OK, it’s all up and running. Turns out disposing of the evidence of my stupidity wasn’t as easy as I thought. The recycling folks wanted a sticker from a licensed refrigeration dude that the gas was out. Well, it was out. Duh! In fact I had removed the compressor. So at Lowe’s I found this cute 7 cubic footer for a good price and the dude let me drop the carcas of the dead one in the back. So I broke down…lesson learned. BUT, I now have a KILLER setup! OK, maybe one more for lagering down the line…but THAT’S IT. ;D
I like the set-up!
Nice. How big are those buckets? Mine are 7.9 gallons: 16" tall and 14" across. What are the dimensions of the 7 footer?
It’s just the beginning… 
These are 6 gallons, 12.5 across with the lid on, and a tad over 19 tall, not including the air lock.
Nice setup!
I want to get a chest freezer for lagering as well. I have a chest that I use for both fermenting and lagering but I have to move things around to accomplish both.
When at last you think you’ve got the perfect setup…you want more. :
Good stuff. I’ve been struggling with my upright fermentation fridge. It works fine if I dont brew a lot but if I really get going, I run out of space quick. I can fit my 7.5 G conical on the bottom and then I can get one carboy on the shelf above. Then I’m all tapped out. Cant get a 3rd batch going until I keg and free up space.
The toughest thing for me to deal with recently is wanting two different temps for beer at different stages. For instance, if one beer is still fermenting but I need to start crashing the other so I can transfer to the keg, I cant really do that. I have to wait for the second batch to finish up and then crash them both. Not a big deal but I wish I had the flexibility that you seem to have with your two chest set up. Got my wheels turning again, Oscar! Damn you!!!
Awesome, Oscar. I’ve been wanting to get a fermentation fridge or chamber setup going as well. It’d be nice to ferment at 60-62F year round.
If you watch the sales you can get a 7qt chest freezer for around $160…perfectly holds 2 buckets which is one brew for me (10g)… The other one is a 12cf and holds 4 carboys, or I can even squeeze 2 carboys and 2 buckets in there… That’s 30 gallons of beer.
The controllers are expensive, yes. I leave home for days at a time and cannot be around to switch from heat to cool if necessary so I got the 2 stage ones… You can save quite a bit with the single stage ones if you are around to keep an eye on them, or, you have a place to put them where ambient is relatively stable, just not what you need… (Basment etc)
Why wouldn’t you just get a Johnson controller and keep it at 62F indefinitely? That’s what I’d do, see.
Not sure what a Johnson does or doesn’t do…
The temperature in the garage ranges from 8ºF to 100ºF The controller has to switch between heating and cooling automatically.