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Hi Keg & Morgs.

Actually .............

Those cheap Chinese (and bloody good btw) split system, reverse cycle aircons that are anything from Mistral in Big W for $450 to Hung Lo in Go Lo for $369 have an AUTO setting and a set point so they decide whether to chill or RC and heat. I guess if you build a small room you could just run one of those. Bit dearer than a fridgemate ut heck it's only money. Send me a couple

Cheers, Geoff.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/FridgeMate-Digit ... dZViewItem

This bloke was asked a Q and answered with mashmaster so same bloke.
Again, cheers Geoff.

Just to let you know. We stock the entire mashmaster range as well.
http://www.craftbrewer.com.au

Cheers Ross

NOOOOO!
Cheap? Continue brewing outside....but brew lagers and pilsners!

Geez you guys!

( I guess I shoudl clarify my last! I brew outside, mostly. in winter I do lagers and pilsners, mostly pilsners and in warmer months do the ales and stouts for a stocked up winter1!!!) much cheaper than electronic gizmoes!

Surely my $12 fish heater is not dear oh and the 2.50 plug and 50 cents of silastic.

I do agree with you too shane_vor, I too am stocking up on my "Proper" Lager Yeasts from the HBS. Maybe I should only buy a few, do a few starters and I will be able to get a couple out of 1. Only beacuse I have 4 Fermenters with only 2 heated.

But, some blokes like the ability to do a lager in summer, or an ale in winter.

Also, where the hell is shaky town? or is this from a song or movie or something?

Cheers

Boonie

well I've taken the light bulb in a fridge idea and it working fine all though i'm manually turning light bulb of and on as not enough money to get a fridgemate yet

Boonie wrote:But, some blokes like the ability to do a lager in summer, or an ale in winter.

Cheers

Boonie

With temp control I find it easier to do it this way

Boonie wrote:Surely my $12 fish heater is not dear oh and the 2.50 plug and 50 cents of silastic.

I do agree with you too shane_vor, I too am stocking up on my "Proper" Lager Yeasts from the HBS. Maybe I should only buy a few, do a few starters and I will be able to get a couple out of 1. Only beacuse I have 4 Fermenters with only 2 heated.

But, some blokes like the ability to do a lager in summer, or an ale in winter.

Also, where the hell is shaky town? or is this from a song or movie or something?

Cheers

Boonie

To be honest if I REALLY need a lager or pilsner in summer I have the little fridge I can use...but usually it's not necessary since I usually have a fair stash put away.

"'bout a mile out of shakey town"...from the Convoy movie and soundtrack, sorry if I'm giving away my age...I was young and impresionable then!

geoffclifton wrote:Hi Keg & Morgs.

Actually .............

Those cheap Chinese (and bloody good btw) split system, reverse cycle aircons that are anything from Mistral in Big W for $450 to Hung Lo in Go Lo for $369 have an AUTO setting and a set point so they decide whether to chill or RC and heat. I guess if you build a small room you could just run one of those. Bit dearer than a fridgemate ut heck it's only money. Send me a couple

Cheers, Geoff.

Hi Geoff.


Actually ............... unless you are magyver i won't be holding out any hope of you getting a fridge to work like an air conditioner. ie being able to warm as well as cool, which is how i read the question.

Morgs - Read the answer. Reverse Cycle heats as well!

geoffclifton wrote:Morgs - Read the answer. Reverse Cycle heats as well!

Geoff - Read the question! You can't make a fridge work like a reverse cycle air conditioner



so now i don't know weather this is possible but theory this might work a reverse cycle air conditioner works like a fridge though reverses the proses to get heat. so in theory this should be possible with a fridge the question is how my thought are to swap the the positive and negative wire to reverse the proses but i dout it will work probaly to sensitive probaly needs alot of work . but if it was this simple then life could be alot simpler with A devices that plugs into the power plug and a sensor in the fridge that could heat and cool for those month where it hot one day and fr3eezing the next

I thought we had progressed the solution knowing that a fridge doesn't heat and my suggestion was the next step if you really wanted to, and could afford to, go the fully automatic path.

I think the compressor in a RC unit is no different, just a pump and it works by changeover valves swapping the condensor and evaporator, tho I'm not sure as if the pump ran backwards it would have the same effect. Our fridge man will tell us.

Those cheap air cons have an auto setting and they (eventually) decide which mode to run in. I couldn't say what the variation from set point would be and there's no further adjustment.

I think that an automatic setup could be made using 2 fridgemates with set points for heat and cool 1* apart with a 1* differential

Heat set point 17* would turn on at 15.9* and off at 18.1*
Cool set point 18* would turn on at 19.1* and off at 16.9*

Would give a 3* brewing range, in this example 16*/19*. Should work OK.

Cheers, Geoff.

this may seem a strange way to keep beer warm during winter, but my mate gave me his old wet suit. So i cut the legs off it and fit it over the fermenter. It fits very snuggly, and works an absolute treat especially if you have a heater pad underneath.

Works heaps better than a towel or blanket because the neoprene is so thick. Its fairly waterproof and its really easy to clean too.

Another good thing is you can position the zip so you can undo it and read the temperature on the side of the fermenter, and the neck closes over the top, but gives enough room not to move the airlock.

Cheers

James

i found my other halfs old jumpers and jackets fit nicely and can be layered as needed, but when it really chills the hall cupboard with the hot water system in it is perfect, just open and close the door a little with the doorstop to adjust the temperature.

House smells a bit like a brewery... but thats cos it is just have to remember to shift the towels and sheets or i'm on the couch!