Beer Brewing

[Hunter]

Alot easier, and cheaper, and less energy wasting to use a fridge...
Alot of freezers wouldnt take 5 gallons (yours would though). But most fridges will (provided you rip out the shelves and stuff).

[nme]

Yes but you wouldn't have to waste energy with a freezer if you were trying to refridgerate a larger volume than it was supposed to (the average freezer wont capacitate 20litres). Or as I was saying, you could not have the freezer on half the time (Only for short periods of time whenever the temperature rose above a certain adjustable level.)

[Frester]

Have you tried looking on eBay or Amazon yet? Although shipping may be expensive come to think of it! I'm going on now anyway so I'll post links to items if I find any.

[Hunter]

That involves way too much effort. It means I have to check it constantly. If the temperature goes below 4C the yeast will die, and if the temperature keeps fluctuating, it will damage the quality of the beer. Just checked my freezer there, it is at -18C, warmest it can go is -16C. It is ALOT easier to use a fridge where I can turn the dial to 7C, then 6C, then 5C, and then 4C. Instead of constantly checking the temperature of the brew, turning the freezer on and off and putting a filament in there.

I'd say the postage would be huge on a fridge from Ebay.

[nme]

Ah it would not!! You'd only need a single thermistor and a relay switch to the mains!! maybe one or two diodes or resistors to callibrate it. (you could even use the same thermistor already used in the freezer and just alter the calibration circuit)

If your thermistor was in any way sensitive the temp would barely fluctuate. At most half a degree. Anyway, this is how fridges work.... Open your fridge door for a minute and then close it: You'll hear it humming away for about 10-20mins (To get the temp back down) then it'll stop until the temp rises back over the switching threshold at which it will start again..
Only hard thing stopping you from making a fridge/freezer is the making a gas compression system which is used in both of them..
Otherwise a freezer is much more powerful than a fridge and would decrease the temp back down to the required temp much faster than a fridge. (Bearing in mind that it wouldn't use way more electricity with it not being turned on half as much.)

Ah what i'm saying is just keep your eyes open to alternative: If someones throwing away a perfect working freezer then why not easily use it rather than pay a large sum of money?
I guess its: Money vs. Energy to modify.

Edit: The temp would be even more accurate were you to place the thermistor inside the fermenting liquid itself. Although this might not be optional..

Edit Edit: You would not have to check it. Only callibrate it at the start. It checks itself automatically. (Hence thermistor monitoring temp)

[Hunter]

Looking in the free ads now... Cheapest freezer: €100
Cheapest fridge: €40
I think im going to go for a fridge.