4.6 cu ft Fridge to 10.1 cu ft Fermentation Chamber Conversion

-TH- said:

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:

Now I can fit my three fermenters in it!

Click to expand...

Is it possible to get a pic on where you're connecting the wires? I think this the fermentation chamber build I want to go with.

Azharen said:

Is it possible to get a pic on where you're connecting the wires? I think this the fermentation chamber build I want to go with.

Click to expand...

This should help you...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/love-temp-controller-series-ts-wiring-diagram-2008-a-88369/

I like your concept. I will build. Thanks for sharing.

I finally got mine complete. 3 months only getting to work on it maybe 3 hours a week. This is actually a freezer only that is why I used two fans. Sorry for the cell phone pics but that is all I had available.

Nice Work!

This looks awesome! How cold does this get? I'm thinking of building something similar but I'd also like to use it as a kegerator too, but I'm concerned about a little 4.6 cu. ft. fridge getting cold enough?

I'm loving it. Totally inspiring!

Thanks for the posts.
Redbeard5289

I'm loving it. Totally inspiring!

Thanks for the posts.
Redbeard5289

I have not tested to see how cold it gets. As stated, this is not a fridge, it is all freezer. I have never seen one before, but they closed my wifes clinic and they just wanted to get rid of it. They used it to store ice packs. Since it is a freezer, I think it should have no problem getting low enough to use as a kegarator.

I now know what I'll be doing with my mini fridge.

-=Jason=-

i had a similar deal for about a year. problem was, the little part in the top of the fridge that was supposed to form ice, obviously never did, so it was dripping wet all the time. I constantly (well, when i was fermenting) had to wipe it dry. well after a year of use, i was going to move it, and discovered i hadn't dried all the water that formed, and it had leaked to the bottom back of the cabinet and was covered in mold. the back panel had warped and came off (i made my extra space using an old kitchen cabinet)

Here is the thread w/ pics of my old ferm. chamber
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-ferm-chamber-129720/

that first pic, you see where the fridge butted up against cab, that is where water at some point leaked out.

anyway, note to anyone doing this.. watch for water. am I the only one with that problem?

this is what I have now: a 5cuft. chest freezer w/johnson controller

Thanks for showing me this build. Looking for a new way to place the kegs in the garage for primary fermenting.

looking at this... it makes me think do you guys think it would be possible to undo the whole freezer/fridge and put them apart in the box so i takes less space ?

I was just told to check out this thread for ideas. This is awesome. Subscribing so I can get back to it!

Penguinetti said:

I was just told to check out this thread for ideas. This is awesome. Subscribing so I can get back to it!

Click to expand...

Hey thanks - it is still in use today!

I did add a small heater to it as well to play around with raising the temp near the end of fermentation (when the basement is too cold).

Good to see that this thread was bumped today so I don't have to resurrect it myself

Here are a few pics from my copycat build I did a couple weeks ago. I put it on a platform with casters, went for a dual stage controller, and added a small 200W space heater I picked up on Amazon for around $20. Other than that, same basic design. Thanks!

I like what you did there with the cabinet and casters. The small space heater is a good idea too.

Looks great! I'm adding this to my to-do list.

I realize this build was a few years ago, but can you tell me if the magnetic strips used to attach the foam box to the fridge worked out? My garage will get pretty hot in the summer, so I am concerned about air leakage, but I want to salvage the fridge for potential kegerator at some point in the future. I'd rather a temp box such as this, rather than the typical screw-collar-to-fridge type of modifications.

Also, I was thinking of leaving the door attached to the fridge, just fitting a piece of foam board (with magnetic strips) to fill the gap between the fridge and the 90 degree open door. That gap on my fridge stays at about 1" throughout the swing of the door, so I think this would work.

Thoughts? Any guidance is appreciated, your setup is great.

SUBBED! Gotta keep this for reference!

Alstein said:

I realize this build was a few years ago, but can you tell me if the magnetic strips used to attach the foam box to the fridge worked out? My garage will get pretty hot in the summer, so I am concerned about air leakage, but I want to salvage the fridge for potential kegerator at some point in the future. I'd rather a temp box such as this, rather than the typical screw-collar-to-fridge type of modifications.

Also, I was thinking of leaving the door attached to the fridge, just fitting a piece of foam board (with magnetic strips) to fill the gap between the fridge and the 90 degree open door. That gap on my fridge stays at about 1" throughout the swing of the door, so I think this would work.

Thoughts? Any guidance is appreciated, your setup is great.

Click to expand...

Yes it worked pretty well, the only thing is if I bumped it then I think it would separate a little. The weakest link actually was the adhesive on the magnetic strip. So one time when I needed to relocate it to the other side of my "brewery", I took it apart and reassembled in its new location, however this time I added some tape that I had left over from some plastic floor under-layment (really strong stuff and also vapor barrier). This works well at keeping the two halves together firmly.

BTW I still use this unit regularly and it works great!

Subbed
Re-using the fridge door was a "Man I'm soo stupid" moment. Was thinking what I'd need to get to build a door for a ferm chamber........

-TH- said:

Yes it worked pretty well, the only thing is if I bumped it then I think it would separate a little. The weakest link actually was the adhesive on the magnetic strip. So one time when I needed to relocate it to the other side of my "brewery", I took it apart and reassembled in its new location, however this time I added some tape that I had left over from some plastic floor under-layment (really strong stuff and also vapor barrier). This works well at keeping the two halves together firmly.

BTW I still use this unit regularly and it works great!

Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks a lot for the info. I plan on tackling this in the next couple weeks.
Cheers!