4.6 cu ft Fridge to 10.1 cu ft Fermentation Chamber Conversion
 

After a nice score on CL (a side-by-side fridge/freezer for our basement) SWMBO offered up our 4.6 cu ft Haier to me to do with as I wish. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it), I could not even fit one carboy or bucket in it because of the shape of the interior bottom combined with the protrusions on the inside of the door. So, after being inspired by some of the creations I found on this website, I decided to create something of my own.

I wanted to build it to fit under this workbench…
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc1.JPG

I made the walls out of 2-ply 3/4" foam insulation. Also, I relocated the top and bottom brackets of the fridge door so that the door could still be used. Here’s a picture of the glued-up panels and fridge temporarily in place…
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc2.JPG

In order for the magnetic seals of the door to work properly, I used some scrap metal I had at work and painted them and glued them around the face of the opening as shown here…
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc3.JPG

Then I stuck on some magnetic strips with adhesive backing. This is what holds the new chamber to the fridge. Also I put a piece of clear Plexiglas (another scrap piece from work) cut to fit on the floor of the chamber.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc4.JPG

continued...

Continued...
 

To control temps I bought a Love controller and installed that in the door. I also added a muffin fan to move air around. Here’s the finished product:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc5.JPG

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc61.JPG

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc71.JPG

Now I can fit my three fermenters in it!
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/fc81.JPG

Well Done!! Never seen one like that before.

You would be hating life without that Plexiglas floor, good call.

Very Nice!

Question: How low can you get the temperature? Would this be usable as a kegerator?

Thanks.

I will be using this for fermenting ales for quite a while so I probably won't even try for now. I've seen others with similar setups go plenty low (upper 30's I think?).

Very nice job there...

Very nicely done.

Looks good!

very nice, how often does it cycle on and off?

I don't know yet I haven't been able to watch it for very long. I'll let you know when I do.