Home beer cooling

Both Lidl and Aldi have been selling cheap bottle coolers this summer (sic) £25 ish.

But of course its pot luck if you can get one. Only 1 or 2 pallets then they are gone.

They obviously think that storing beer=storing lager. 10 to18 would be ideal for storing beer.

Would it work if you turned it on its back rather than the apparent natural way to stand it up (on it's bottom) ? If it's deep enough for the bottles on their side, then it'd be "high" enough if placed on its back. You might need to prop it on bricks to let the radiator lose heat but it seems workable.

A good bargain can probably be had on these right now if you shop around.

Due to the wet weather there's not much interest in summer equipment, so many stores are selling off stuff like tents, garden chairs and I imagine chillers at stupid prices (I bought a 6 man tent in s'brys yesterday, reduced from £60 to £17.50). I'll prolly not use it this year, but eventually it'll come in handy.

Cheers - Neil

------------------------------------------------ Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007

Phone all the pubs in your area and ask them if they've got any chill cabinets which have failed their electrical safety test. My local has 3 at the moment.

Normally if the tester has failed them they won't be interested in getting them fixed and will just want to get rid of them. The tester will just have performed some basic insulation tests, and the normal cause of failure is earth leakage. In a typical pub environment this will be because somebody has tipped a glass of something down the back, coating the compressor and wiring with mildly conductive gunge. If you give it a good clean and let it dry thoroughly it should be fine.

You should of course ensure that the unit is safe before using it, and have it checked out by an electrician if in any doubt. They're very simple electrically though.

Paul

If its only for a summer's afternoon, why not get a oicnic cool box and run it off an old car battery or maybe a redundant CB 12v power supply?

Not to be rushed into without a bit of thought.

AIUI, there would be a serious risk of the liquis coolant being pumped around the radiator and the refrigeration will cease to happen. Then, when the fridge is upright reputten, the liquid cannot get back to the pump so the unit is basically up-busted.

I bought a fridge off ebay for about £15 and replaced the thermostat with one from RS which has a temperature range of 0-40degC. I set it at 12degC for storing beer.

Thanks for your ideas. I admit I haven't really got room for a second full size fridge as well as the fridge-freezer and the freezer so I was looking for something more compact. But I'm considering both these options - what's the "RS" you got the thermostat from, Andy?

I finally got a list of local stockists out of Baumatic so I shall go and check it out.

I noticed that one of the tea points at work has a nice glass-fronted fridge that's about full height but 2/3 the width (about the same size as a compact dishwasher) but when I googled it, it turns out that it's expensive commercial kit. Oh well.

Cheers,

Phil

Actually, it's for long term storage of my CAMRA Beer Club selection, which is why I'm looking for something a bit more permanent.

"long term"?

Wuss.

He's trying to give it up. :-)

In article , Phil Clark writes

I am a little puzzled as to why you need a special, temperature-controlled place to store your beers. Obviously it would not be a good idea to keep them somewhere very warm, or where the temperature fluctuates violently, but surely you must have somewhere that is of reasonable and stable temperature.

Even if it is a bit above the recommended serving temperature of 12-14 degrees C I don't believe there would be any ill-effects, and the bottles can always be put into the fridge for cooling down before serving.

I have a collection of bottle-conditioned beers; many of them up to 20 years old and they have never been stored at a specified temperature. Every time I drink one it is superb.

Roy.

In article , Roy Bailey writes

Feel free to leave them in my cellar, where they will be very safe

thermostat from, Andy?

look at

The Company was originally "Radio Spares" ...

Regards

Chris

Yup, this is the one:-

My flat tends to be at 20-25 degrees in the summer, and I just want the convenience of being able to have a range of beer available at the right temperature when I want to drink it.

Well a few weeks. Or days.