Kegerator/Fermentation Chamber

I'm building an Kegerator/Fermentation Chamber. My plans are to drill two 4" holes into the refrigerator with a vent fan "Inductor 4 In. In-line Duct Fan" that will kick on every time the temperate gets above 50F. To pull colder air for the Kegerator into the fermentation chamber. The second hole is for the returning air to recycle warmer air. My full plans are to have a full size refrigerator "top freezer" next to the fermentation chamber.

First I'm going to try this on a small refrigerator, filled with bricks to be allowed to cool for several days before the fermentation chamber is "plugged" in. I do not want to burn out the refrigerator compressor. I'm getting the smaller refrigerator for free but I had to pay for the full size frig. I would rather keep an good Kegerator and look for something else to cool down my fermentation chamber.

Fermentation Chamber 30"Wx4'Lx4"H

What you think?

I was actually thinking about doing something similar. My fermentation chamber is under my work bench about 6 inches away from my Keezer. I was thinking about connecting the two with a 4" hose and using a fan (perhaps thru a 4" hole in the collar) to blow cold air from the Keezer to the fermentation chamber. My chamber is small so it wouldn't take much air to cool it down.

I wonder if you would need the return air? If you did, I wonder if you need it to be as large a diameter? Maybe just vent it with a one way valve somehow?

Has anyone ever tried this before?

srimshot said:

Has anyone ever tried this before?

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That's what I want to find out. Everyone I talk to says you should have a return vent. Going to start building again on Monday..

Thanks for writhing back!

Another Idea I just ran across..

MartinH said:

Another Idea I just ran across..

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Yeah, I've seen that when I was looking around myself, very interesting.

I found a couple of other links where they're using fans to push air. Here they are in case you hadn't seen them yet.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/wanted-info-keezer-side-fermentation-chamber-134679/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/holiday-lch0701pw-freezer-122466/

I'm not sure which way I'm going to go. The glycol idea seems like it could be more effecient than just pushing air. However, I'd like to use my fermenter for lagering as well. My Keezer temp is around 37 deg so I'm not sure either of these methods would be able to get to the low 40's.

Good luck with your build and let us know how it works.

Those are some noisy fans, he should have spent a few more bucks on quiet fans. If you are going to go to that level of a fermentor build you may as well go all the way and make a full on glycol jacket.

Be very careful where you drill holes in a fridge. If you hit any of the coolant likes, you just scrapped your fridge.

srimshot said:

Yeah, I've seen that when I was looking around myself, very interesting.

I found a couple of other links where they're using fans to push air. Here they are in case you hadn't seen them yet.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/wanted-info-keezer-side-fermentation-chamber-134679/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/holiday-lch0701pw-freezer-122466/

I'm not sure which way I'm going to go. The glycol idea seems like it could be more effecient than just pushing air. However, I'd like to use my fermenter for lagering as well. My Keezer temp is around 37 deg so I'm not sure either of these methods would be able to get to the low 40's.

Good luck with your build and let us know how it works.

Click to expand...

Thank you every much!!
Thank you for the information!

I'm almost done but I do have "beer" in the Beer Box.. LOL!

MartinH said:

Another Idea I just ran across..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bb4VUleM5s

Click to expand...

This is a cool set up! I couldn't really follow how exactly he is using the fans to spread the cold glycol? Are those just metal tubes that chill the air around them and then the fan spreads that chilled air?

Pretty sweet!

My idea was since I have an extra kegerator I was going to take out all the kegerator lines and tower and build an insulated box on too of it and put a thermostat controlled fan to blow
Refrigerated air into the top box Als have a return located on opposite top back corners of the box. Essentially you a "mother of fermentation chamber" that would not require frozen jugs. My thought is I could store kegs/bottles in the kegerator section and ferment on the top.
I've heard mixed reviews of this idea but seems like it would work.
I will only be fermenting ales and it would be inside so only looking at maintaining a few degrees swing from room temperature

Every time I get a new idea about building or expanding a fermentation chamber, I just start trolling craigslist for used fridges or freezers. In my experience, once you dither around with fans, tubing, ducting, and whatever other nickel-and-dime components you need to finish the build, it is just cheaper to buy a used freezer or minifridge. Also, having three minifridges (one for bottles, one kegerator conversion, and one fermentation chamber) means I have tons of room to put up brewery stickers.