OnTap Magazine

So you’re saying goodbye to that old clunker fridge you bought as a student. You’re going to sell it to Ready Freddy, the local thrift store guy, right? Wrong. An unused fridge is the homebrew equivalent of finding buried pirate treasure in your back garden. Yarr! As long as you’ve got the space, you can convert your spare fridge into a nearly perfect fermentation chamber for your homebrew. The problem is that fridges are designed to keep food cold not cool. So you’ll have to fool the fridge into running at higher temperatures than it was designed for. HERE’S HOW Buy an external thermostat controller. Most homebrew or geeky technical shops will carry these. They come in two flavours: analog or digital. Digital’s more expensive but can achieve more accurate temperature control. If you’re on a budget, analog will do. Buy a good quality digital thermometer, preferably one that can remember lows and highs within a specific period. Either install or get someone to install the controller. Essentially, this piece of kit has a thermostat component, a temperature probe and connections that bypass the fridge’s normal thermostat. I’m not going to lie: if you’re like me and somewhat practically challenged, installation is not something I’d recommend you do yourself. Experiment. Even with relatively high-end digital controllers, don’t just trust the temperature it claims to have achieved. Sometimes the calibration is off and that can be bad for you and your brew. Here’s where that accurate digital thermometer you bought comes into the picture. Set your controller to the desired fermentation temperature, put the thermometer in the center of the fridge, and measure the difference. Adjust the controller (or if it can’t be adjusted, just make notes) accordingly. You still have to measure your wort to see that it is at the right temperature. But you don’t have to do it that often once you know which fridge temperatures relate to which wort temperatures. WHAT’S NEXT Now, barring any major power outages (good job that’s never a problem in South Africa…), you’re golden. The fridge plus controller will regulate the temperature of your fermenting beer and you can sit back and wait for the magic to happen. But remember that even though fridges are well insulated, ambient temperature still makes a difference, so you’ll need to have different settings for winter vs. summer, for instance. Also: a modified fridge like this makes for a handy wine or beer cooler when not used for brewing, which is all rather delightful really. THE SNAZZY SPARE FRIDGE Starting on the homebrew DIY path is often hugely rewarding and fun. Occasionally it even results in better beer, and as far as bang for your buck goes, you can’t easily beat controlling fermentation temperature. This one change in your brewing process can often make a bigger difference in quality than other more expensive and flashy pieces of equipment advertised as the next big thing in homebrewing. Don’t take my word for it. Experiment. And please take notes, it really helps. Now go brew. KEEPING A CONSTANT FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE O P T I O N 02 Consistency and effort. You will achieve far more consistent temperatures and the effort involved is relatively minor. Cost. Controllers and digital thermometers are often imported and thus not cheap. They can set you back a couple of grand quite easily. PROS CONS 1 2 3 Low risk. Since you don’t have to measure your wort temperature as often, you have far less risk of contamination or oxidation. Technical know-how. Again, I might just be over-estimating the complexity of installation, but you will need to know what you’re doing to install these puppies. Get someone who knows how if you don’t. Pro tip: pay them in beer. After they’ve installed it. Style. Not only is this a stylish option, but you can also access just about any beer style, including lagers, even in the hottest of summers. Envy. Your homebrew friends who aren’t fortunate enough to own their own beer fridge will hate you. Let them FINAL THOUGHTS 1 2 3 HOMEBRU ontapmag.co.za | Spring 2018 | 63