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Does anyone know if it's better to use a fridge or freezer for a fermentation chamber?

I always thought the freezer was better, but now I'm not sure. My thinking is that it wouldn't have to work as hard, and a chest freezer would have room for more carboys.

Any thoughts?

I would think that using a freezer as a fermentation chamber would fail sooner than a fridge as they aren't designed to go above 32F. I could be completely wrong though so take what I say with a grain of salt. One other con that I can think of using a freezer as a fermentation chamber is that it might be a PITA lifting your fermenters in and out. The plus side though is that you can fit more than one fermenter in a freezer. I was given a large 3 door fridge for free so that's why I went with using a fridge. It only has enough room for one fermenter, but I can also lager in the freezer section at the same time as fermenting. It's worked very well so far.

I think there's pros and cons to both (probably knew I was going to say that, didn't you?). I personally have a 7.something cubic L chest freezer, which has worked great for me the past 18 months (knock on wood).

The cons for the chest freezer are, yes, that it can be a pain to lower and lift carboys in/out, but using one of those brew-haul gadgets helps. Also, I've read of people having problems with moisture build-up, but using Damp Rid has always been good enough for me to keep that problem at bay. I'm not sure if it IS harder on the freezer to work at temps above 32 F... technically the motor just kicks in and out throughout the day; I'd set your temperature controller accordingly, so that the motor doesn't shut on and off every few minutes. Like I said, I haven't had any major problems with mine, and the motor doesn't seem to be going all the time at all, but YMMV.

From a thermal efficiency perspective, a chest freezer is way better. I can't speak to the motors, but like berley said, it probably has more to do with your controller. The PIA factor is much higher in a chest then a cabinet, but for the exact same reason the chest is more efficient (the cold air stays inside when it open or leaking from the door seal). Also if you have a butter softener, your going to pay on efficiency because they don't insulate them (that's how your butter gets warmer).

thanks for the insight

I was thinking if I went with a fridge I would take the door backing off and replace it with tub surround. I did that with my first DIY kegerator and it gave me a few more inches of space inside

mgc wrote:From a thermal efficiency perspective, a chest freezer is way better. I can't speak to the motors, but like berley said, it probably has more to do with your controller. The PIA factor is much higher in a chest then a cabinet, but for the exact same reason the chest is more efficient (the cold air stays inside when it open or leaking from the door seal). Also if you have a butter softener, your going to pay on efficiency because they don't insulate them (that's how your butter gets warmer).

I agree with all that. The other disadvantage to a freezer that I can think of (and have heard of it happening), is if your temp controller fails, everything is going to freeze or come close to it. I wouldn't let that stop you. Personally, I think you should just go with whatever fits best in the space you're looking to use.

Im using the stc unit, so am pretty sure if it fails, all power is shut down, so would warm, not freeze.
One disadvantage I found with the freezer was in cleaning it. Forgot about all the co2 and other fumes contained in it when I stuck my head in....and was very quickly reminded. Wow! Literally took my breath away.