Homebrewer’s Uses for a Spare Fridge

Glad to see you following one of the most important homebrewing rules of thumb; accept anything for free that can be used to further your pursuit of great beer! For what it’s worth, here are a few questions to consider when these great opportunities arise. If it doesn’t work, how much to repair? How much power does it consume and are the voltage, frequency, and total amp draw copacetic with what is available at home? Will it fit where it can be used? Does it look like it belongs at home or in a junkyard? Great that you hauled the fridge home before determining exactly what to do with it! Here are a few ideas:

Use #1 — Fermentation Control. The best use for a fridge, outside of the obvious beer cooler, is for fermentation control. A modest investment in a thermostatic controller allows one to convert a mundane refrigerator into the perfect temperature-controlled fermentation cellar. All you need to do is buy a controller, insert the temperature probe inside of the refrigerator, and plug the fridge into the controller. And if you buy a dual-purpose controller, you can plug the fridge into the cooling plug and some sort of heater, like heat tape wrapped around some sort of heat-conducting mass like a copper tube, into the heating plug. This project will run less than about $75. Just remember that if your free fridge has a freezer, this set-up will also turn the freezer on and off.

Use #2 — Ingredient and Beer Storage. Brewing and party supply central. I don’t know about most folks, but my spouse does not want my brewing hobby or love of beer to take up room in our kitchen refrigerator. A second fridge is perfect for hops, yeast, great beers that all brewers require to stay current on brewing trends, homebrews that are chilling out waiting to be poured, and other brewing aids that need their own cool place to reside. Beer fridges are also perfect for adorning with cool, beer-related stickers, if that’s your jam.

Use #3 — Corny Kegerator. Cornelius keg layaway plan. The bill of materials required for a DIY project is short and will not break the bank if you do a little at a time. Start out by shopping for a used Corny keg that is in good shape. This is really not much of a challenge as these little gems are pretty easy to find for a reasonable price. The cool thing about Corny kegs is that a CO₂ tank and regulator is not required for a keg to be useful. I will save the details about the uses for another time. A cobra-head tap, aka a picnic tap, is all you need to dispense beer from your keg once it’s time to spend a few more bucks; and a few bucks is literally all you need to spend.

Finally, there is a gas tank and regulator. This is the most expensive step and will run you about $150. Do not, I repeat do not, buy a used or really “good deal” on a gas bottle without knowing what you are getting into. Gas cylinders require periodic hydrostatic inspections and gas companies will not fill cylinders that don’t have current inspection certification. In fact, most gas companies will not fill cylinders outside of their “float” of tanks.

The best thing to do is to go into a local gas supplier, explain that you want to get set-up for a home system, and they will know what you need due to the number of brewers and beer enthusiasts with home dispense systems.

I know you stated that you cannot afford the next step right now. Just take my sage advice and make this a slow-to-develop project and invest in it over time. Minimizing the chore surrounding bottle washing, bottle filling, full-bottle storage, bottle rinsing, empty-bottle storage, and feeling like opening a bottle is just adding more work to the aforementioned tasks makes brewing at home so much more enjoyable! Packaging sucks and is the reason that most craft brewers dream of being able to sell all of their beer on draft.

Response by Ashton Lewis.