Wife gave me "kegerator of my choice" for Father's day

[zacster]

What she meant though is a fridge to convert. Which fridge do I get? I've seen threads on the Danby DAR125SLDD, which looks nice as it has no freezer. I've seen mention of Sanyo, but that seems to be unavailable now.

What else should I look at? I haven't been to Lowes/Sears/HD/BestBuy to look and see what is local and in stock.

I have a keg of a really nice Ruination clone that is just ready now, but I'm having trouble keeping it cold with ice in my garbage can cooler (2 cans, one inside the other with fiberglass between them.) I want to have this cold and ready to serve.

 

[zacster]

I went to Lowes and it looks like the Frigidaire LFPH44M4LM will do just fine and they have it in stock. It may just fit my carboy with the door parts removed, and a ball lock keg without modification, although the lip on the door may barely get in the way. I could always raise the keg on a platform so it clears it. I see too that there have been a few threads about doing the full conversion.

I'm going to return to the store later and look again at it for the carboy fit. In the meantime the sun is out and the bicycle beckons. It would be nice though to return from a 50 mile ride with a cold keg of beer waiting on the porch! I'd have a lot of people following me home too if they know it's there.

To do the full conversion, what else do I need? I have a ball lock keg, regulator, CO2 tank, ball lock gas hose, and a 5' ball lock beer line with picnic tap. I'd think I'd need a tower and Perlicks. What do I need beyond that for connectors and fittings? I'm not really in a rush to do the conversion, but want the fridge asap.

 

[tomCT]

You might check Costco if you have one nearby. As of last week, our local Costco had a Danby 4.4 cu ft fridge with no freezer for $150. I'm not sure of the model number, but it looked like it should work for a kegerator with door compartments removed.

 

[Jaybird]

Your wife is a KEEPER!!!

Happy fathers day!

Cheers
Jay

 

[forstmeister]

Costco usually has chest freezers for about $150 also. Put a collar on it with a temp controller and have room for 3 kegs and CO2 bottle!

Oh, and that's a cool gift from your wife too.

 

[okiedog]

What a great Father's Day gift! I have an upright freezer I'm using for serving and cold conditioning until I get a chest freezer. Then I can convert it to a fermentor chambor. FYI, fiberglass is usually not a good choice for insulation where there is moiture. Unless it is completely sealed, moisture or water vapor fills the air spaces in the fiberglass, breaking down the insulative value.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day!

 

[fur_252]

That's a great wife...I would hold on to her!!!

 

[Bezel]

I got the Haire 7.1 cf freezer from Costco, it will hold 4 ball lock legs on the floor. Paid $170. Building it into my bar. And my wife and kidos got me a fat tire neon for the man cave for fathers day!

 

[zacster]

I bought the fridge at Lowes and it is in the car where it will remain until tomorrow. I rechecked the dimensions and I think it will easily fit my carboy once the door panel is removed. In the meantime though I'll be using it for my keg. And since it is almost summer my next brew will be a saison, my Nude Beach Blonde recipe, so I won't need cooling for fermentation. I guess I'll need to buy a temp controller at some point to do a lager.

This opens up a whole new experience for my brewing.

 

[zacster]

I just unpacked it and plugged it in. It fits perfectly where my wife suggested. The only thing she's asked is that we put soda and other drinks in it as it took over their storage area. It's not a bad idea to have cold drinks anyway, as long as I don't need all the space. I even put all the cookware that was on top of the prior cabinet back on top of the fridge. I think the old cabinet needs to go to the curb anyway.

Best thing is that it is out of the way. I'll never hear it if it gets noisy.

Also the keg needed to be raised about an inch to clear the lip on the door, but that worked fine. Once I remove the door panel inside it won't be an issue.

 

[Monster Mash]

I got one of those and grew out of it pretty quickly, especially if you want more than 1 beer on tap with room for soda and bottles of beer.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I got the Haire 7.1 cf freezer from Costco, it will hold 4 ball lock legs on the floor. Paid $170. Building it into my bar. And my wife and kidos got me a fat tire neon for the man cave for fathers day!

View attachment 128956

This, amazing value. Holds 4 kegs and a 10# CO2 tank without any modifications.

I too am turning mine into a coffin keezer soon.

 

[zacster]

I got one of those and grew out of it pretty quickly, especially if you want more than 1 beer on tap with room for soda and bottles of beer.

I only have one keg, and that's all I've felt I needed. I could double my capacity with another and still fit it in. I've been brewing for 15+ years and never felt the need to stock up, I just brew again when the last batch starts running out. Space was a big consideration, and this fit perfectly. My wife actually suggested it.

The soda/bottled beer isn't a requirement either, I had to move them out of the way as they were usually stored there warm, and I figured it was just a way to put them away.

So far, so good. It was great to serve myself a beer at a proper semi-controlled temperature. I'm going to get a Johnson temp controller soon for fermentation and I'll use it for the kegs too.

 

[honreth]

can you get some Pics up? I am about to be building one and would like to see your work of art.

 

[zacster]

I haven't actually modded mine. I just took out all of the easily removable parts, the shelves, the freezer and the door bars that hold things on. The door molding is still in it. I didn't even swap the door around and it opens the wrong way for the spot that its in.

The way it is now I can fit one keg with the CO2 on the hump, and there's room for some tall soda bottles on the bottom and I still have the can holder on the door. The keg is sitting on a small piece of plywood to raise it off the bottom so the lip on the door doesn't hit it and instead goes under.

 

[zacster]

An update!!!

I bought 2 3 gallon Better Bottles and they fit in the fridge without modification. I never even tried to remove the door panel to fit a carboy in, and I figured I never would. This is the almost perfect solution. Perfect would be if there was a 6 gallon BB in the same shape as the 2 threes side by side.

I can't do both fermentation and a keg simultaneously, but that's OK. I'm a serial brewer. Finish one, start another.