Fv storage

[Goldcoast Crow]

So I know a lot of you have said to get an old fridge and set the temp to 18/19c, but I was thinking as I have no solid power set up and don’t particularly want to have another appliance running, would getting an old broken freezer or fridge work as it is insulated and should have a stable temp within its internals?

 Other than this I was thinking about getting an old cabinet and lining the inside with roof insulation.

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

Just now, Goldcoast Crow said:

So I know a lot of you have said to get an old fridge and set the temp to 18/19c, but I was thinking as I have no solid power set up and don’t particularly want to have another appliance running, would getting an old broken freezer or fridge work as it is insulated and should have a stable temp within its internals?

 Other than this I was thinking about getting an old cabinet and lining the inside with roof insulation.

Nah mate. Fermentations create there own heat too so just putting it in the fridge will get the inside of the fridge hot after a while. You could keep it outside with a wet towel and a fan on it. Then when fermentation slows chuck it in the broken down fridge. That would work better i think.

[Goldcoast Crow]

I did think this much but this pretty much answers my thoughts

[Malter White]

24 minutes ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

So I know a lot of you have said to get an old fridge and set the temp to 18/19c, but I was thinking as I have no solid power set up and don’t particularly want to have another appliance running, would getting an old broken freezer or fridge work as it is insulated and should have a stable temp within its internals?

 Other than this I was thinking about getting an old cabinet and lining the inside with roof insulation.

There is obviously a cost to setting up a fermenting fridge and thermostat controller but it wouldn't use as much power as running a fridge does normally.
The controller only turns the fridge on when the temperature goes above what you've set it at. Once it reaches the optimum it switches the fridge off. The Inkbird and devices like it also allow you to spread the temps too ie. You set your optimum temp at say 20C but you can program the device to not kick in until the FV has hit say 23C. The same goes for heating.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I wouldn't let it fluctuate that much but muzzy is right, they don't run constantly. One of mine is only on about 20 minutes out of every hour. The other one is going for rubbish and being replaced so I'll see what the replacement does. Probably pretty similar though. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

So I know a lot of you have said to get an old fridge and set the temp to 18/19c, but I was thinking as I have no solid power set up and don’t particularly want to have another appliance running, would getting an old broken freezer or fridge work as it is insulated and should have a stable temp within its internals?

 Other than this I was thinking about getting an old cabinet and lining the inside with roof insulation.

In winter, an insulated box might be useful to keep the ambient cold out.  Especially if you ferment outside in a shed or on a veranda.  Although, based on your handle, you may not have to worry too much about night time temperatures like I do in the hills east of Melbourne. 

[Goldcoast Crow]

Yeah it he down to low teens and that’s about it, even in the dead of winter we may still ave around 25c daily

[UncleStavvy]

Haven't done any meaningful data collection as yet but from what I'm seeing in the shed where I'm storing my bottles, once they get cold they stay cold. Stacked upright in milk crates on a bench with a blanket covering them to keep out light, if you pick one up it's definitely colder than ambient air temp in the shed. I'm thinking it would take a 30° day to change the bottle temp much at all. So your fermenter will probably stay cooler now fermentation's pretty much done unless you put some energy into it with a heat belt or pad