Converting Stand-up Fridge to Keg | Questions

[brandonlovesbeer]

A few years back, I did a dorm fridge-to-kegerator conversion (Pictured Below)
It worked fine but was inconvenient and sometimes a mess.

I moved to a new house a few years ago. The house came with a fridge and we kept the fridge from our old house which is currently in the garage doubling as my beer fridge (Also pictured below)

I plan to convert this to Stand-Up kegerator.
I want to drill holes in the door to run the taps and add a drip tray.
To keep the cold air at the bottom in when the fridge is opened, I'm going to do a temporary foam seal to create a bowl at the bottom.

2 Question​

1) Drip Tray
This is my biggest problem.
They are unusually expensive for such a small item.
Does anyone have a suggestion on where to get an affordable drip tray.

2) Is the Freezer side convertible?
It seems like a lot of un-used space that I could be using for beer.
Does anyone have any recommendations for this?

 

[ancientmariner52]

Howdy, Brandon. Is that a toilet flange on top of the dorm fridge? I love it!

I just took a look at my side by side Whirlpool fridge. Funny how you can see something every day for years and never really question how the thing actually works.

Apparently, all the cooling is done on the freezer side. The refrigerator side is supplied with frigid aire [emoji21] by a little fan and duct arangement, controlled by the refrigerator side thermostat. The wall dividing the two spaces seems to be just an insulated bulkhead.

So it seems to me you could use an inkbird or something like it to control the compressor. Set the freezer thermostat for max cold, and use the refrigerator thermostat to control the circulating fan. In other words, I don't believe you have to modify anything.

Of course your Frigidaire may be quite different, but I doubt it. The thing is, you need a controller anyway, so you can test my theory at no extra expense. Let us know how it works out, and good luck!

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Thanks for the response.
Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Loyd]

I tried using the freezer side as a kegerator with a temperature controller but it only worked for about a year then it started freezing up the coils. I junked that one and a friend gave me another one to try. Just decided to use the fridge side to hold 2 corneys and 2 sixtels. I store my hops in the freezer side.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Howdy, Brandon. Is that a toilet flange on top of the dorm fridge? I love it!

Yes. That certainly is a Toilet Flange and a peace of PVC pipe as the tower. Everything just painted silver.
I was trying to keep the cost low.

Fridge = Craigslist $50
Flange = Lowes $3
PVC = Lowes $6
Tape shank & Taps = $20

 

[ancientmariner52]

I tried using the freezer side as a kegerator with a temperature controller but it only worked for about a year then it started freezing up the coils. I junked that one and a friend gave me another one to try. Just decided to use the fridge side to hold 2 corneys and 2 sixtels. I store my hops in the freezer side.View attachment 553800 View attachment 553801

Yeah, there's a seperate temp switch to prevent the evaporator coil from icing up. When it fails, it's iceberg time. I'm no appliance guru, but I don't think that could be caused by using both sides for beer. Maybe someone knows for sure?

 

[mongoose33]

How many faucets are you planning to use?

I have 5 faucets, 3" on center, and the 14" drip tray from Ritebrew ($34.95)*just* fits:

 

[HotRod9mm]

1) Drip Tray
This is my biggest problem.
They are unusually expensive for such a small item.
Does anyone have a suggestion on where to get an affordable drip tray.

https://www.barproducts.com/barconic-stainless-steel-drip-tray

 

[Jtk78]

I'm picking up a side by side tomorrow to convert to a kegerator. Based on my quick measurements I can get 6 ball locks on the fridge side without much modification. I know I can get at least 2 kegs in the freezer side. My current plan is to eventually cut at least a decent portion of the wall out between the fridge and freezer. It may be awhile before I get that far because I can hold at least 6 in the fridge side. Once I get the actual build underway, I will start a thread documenting it. The next couple weekends will probably be a lot of measuring, disassemble, planning and fitting.

 

[MaryB]

Problem you may run into is the self defrost heater may not run enough due to higher temps. It can be bypassed and you can just manually defrost. The model number would let me find a wiring diagram and see if that is possible.

Usually coils frosting up and not defrosting and the defrost heater timer is fine means low freon. Leak in the system.

So if it runs good now it should work fine and you may not need to touch the defrost stuff depending on model.

 

[d3track]

Depending on how serious you are about your drip tray, I used a magnetic tool holder for mine.

 

[LJvermonster]

A few years back, I did a dorm fridge-to-kegerator conversion (Pictured Below)
It worked fine but was inconvenient and sometimes a mess.

