I also use a chest freezer for fermenting my beer. After it’s done fermenting, I’ll use the same vessel to store my keg and serve the beer. Dual use in one vessel!

For temp control, I use an inkbird. The freezer is hooked up to the cold side, while I have a heat wrap that is connected to the hot side. I have my inkbird set up so I only allow 2 degrees differential for both cold and hot temperatures. When I’m done fermenting, I’ll drop the inkbird to 34 degrees to cold crash the beer and then keg it for serving.

I think it’s also worth noting: I did notice that my freezer doesn’t turn on very often when fermenting as much as it did to freeze things. I think it’s because I store my freezer in my garage and it’s never below freezing in there. The freezer had to work harder to maintain the freezing temperatures compared to keeping it at 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Having the heat wrap helps make sure the temp stays right in the area of where I like to ferment.

Overall, when I started fermenting with a chest freezer, using an inkbird for temp control and a heat wrap, my fermentations have been better and the beer comes out better for it.

All the best to you, cheers