seem to stress them at all. My running suspicion is that keezers thermally cycle the coils a bit hard, and that gradually causes leaks. But eh, just a theory. They always seem to eventually develop the symptoms of a slow refrigerant leak Yeah I always have the compressor delay set, I run a mixed bag of inkbirds and STCs around here. This keezer's running on an STC, the two fermentation fridges and the curing fridge are on inkbirds at the moment as I had an STC blow up last year. But in any case, all of the above have a three minute compressor delay, and their duty cycle's pretty low from observation
I used to run a freezer as a fermentation chamber or for cold crashing. No dramas while I was running it, but it died sometime before I moved into my new place. 3 minutes seems short of a compressor delay. Does it cycle much? Did it use much power? I don't see why it would put any more stress on it. I did have to start using desiccant in it though, as it did develop a bit of rust due to condensation. I'm on the lookout now for a deep freeze now to build a keezer setup. Did you use foam with the collar as well?
Nah it uses stuffall power. Doubt it turns on more than twice a day (until recently anyway) except in the height of summer. Chest freezers usually keep the walls sub-zero and generate a layer of ice pretty quickly, which would mean the bottom coils are at a consistent temperature whether the compressor's on or off, hence my theory that running them ~ 4C where you're not generating that increases thermal cycling on the coils. But then it's just a theory Yeah this collar's foam insulated, with a strip of closed-cell foam rubber around the top to provide a consistent seal. It's been quite a good performer while it lasted, been pretty pleased with it. Much less ghetto than some previous efforts lol. The collar timber's tassy oak, that'll be getting stripped back and used for something for sure, gorgeous timber.[/QUOTE]
Hmm, now you've got me wondering why mine is leaking so much cool that it has to cycle about once an hour...I do have the temperature range set pretty tight (0.5C) but that's not unusual is it?
That might explain it. It's only a couple of minutes at a time so the power usage is OK. The noise does get on my nerves though, 2 years in this freezer is definitely louder than it was when I got it (but I think being moved between houses has done more harm than being run as a keezer)
Though now that you mention it, it kinda sounds like a worthwhile project to actually datalog my overall power usage for *all* the brew gear at some point. Might put that on the projects-on-the-backburner list and have a think about it well after next year. Got a kid on the way, moving to tasmania, graduating, and having a wedding in the next twelve months, so there's *a little bit* going on lol
Yeah, I got a bunch of Wifi Kogan power meters for cheap, and I've been planning on doing the same thing. I'm half tempted to knock up a peltier glycol loop to maintain fermentation temps too. Beats having another fridge/freezer just to ferment in summer. Might not be much of an issue with the new pressure fermenters I picked up, I hear you can brew at a higher temp.
Put down a ginger beer today 1 x Morgan's ginger beer 1 x 2kg Raw sugar 1 x 1kg Brown Sugar 1 x 500g LDME 3 x cinnamon sticks 1 x 200g fresh ginger, finely grated 1 x small red chilli 1 x powdered ginger 50g 1 x Buderim crystallized ginger 1 x Ginger refresher 1 x Morgan's yeast nutrient 4g Glad I did a starter, 1.070 OG.
BCF currently have $30 off the Coopers DIY Craft beer brewing kit....$39.99 https://www.bcf.com.au/p/coopers-diy-craft-beer-brewing-kit/594823.html#q=coopers&lang=en_AU&start=1
^Had a mate at work send me that this morning asking my thoughts. It's probably fine for a beginner, 8.5L brew size or whatever is probably a bit small but that could be a pro as well as a con. My only real concern was the availability of extract kits, unless you just tailor it to 1.7kg extracts and not the 1.3kg ones that its advertised with?
Got this puppy for Christmas - first all grain brew yesterday (farmhouse ale kit firm cheeky peak). So much better than my 19L pot on the stove doing partial mash
