146 replies to this topic

[gnef]

Well, it froze up again earlier today. I went in and out of the cooler a lot on Sunday, and I think it introduced too much moisture. It is up to around 50F now, and I will have to gradually bring it back down. The entire unit was frozen. I think I will just have to keep it in the low 40s now, rather than the upper 30s.

[BlKtRe]

Well, it froze up again earlier today. I went in and out of the cooler a lot on Sunday, and I think it introduced too much moisture. It is up to around 50F now, and I will have to gradually bring it back down. The entire unit was frozen. I think I will just have to keep it in the low 40s now, rather than the upper 30s.

I plan ahead. If I know Im going to go in/out I will bump up the temp a day before. Do my work, then do the gradual bump down as normal.

[gnef]

That is some great advice. I will definitely have to be more mindful of that, especially in the warmer months.

[SchwanzBrewer]

If you can spare the space, make a inner/outer door set with out 2ft between them. Open the outer door, step in, close outer door, then open inner door. That limits the amount of warm air/moisture to enter the walk in.Also, running the fan "always on" helps keep it from freezing too.Cheers,Rich

[BlKtRe]

If you can spare the space, make a inner/outer door set with out 2ft between them. Open the outer door, step in, close outer door, then open inner door. That limits the amount of warm air/moisture to enter the walk in.Also, running the fan "always on" helps keep it from freezing too.Cheers,Rich

I have a airlock on mine. I actually like it because it gives me a second natural temp without any extra fans or anything. It stays around 54*. Perfect cellar temp.

[SchwanzBrewer]

I have a airlock on mine. I actually like it because it gives me a second natural temp without any extra fans or anything. It stays around 54*. Perfect cellar temp.

You are my brewing hero.

[gnef]

I like the idea, but I have no space for it, there is only about 2 ft to the wall where the door is for the cold side. Ah well, I'll just have to deal with it as is.

[BlKtRe]

I like the idea, but I have no space for it, there is only about 2 ft to the wall where the door is for the cold side. Ah well, I'll just have to deal with it as is.

Stack.... or brew less beer!

Edited by BlKtRe, 06 June 2012 - 09:19 AM.

[MyaCullen]

Stack.... or brew less beer!

who are you and what did you do with Andy?

[gnef]

Haha. I already triple stack the kegs inside. I am definitely not building into the cold side, and I don't have the ability to build on the outside of the cooler because of the space constraints around the cooler, and I am not willing to brew less beer. It seems I will just have to deal with a higher storage temp. Ah well... It is back down to 46F now. I think I'd be satisfied with 42F for the long term.

[BlKtRe]

who are you and what did you do with Andy?

He got kidnapped by his brew club.Actually, there are only a few times per year when I need that much cooling space anymore. A few fundraisers and other events. But this beer goes fairly quickly. I dont have a reason to keep that much on hand for personal/friends/family use anymore. And in reality, all I care about anymore for personal use is hops and wild/sour/barrel aged beers. Pop in a lawnmower in every now and again and Im happy.

[BlKtRe]

Haha. I already triple stack the kegs inside. I am definitely not building into the cold side, and I don't have the ability to build on the outside of the cooler because of the space constraints around the cooler, and I am not willing to brew less beer. It seems I will just have to deal with a higher storage temp. Ah well... It is back down to 46F now. I think I'd be satisfied with 42F for the long term.

I thought I had to have mine upper 30's maybe 40-42. I've found that temps around 46-48 dont really speed up the conditioning as much as I previously thought between those two numbers.I also did a lot of reading about cellar temps and beer storage. Which kinda proved what I thought was happening really was happening. You will be fine at mid to upper 40's. And your equipment Im betting will like it better too.

[gnef]

Yea, I've been thinking about slightly higher temps. I'll have to keep considering it, especially if I don't want to have to deal with freeze-ups, and having to replace the air conditioner more often than I need to.I may need to adjust the settings on the love controller too. I need to look back at the instructions to see if there are any other settings that could help me. Right now the only one I've adjusted is minimum time between the end of the last cycle and beginning of next cycle. If I extend that a bit, and also limit the maximum on time in a cycle, that could potentially prevent any long-term freeze ups.ETA - I found the settings, unfortunately they aren't as fine-tunable as I would prefer. The minimum on time would be 1 hour, defrost interval of 1 hour as well. I can adjust the defrost time by the minute, but here is what I am thinking: maximum on time of 1 hour, minimum time between cycles 30 minutes. Do you think 30 minutes between cycles would be enough to allow all of the ice that could be built up in one hour to be thawed and melted away? I do have fans running all the time across the evaporator coils inside.

Edited by gnef, 06 June 2012 - 11:04 AM.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Do you have a defrost setting on your controller? I know on the loves you can have it turn off the compressor every set amount of time in order to run the fan only so it defrosts. On the mobile kegerator we set it to 10 min out of every hour if we are in and out changing kegs. You could probably get away with 10 minutes every 12 hours. since you probably don't go in all that much.

[beach]

I don't have any plans to build a walk in any time soon, but, have any of you seen this? https://www.storeitcold.com/index.phpBeach

[positiveContact]

I don't have any plans to build a walk in any time soon, but, have any of you seen this? https://www.storeitcold.com/index.phpBeach

looks like a temp controller. what am I missing?

[SchwanzBrewer]

looks like a temp controller. what am I missing?

Oh wow, that is pretty cool. Instead of tearing apart your ac and rewiring it, you just hook a frost sensor into the fins of the AC, wrap the temp sensors for the coolbot and the AC together with some aluminum foil, and set the temp and plug it in. It must trick the AC into thinking it's warmer than it is so it stays on. Pretty neat!

[positiveContact]

Oh wow, that is pretty cool. Instead of tearing apart your ac and rewiring it, you just hook a frost sensor into the fins of the AC, wrap the temp sensors for the coolbot and the AC together with some aluminum foil, and set the temp and plug it in. It must trick the AC into thinking it's warmer than it is so it stays on. Pretty neat!

so it heats up the AC temp probe?

[HVB]

Oh wow, that is pretty cool. Instead of tearing apart your ac and rewiring it, you just hook a frost sensor into the fins of the AC, wrap the temp sensors for the coolbot and the AC together with some aluminum foil, and set the temp and plug it in. It must trick the AC into thinking it's warmer than it is so it stays on. Pretty neat!

It is neat .. but the price is not .. $300!

[beach]

From what I've read on the site this is pretty much plug and play- 2-3 minutes and you're up and running. No mods to the A/C thus retaining the original warranty. I stumbled across the site for some reason and save the link, once again, for some reason.