Great. Video, Larry! I bought a very inexpensive under counter fridge, took the door off, made a plywood collar that extends the depth, and remounted the door. Sealed it all up with silver duct tape and some metal strapping to give me a tight fit between the fridge and the collar. The collar gives me lots of flexibility to run AC or temp probes into the fridge, run beer or gas lines etc. I use an old heating pad and tape the temp probe to the fermenter. With my Inkbird I can either control the temp with the fridge compressor or the heating pad. A keg or the Fermzilla with spunding valve fits nicely.
This is almost the exact setup I use and it works great! I bought a barebones Edgestar BR2001 kegerator kit (i.e. doesn't include CO2 tank, tower, faucets, etc.) specifically for temp controlled fermenting in larger plastic vessels like the Spiedel 30L I was using at the time, and now the Fermzilla All-Rounder 30L. The Edgestar BR2001 in particular is nice because it's ultra low-temp so I can also cold crash to near freezing temps. A couple things that might be of interest... - I bypassed the thermostat on the kegerator so my Inkbird has total temperature control. I'm not electronically inclined but it was a very easy process! - I use thermowells with my fermenters and the Inkbird's temp probe fits down both. I think this gives the most accurate temp readings on fermenting beer. I also use a Tilt to monitor fermentation, including temps. - Like you, I use a ferm wrap to warm up the kegerator. It's plastic so it's rigid enough that it stands up on it's side without having to tape on the All-Rounder. With this setup I have no problem fermenting hot with kveik (~ 100°F). - I usually harvest CO2 and to do this, I run the tubing through the top of the kegerator to either a Cold Crash Guardian or a sanitized keg. I've found that with the stopper removed from the top I don't experience any heat or cooling loss, even during hot ferments. - I'm able to run the temp probe wire and ferm wrap power cord out the door of the kegerator and it still forms a tight seal. I never considered using the hole in the back though, I may have to look into that!
Might be fun to do some plumbing to route from the garage to the basement brewery and avoid some of the heavy lifting. At 70, with rotator cuff problems, I am looking at ways to avoid getting into "that range of motion" where things are not comfortably reliable. Nice job on multi-tasking the old kegerator. I'm still running the old reliable Danby unit with good results.
I have one of my 6 gallon carboys with a reptile heat mat stuck to it, if you wanted a more permanent solution you could stick one of those to the wall of the fridge. I liked this video a lot, good job.
This helped me so much. Thank you for posting. My Kegerator max temp is 50 degrees and my lagers need to ferment at 65 degrees. These modifications are wallet friendly.
Nicely done Larry!!! Temp control is one of the first things I learned when I got back into homebrewing back in 2018. Once I implemented temperature control, the beers got a LOT better. Currently I have a 10.1 Cu Ft. refrigerator (with freezer on top) that I will use for doing really good temp controlled ales as it will fit the Spike Flex+ (even with the racking arm protrusion) but the 4.4 Cu Ft mini fridges or kegerators are perfect for standard (i.e. non spike) fermenters.
That's great. I've never had a problem with beer due to temperature in 21 years of brewing which is why it was never a priority for me until now. It only finally became a priority because I want to start fermenting ten gallon batches in one vessel and to stop having to carry fermenters around my house. But, now I have abilities for finer control which is a very nice bonus.
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Yep!! Totally good to have the control - I'm, likely, a bit further south than you (in Toronto Canada) and, as such, the weather patterns are similar to. but just a wee bit warmer, than Central Illinois or the Chicagoland area. The end result for me was, even though my basement hovers around 63F to maybe 67F in the winter; in the summer it's a different kettle of fish LOL - and that's where/when I had those temp control issues which caused fusel alcohols and other problems in the beer (just my experience of course :) )
@@davechang-sang4366 I see. I’ve been using pressure fermentation the past several years and I think that has helped suppress that especially in the summer when the basement is more around 70 deg F.
I currently use two of the smaller 20W seed pads and didn't realize that they make a bigger 40W one. I will have to get one. Thanks for the Vid and the Link Larry!
Thanks Larry I actually have my ink bird probe blutacked to the keg with a wetsuit neoprene cover. I find it’s closer to the truth..🤣🥰😎 Love your video’s bloke..🥰😎
Exactly, I also found that to be closer to the truth as well, with the wifi inkbird. Although I use a yellow sponge pad pressed on the fermentation vat, with the probe in between, isolating the fridge temperature and the actual fermenting wort temperature. I use a 1 foot 60W tubular heater to heat things up. Works a treat, very consistent temperatures and no heat fluctuation.
