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Craig's List find
Finally found the fridge I wanted on Craig's list, and for only $40. A steal and it's in great shape.
It has plenty of room for a bucket or a 6 gallon carboy and a blow off tank. I'm putting it in a dark corner so the window in the door won't be an issue and I'll be able to check the fermentation without opening the door.
Any preferences on controllers? Johnson Controls seems cheapest but the Ronco will switch from heating to cooling from the outside of the unit. Rebel Brewer has one with two outlets that looks the most complete (no switching needed), but it's in Celsius.
How about heating preferences? A heat belt, or a pad like Thirsty uses? And is anyone using a thermal well, or just taping the probe to the vessel?
I'm glad frozen water bottle's are a thing of the past.
Excellent find man. I love it when people get this kind of stuff. fantastic.
DC
nice find! I have an analog Johnson controller, no thermowell, just leave the probe hanging near the carboy. I have heard that if you look around, you can find a digital Ranco for about the same price as the analog Johnson. As far as heating goes, I've heard some people use hair dryers.
Well heating is never a prob in Texas but I would go for a small electric blanket from Goodwill or something like it. slow gradual heat. I have an analog Ranco and I just leave the probe hanging near the carboy, keeps the temp close but not exact. Anyway. really great find! what a cool fridge. gotta love CL
ID
Nice score!
If you dont use a thermowell I would recommend taping the probe to the side of your fermentation vessel and insulating it. Your ambient air is going to fluctuate much more rapidly than the liquid in the fermenter and your temp reading will not be accurate.
I finally got some time to mess with it. I didn't realize how deep it really was until I put a 6 gallon carboy in it and there was room for a second one.
When I plugged it in it was 69 degrees inside and within 12 minutes it was down to 29 degrees.
I ended up going with the Ranco dual stage digital controller and a thermo well. I spent so little on the fridge I decided to splurge on the rest.
Great Find. On Seattle Craigslist??? How did I miss that? I usually beat everyone to that kind of stuff. %$#$%^%&%^$ 
Yea, Seattle Craig's List. I don't usually get great deals, so the brew gods were on my side, this time.
I was prepared to travel to Tacoma or Olympia to find the right one and then I found this one 3 minutes from my house. I found the same fridge (used) on Ebay for $485.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi … 0509546829
Fridge worked great. It seems to hold temperatures pretty well. For heating I used an old "back pad" heater on the bottom of the fridge between two of the shelves, so there is air space around the pad.
I cold crashed with it yesterday and it took around 9 1/2 hours for the beer to equalize at 33 degrees, and now it kicks on once an hour to maintain 33. The thing I forgot was that the drop in temperature creates a vacuum, and the carboy started sucking the iodophor up the blow off tube.
The white and black wires in the upper left are two temporary probes that I'm using to verify the temps.
Next week I'm going to try two beers in the fridge. I bought a HopRocket and I want to try it out on an IPA and a late hopped amber. 
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