Side-by-side kegerator.

I have a question for some of you knowledgeable folks, but first a little back story.

I had to replace our fridge this spring not because it was letting food spoil, no it was freezing it. Its an old side by side and I know I can fit at least 4 corny kegs in the fridge portion and one on the freezer side (plus a 5lb CO2). Unfortunately this is the only fridge I have to work with. What I can see after I stripped all the plastic out of the back is that there is a fan at the top of the freezer portion and a duct that has a butterfly plate going to the top of the fridge. There is also a circulation hole which can be opened and closed towards the bottom of the freezer and fridge.

My questions:

1) Is it feasible to even try to set such a fridge up as a kegerator?

2) Should I only use the fridge portion and just store the CO2 in the freezer side (though there might be room at the bottom of the fridge portion)?

3) Can I just drill a few 2"+ (maybe 4) holes in between the two compartments to equalize the temp?

I dont (for now) have a temperature control device due to SWMBO saying I cant spend any more money on anything but ingredients, but I do have a digital temp probe for cooking in the kitchen which I could use to adjust the temperature if the above ideas on equalizing temperature are do-able.

Im also going to be insulating the doors with 2" extruded polystyrene. I just have to pull the rest of the door insides off and rip out the fiberglass and do some trimming to make sure they will close without bumping anything.

I would not invest much money or time into a side by side that doesn't work properly. Cheap / free fridges are on craigslist all the time near me...YMMV. People use side by sides all the time, but the best method is to partially remove the interior so it is all fridge, and this may take a bit of skill and tech. ability.

Whether or not you can make it work well I think depends on your skill level. The right mechanic I'm sure could make an awesome kegerator out of it. I remember seeing a SXS fridge that the guy removed almost all of the panel b/w the fridge and freezer, just leaving the frame part so the doors still sealed. It was really nice, but I'm not sure if it required thermostat adjustment / replacement.

Go ahead and play with it if you want...free right...except the time and money you put into it. I would not put a dime into it untill I confirmed that it worked well enough to chill kegs to the proper temp.

Since you don't have a temperature controller, the first thing is to test the maximum temperature that the built-in thermostat can maintain. Open the duct all the way, set the temperature controls to the maximum and check where the two compartments stabilize.

Nothing says you can't put the CO2 bottle in the freezer area, even if it is too cold for brew. And you can always use the freezer for ingredient storage, that's what I did with my first kegger.

Thanks for the responses.

UPS is dropping off the kegs today so when they get here Im off to the LHBS to snag some ingredients and a root beer extract. I think Im going to go put the doors back on and see how cold it goes before I go hacking it apart.

Thanks for the storage idea David_42. Ill probably throw some hops in there if it is indeed too cold for the good stuff.

You might want to check the fan at the back of the fridge on the outside bottom. Sometimes those go out and keep the fridge from cooling properly. Usually this fan blows air over the heat exchange coils on the bottom. If its not working it wont cool. To test if replacing it will fix the fridge take a small fan and aim it at the coils. If it starts cooling you might look into replacing the fan.

I know that its still cooling properly. Its was just very inconsistent with regular food in it. It loved to freeze vegetables like lettuce and on rare occasions carrots too. Now that I got the kegs put in and Im looking at it it was probably just the way the crisper was positioned next to the lower 'vent' hole from the freezer portion.

Oh well, it got me a new fridge with an ice maker and filtered water so Ill be happy with the sacrifice.

I've seen some threads where they remove the middle divider or atleast hollowed it out.