I moved to a new house a few years ago. The house came with a fridge and we kept the fridge from our old house which is currently in the garage doubling as my beer fridge (Also pictured below)

I plan to convert this to Stand-Up kegerator.
I want to drill holes in the door to run the taps and add a drip tray.
To keep the cold air at the bottom in when the fridge is opened, I'm going to do a temporary foam seal to create a bowl at the bottom.

2 Question​

1) Drip Tray
This is my biggest problem.
They are unusually expensive for such a small item.
Does anyone have a suggestion on where to get an affordable drip tray.

2) Is the Freezer side convertible?
It seems like a lot of un-used space that I could be using for beer.
Does anyone have any recommendations for this?

I used the same type and use the freezer as my serving side and the fridge as my fermenter. He's some photos. I made to STC1000 controllers. One for the freezer side to stay at 38 degrees and one for the fermenter side and a mini heater to heat the fridge. Cheers

 

[OpenSights]

I was thinking of this system... but I like your idea better...

 

[OpenSights]

Not sure what went wrong, but I tried to quote HotRod9mm...

 

[franksteph0226]

I used this for a inexpensive drip tray....... https://www.harborfreight.com/magnetic-tray-with-screwdriver-holder-69319.html

 

[c673986]

I used the same type and use the freezer as my serving side and the fridge as my fermenter. He's some photos. I made to STC1000 controllers. One for the freezer side to stay at 38 degrees and one for the fermenter side and a mini heater to heat the fridge. Cheers

View attachment 557057View attachment 557058View attachment 557059View attachment 557060

I love this and didn’t know this could be wired this way. Any tips for how this is wired up. I’m already an stc1000 expert, just interested in the appliance side.

 

[LJvermonster]

I love this and didn’t know this could be wired this way. Any tips for how this is wired up. I’m already an stc1000 expert, just interested in the appliance side.

This YouTube video is start to finish wiring one of these. This guy makes it so clear anyone can do it.

Good luck!

 

[BroStefan]

For a drip tray I use a SS mud pan I got for cheap from a Ace Hardware, help on by magnets.

 

[c673986]

Aside from the stc temp controls, hows the frigid/freezer wired to them. What I’m wondering is, how do you keep the serving temp on one side and let’s say 70 on the ferment side when the compressor kicks on. Do you wire up the fans separately?

 

[LJvermonster]

On mine I just disconnected and blocked the fridge fan side. The ambient temperature from the freezer keeps the fermentation side at around 55-60 degrees so I just need a small heater to raise the temp to 60s

 

[c673986]

On mine I just disconnected and blocked the fridge fan side. The ambient temperature from the freezer keeps the fermentation side at around 55-60 degrees so I just need a small heater to raise the temp to 60s

Makes since. I’m guessing if I kept a fan in there with some kind of stuff one way louver to valve off the freezer side it would probably get cold enough to do a cold crash. It’d probably need to be insulated well or it’d condensate on the louver.

 

[LJvermonster]

Makes since. I’m guessing if I kept a fan in there with some kind of stuff one way louver to valve off the freezer side it would probably get cold enough to do a cold crash. It’d probably need to be insulated well or it’d condensate on the louver.

If you happen to come across a small mechanical louver that can open and close when the cooling is needed please let me know! Right now I dont cold crash or brew lagers/stouts but I've been putting off drilling a hole in the divider because I want am automated way to open and close a valve!

 

[ancientmariner52]

If you happen to come across a small mechanical louver that can open and close when the cooling is needed please let me know! Right now I dont cold crash or brew lagers/stouts but I've been putting off drilling a hole in the divider because I want am automated way to open and close a valve!

Perhaps a clothes drier vent and a small fan? It wouldn't give a hermetic seal, but probably doesn't need to. Wire a temp controller to start and stop the fan as needed.

 

[c673986]

Perhaps a clothes drier vent and a small fan? It wouldn't give a hermetic seal, but probably doesn't need to. Wire a temp controller to start and stop the fan as needed.

I think that would work. Might not condensate if there were a insulated duct (pvc pipe) which ran from low in the fridge and dumped out near the top with the dryer vent louver somewhere in that line.

Another thing which would definitely work would be a little glycol system.

 

[MaryB]

Simple flap of silicone rubber hinged on the front of the fan with a small weight on the bottom if needed.

 

[North_of_60]

I used this drip tray for three taps, there was plenty of room. It may even work with four taps but I think they would be pretty close together. $29.49 on Amazon with free shipping.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WJ4NTS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[jayway]

I went a bit fancy on my drip tray but it's just a 19" I found on sale that was less than $30