New Chest Freezer

[Tim...]

Hey, been a while since i've been on these forums.

I just bought myself a brand new chest freezer from The Good Guys, for $335. Fits 3-4 kegs (only have 2 though). My next step is to pick up, and install, a fridgemate. As I know nothing about these, I'm wondering if you guys can help me out. I want to know what to buy, where to buy it from, and wether or not I need a licensed electrician to install it.

I found this here, and am wondering wether its a good buy:
http://www.mashmaster.com.au/p/365439/f ... r-kit.html
That would cost be $55 all up after delivery.

Oh, and here are some pictures of my new best friend:

(Excuse the budweiser beer matt, It will be replaced as soon as I get something better)



Cheers,
Tim

[timmy]

Hey,

Looks like a nice setup. The Fridgemates are a good buy. You could wire it yourself if you know your anodes from your cathodes. It's pretty easy and there are instructions.

cheers,

another Tim

[Tim...]

Hey,

Looks like a nice setup. The Fridgemates are a good buy. You could wire it yourself if you know your anodes from your cathodes. It's pretty easy and there are instructions.

cheers,

another Tim

Sounds simple enough. Can't wait to get it running at fridge temps. I turned it on yesterday to chill a keg for my aussie day party, and it worked beautifully! (although it was at freezer temperatures, so all the spilt beer on the bottom of it is frozen )

So anyone reckon $50 is a good deal for a fridgemate?

Tim

[drsmurto]

$50 is correct weight for a fridgemate.

I will be picking up 2 this arvo for my keg fridge and fermenting fridge.

[Tim...]

$50 is correct weight for a fridgemate.

I will be picking up 2 this arvo for my keg fridge and fermenting fridge.

They're great aren't they? It will make life much easier than how i used to drink my kegs:






Tim

[chadjaja]

Looking back I should of bought a new one like you but I got mine for $200 less and it too holds 4 kegs and the gas. That will look great when done.

I just updated my freezer project and posted the pics here

http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewto ... 932#p91932

[Nishy]

The fridgemate's are great, i use one to control my lager fridge and keep it at a constant 14 degreees, very simple to set and can also be used to heat if connected to a heater. I had an electrician at work wire it up for me and put in a small box for looks - came up a treat and for only 6 vb cans to my sparky. Highly recommend and I paid the same price of $50. when compared to the $100 you can pay at home brew shops - it's no comparison!! buy it!!!

Cheers

Daryl

[Nishy]

What's the benefit of using a chest freezer instead of a fridge??

cheers

Daryl

[chadjaja]

Usually a lot more capacity to fit in more kegs and even the gas and they use a lot less power than a fridge and especially the older fridges normally used for kegging projects.

[timmy]

Slightly OT, but I recently built one of the Jaycar temperature controllers for my chest freezer / keg chiller.

It was $39 but you have to solder it together yourself. It also requires another 12V DC input which they don't clearly advertise. So you're up for an external transformer as well as requiring 2 power points. Their reasoning appears to be based on safety - the circuit board is divided into high and low voltage sections and they didn't want to mix them for a DIY circuit.

Anyway, here's a summary:
- it's cheaper
- you need to build it yourself
- requires another power source
- no digital readout
- it requires adjustment via a trimpot (so you need a small screwdriver).

For the extra 10 or 15 bucks the Fridgemate is much more user friendly.

Cheers,

Tim

[Tim...]

Alright, I finally got of my arse and bought a fridgemate from mashmaster. Just finished wiring it up together with a cut up extension cord, I'll put some photos up later on. All is working perfectly now (Just need to wait for my brew to finish, so I have a keg to put in there).

Just wondering what other people use as their temperature settings on the fridgemate. I believe mine is going between 1 to 5 degrees at the moment

Cheers,
Tim

[timmy]

I normally set mine to about 5-6 degrees. Depends on what you're serving.

Cheers,

other Tim

[drsmurto]

Depends on what you are serving and (at least for me) the season.

In summer i dial the temp down a bit (6-7C), whereas for the rest of the year i leave it around 8-9C.

The temp of the fridge will determine the max carbonation you can gas your kegs up to and still have a balanced system.

Higher the carb, the longer the beer lines you need.

For me, its a play off between temp and carbonation as i only have ~1.5m of beer line.

1.7vol of CO2 and 8C seems to be the happy medium. Ales outnumber lagers in my bar so low carb is fine by me!

As for the fridgemate, mine is set with a +/- 1C differential and a 9 min delay (so that the compressor switches on less often).

[Gym_]

I havetn got a temp mate but i set me keg fridge to 2c ..
I love a ICE COLD beer..
Even keep my glass's in the frezzer

[drsmurto]

Gym - with the golden ale you made be sure to let it warm up to near 10C and taste the difference.

The malt comes thru better at that temp.

I once had a JSGA pulled thru a handpump at room temp. Completely different beer, malty with a sublte hop presence. I liked it

[Elbow]

Hi Guys,

I have just bought a Fridge Mate and wired it up to my old fridge in the garage, I currently have a Pils brewing in there at about 12 c. My first keg set up has just been purchased and is on the way....yes! The reason I got the fridgemate was to brew at steady temps as some of my early attempts at HB were all over the shop.
My question is; Can I have a brew and a keg in there at the same time? I'm guessing no as the temperature would be to cold for the brew?

[chadjaja]

I doubt you want to drink pills at 12 degrees

You can either give up having beer on tap for 2 weeks or so while you ferment any beer or you have a great lagering fridge as well as kegorator! If I wasnt absolute control over temp I turn mine up and ferment in it but have to drink bottled supplies for the ferment time. No biggie.

I have room for my kegs and spare room to cold crash a brew either in a cube or fermenter itself.