[brewinhard]

I'm planning on finally building the "Son of Fermentation Chiller" this week or next. I have an STC-1000 and the computer fan plus a piece of 2" foam board.

I understand that people like to build things for brewing, but why not just look for a cheap (if not even free) fridge to use for a fermentation chamber?  It will save you time to brew more and better beer. Just my 2 lazy un-engineering sense.

That's what I did, fridge for £10 from a recycling centre (needed a new thermostat, which they bypassed for me), and an Inkbird controller for £25.

That's what I'm talking about!  You won't regret it.

[RPIScotty]

I'm planning on finally building the "Son of Fermentation Chiller" this week or next. I have an STC-1000 and the computer fan plus a piece of 2" foam board.

I understand that people like to build things for brewing, but why not just look for a cheap (if not even free) fridge to use for a fermentation chamber?  It will save you time to brew more and better beer. Just my 2 lazy un-engineering sense.

That's what I did, fridge for £10 from a recycling centre (needed a new thermostat, which they bypassed for me), and an Inkbird controller for £25.

That's what I'm talking about!  You won't regret it.

What's the cost of running that "cheap" fridge?

Let's not forget that for probably about a $30 investment, I'll have a ferm chamber running a 12v computer fan. My frozen bottles are coming from my kitchen freezer so it's not costing me anymore money than I'm already spending.

"Cheap" fridges and freezers are often not very cheap to run. Remember that the initial investment alone does not indicate the cost to run the machine. The total cost to you is a combination of purchase costs and operational costs.

[brewinhard]

Good point.  But just for some inside data, electricity is pretty cheap. I have a fermentation fridge (full size, that is only running when I have a beer fermenting), another full size fridge that stores all my kegs/bottles for aging, and a chest freezer that I run for serving/aging as well. My monthly electric bill is around 65 bucks at most and this includes my non-brewing household stuff as well.

[Phil_M]

I don't know about Scott's area, but I had a terrible time trying to find cheap fridges/freezers on Craigslist. I bought one new and paid about what many folks were asking for a comparable chest freezer.

[Erik_Mog]

I don't know about Scott's area, but I had a terrible time trying to find cheap fridges/freezers on Craigslist. I bought one new and paid about what many folks were asking for a comparable chest freezer.

That was my experience as well.  Most of what I saw on CL, for a 5.5cf freezer, they wanted about $20 or so less than what I paid for a new 6.9cf one.  The cheaper ones that I did see would have required that I drive about an hour or more each way to pick it up, and the cost of gas in my Trailblazer would have negated any savings on the freezer.  So I just bought a new one, and only had to drive about 3 miles to get it.

They say the estimated cost of running this particular is about $30/year or $2.50/month when run full time as a freezer.  I will only be running it when I have something fermenting, so actual cost to operate will be lower (unless I decide to use it to store beer in while I don't have anything fermenting).

[RPIScotty]

These are all valid points. I just wanted to bring light to the fact that "cheap" fridges and freezers are not always that way when it comes to running costs.

I think it was Sacch who posted a while back that one of his first ferm fridges/keezers was a cheap second hand buy that cost him an arm and a leg to run.

My idea with the ferm chamber is to use materials I already have and a 12v computer. I haven't done the math but I assume that it will be pennies to run it all year.

[brewinhard]

Agreed that older models, while effective and long lasting, will cost an arm and a leg to run full time. And half the fun of brewing for some is tinkering to create their equipment. So kudos to you if you can pull that off on the cheap. 

[RPIScotty]

Agreed that older models, while effective and long lasting, will cost an arm and a leg to run full time. And half the fun of brewing for some is tinkering to create their equipment. So kudos to you if you can pull that off on the cheap. 

Thanks man!

I'll be scaling down the SoFC to accommodate my 2 gal buckets. It will be significantly smaller than outlined in the PDF.

[Hand of Dom]

These are all valid points. I just wanted to bring light to the fact that "cheap" fridges and freezers are not always that way when it comes to running costs.

I think it was Sacch who posted a while back that one of his first ferm fridges/keezers was a cheap second hand buy that cost him an arm and a leg to run.

My idea with the ferm chamber is to use materials I already have and a 12v computer. I haven't done the math but I assume that it will be pennies to run it all year.

My brew fridge lives in my spare room, so most of the time I'm trying to cool from 21c to about 18c.  This means that it's cooling very little, so not actually drawing a great deal of power.  The only time it's doing any serious work is when I cold crash, and then it's running fairly hard whilst it drops the temp down to ~3c, but once it's down there, it doesn't run that often as the insulation is pretty good.

[RPIScotty]

Again just to clarify: if you're using even a moderately energy efficient fridge, then operational cost is not an issue.

[Joe Sr.]

The local electric company gives us a comparison of our use to our "efficient" neighbors.

I'm so far off that it's pathetic.

But, I'm running a beer fridge, a dehumidifier, and an A/C for the cold room.  Add to that someone is always home and the kids turn on all of the lights.  I unplugged my second beer fridge for some savings.

My efficient neighbor (I know who it is) turns on no lights and is very active about conserving energy.

I have no idea what the incremental cost of running my fridge is, but it can't possibly be that much.  I hope.

[charles1968]

Brew fridges are great if you can lower the temp enough to crash out chill haze. The problem for me is space. I don't have room for a second fridge, but I can fit a sleeping bag anywhere and pack it away out of sight when not in use.

Domestic fridges are usually the most expensive electrical appliance to run in a typical house because they're on all the time and the cold air pours out every time you open the door. A brew fridge at 18celsius is clearly a lot cheaper to run, but using a fridge to lager will cost more.

[69franx]

The local electric company gives us a comparison of our use to our "efficient" neighbors.

I'm so far off that it's pathetic.

But, I'm running a beer fridge, a dehumidifier, and an A/C for the cold room.  Add to that someone is always home and the kids turn on all of the lights.  I unplugged my second beer fridge for some savings.

My efficient neighbor (I know who it is) turns on no lights and is very active about conserving energy.

I have no idea what the incremental cost of running my fridge is, but it can't possibly be that much.  I hope.

I hear you Joe. My problem with the kids is not turning on the lights. If you need it, go ahead and turn it on. Out of the three of them though, I would say they turn off the lights when they are done with them about 20% of the time: bathroom, bedroom, hallway, whatever; just turn the dang lights off!

[brewinhard]

Surprisingly, lights don't really burn much electricity up. It really is the larger appliances (fridge, dryer, dishwasher, a/c units, etc). I still get pissed though when all the lights are on in rooms when no one is even using them. It's like turning on the television just to have a "friend" in the house even when you aren't watching it.

[Erik_Mog]

Surprisingly, lights don't really burn much electricity up. It really is the larger appliances (fridge, dryer, dishwasher, a/c units, etc). I still get pissed though when all the lights are on in rooms when no one is even using them. It's like turning on the television just to have a "friend" in the house even when you aren't watching it.

Television?  What is that?  I haven't looked at a TV in over 3 months, and can honestly say that I don't miss it.