NiceI I use an old bottle fridge with a glass door (got it for free!). I stick the probe to the barrel with some plastilina, or cover the probe with a few layers of tin foil, then fasten to the barrel with a piece of duck tape or some painter’s tape (easy to remove). Of course, no foil between the probe and the barrel. Placed ca on the middle of the barrel fill height. Very easy and accurate within less than a degree C (checked with a thermapen). Heat source is a 60W reptile lamp. With a metal shade. I don’t worry too much about some of the dark, red glow reaching the barrel. Never had any skunking issues. I guess, UV light is the beer killer, not a few minutes of IR.
Awesome Video Larry. I'm new to brewing I got my first brew starter kit from Northern Brew over Christmas. Been watching your Videos for a month now love all the incite you have and i will be eventually go to all grain brewing soon i want to brew a few beers with extract brewing to get the hang of it. Again thanks Larry for all the content you put out and love the live brew days you do.
For a more stable temperature control, I use a 0.5 liter soda-bottle filled with water, and just drilled a hole for the temperature probe in it. It takes away all the small fluctuations, and I just put the bottle on the bottom of the fridge. For fermenting this is much better, because you do not want the heater and cooler to turn on/off all the time. This gives it a nice delay. Downside is that it takes a couple of hours to settle, the first time you put the fermenter inside. What I usually do, is to put the fermenter inside, but not add yeast before 24 hours later. Then you know the temperature is stable.
Sounds like a great idea except that I don’t think the probe and attached wire are water proof. For example, all of the probes I use for controlling and monitoring my cookers go bad if I get water around the joint between the probe and wiring. I’ll shop for a thermowell that might fit in one as a precaution.
Nice setup! Sounds like you should have a little bit more simplicity in your future brews! The less flights of stairs involved when carry 5+ gallons the better!
I should have done this sooner. It took a sewer backup in my house to get this thing moved to my garage a year ago. It was unfortunate incident that was the catalyst to getting this done after many years of doing it the hard way.
Thanks for this video Larry! Nice to see the Kegmenter in a kegerator for size and fit. I’ve been fermenting in a similar sized kegerator for years now, but mine is just larger enough to fit a Flex+. Are you doing another video specifically about the Kegmenter? Any thoughts about a thermowell for the inkbird into the kegmenter?
Yes. I plan to do a Kegmenter video at some point once the weather warms up so that I can brew in my garage again. This batch shown is an extract batch I did on my stove top.
Maybe the Kegmenter has an optional thermowell lid accessory available. That would get you measuring the temp on the beer, and not the temp on the fridge/chamber/kegerator. When I bought the Spike Flex's I don't remember if they came with or I opted for the thermowell accessories, but I have them. I have read and seen videos where the brewer changed to a thermowell for the very reason of a temperature offset that occurred during fermentation. Just a thought brother. Looks like you got it all under control. Cheers.
After searching accessories, it appears that a new lid with ball lock posts, floating dip tube etc. is only $34.00 on the Kegland website. Might be a good idea to pick one up to modify for a thermowell. Just an idea. Not sure what kind of pressure a thermowell would hold up to adding pressure to the mix. Cheers Brother.
Well done video Larry, Thank You!! I noticed you mentioned that this setup fits all but one of your fermenters. I am specifically inquiring about fitting your Craft A Brew Catalyst Fermenter with airlock installed. I am new to brewing and this is the fermenter I have...love it but the size with the stand is tough to figure out an appropriate chamber. This would be great if it fits. Thanks in advance for your reply. Cheers!!
I got rid of my catalyst a while ago, so I have no idea. Just measure them, or check the dimensional specs for them. That’s what I did before buying the Kegmenter to ensure that’ll fit in my fridge.
Cheers, Larry! I have the same set up when I ferment. I have my heating pad taped to the door. I’d like to see how your set up works out. I also found after about 6 weeks of about 68° I get the start of mold due to humidity. Let me know if you run into the same situation. 🍻
Larry. What about a tiny fan inside the box to keep the temperature uniform? Having a ten degree difference inside the chamber from top to bottom, seems huge.
Such is the result of the temperature gradient between my garage and the inside of the fridge I think. Should be better once weather warms up a bit. I could put a small fan in there for airflow. That definitely would help.
Hi Larry, You mentioned fermentation temps for a Hefeweizen. My success brewing this type of beer has been hit or miss, mostly miss. I prefer the clove over the banana flavor. What temp would you recommend to achieve this result. Cheers!
Hey Larry - Do you think this size and wattage of germination mat would heat up the interior of this space and similar sized mini-fridges for fermenting Kviek? The assumption here you’d be placing it in say a normal cool basement and not a cold garage.
That will work good, I've done that too, but in the summer....my kegerator has a digital control on it. You can set temperature on whatever but what happens when the InkBird shuts the power off after it's cool enough the kegerators digital setting will go back to a default temperature of 44 degree Fahrenheit. Any fix you know of?
