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G'day fellow brewers, just to let u know that K-mart are selling wine cooler fridges for AU$249.00 Great for summer brewing, just slide out the shelfs and slip in the fermenter. Temperature is adjustable from 5C to 22C so great for a lager/pilsner brewing in summer.
Cheers.

They are awefully damn good for kegs to. Just be real careful drilling out the glass front. When I save my pennies up I am getting one for something.

Dogger

Would one of these do a similar job? In particular, anyone know if they will hold a standard 23 litre fermenter?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... eName=WDVW

They're going for around $150.

measure your fermenter + airlock, and see if it'd fit in:
Dimensions MM (WxHxD):
* 355 x 645 x 500 mm

It will... but those are external dimensions - they multiply to ~114 litres, the rated capacity is only 48.

I'm guessing my fermenter won't fit in this thing - it would only just fit into the external dimensions. Anyone know if there are any K-Marts with the $249 model above? I visited one today there were none...

Hey Isaac ive got a standard 23 liter fermeter and it fits perfectly in the fridge, you do need to use a smaller airlock or use a blowoff hose cause the standard one just does'nt fit by a couple of mil. I live in Perth and got it at K-Mart Midland for $249.00, the brand is Mistral and they still got them for sale. I wanted to attatch a picture but the forum won't let me do it.
Hope this helps.
Hillbilly

Will it pull down a full fermenter down from 25deg down to lager fermentation temps (13 deg)?

Tony

Tony - you could move to Canberra for winter and enjoy a constant 13 deg C in the garage for 2 months. Shame its about 4 outside....

Yeah it's manual says it cools from 5c to 24c. I've had it running for a few months now and for several different brews. Coldest I can get it with a full fermenter is 7c and the warmest is 19c. It takes about 24 hours to get it from a fresh 24c brew to 12c lagering temprature.
Cheers

I'm not saying a word

Come on evo your sides are bursting I can see it from here

sorry me

Wow,

I got mine down to 1 deg C (33 deg F)

Dogger

Hey Evo, fill us in

Evo,

Don't bend to peer pressure man

Dogger

I think you have created a monster.

Thanks Hillybilly.

The kmart wine fridge appeals because of the wider-range of temps than most wine fridge, its small size, and it doesn't require any messing with external thermostats, oh, and its cost. My wife is encouraging (and even partaking of) my homebrewing, but has issues with modified appliances, and I have space issues. If I want warmer than 19deg, I'll just leave the fermenter on the bench.

Tony

I'm interested in this fridge for the same reasons as you Tony.
I'd rather not fiddle around with modifying fridges if i don't have too.

Can I assume that if your brewing an ale and the temperature outside the fridge is say 10 degrees. The fridge will warm to 19 degrees?

Tony wrote:Thanks Hillybilly.

and it doesn't require any messing with external thermostats,
Tony

hey there,
bought a new fridge for mrs glass so i've now got another beer fridge, ,
has anyone had any success running a fridge at it's warmest setting, for brewing in ?

don't really want to muck around with thermostats etc if i don't have to.

I realise there are a lot of different factors to consider, capacity, outside temps, etc, etc,

just interested to know what others have come up with before i run some tests.

thanks
yardy