Need Help with Keezer

I have aquired a chest freezer for cheap that I would eventually like to turn into a Keezer. It is an older montgomery ward with a temperature control. It only has 2 settings, normal and cold. Cold is a deep freeze and normal puts me at about 10-12 degrees F. Obviously too cold. My question for all you experts out there is this. How easy/expensive is it to mess with the temperature so its not as cold? Would I need to get something additional like a thermostat?

Get a Johnson controls thermostat. You plug the freezer into the thermostat and set it and forget it. Best $75 you will spend on the entire build.

You can get them online easy... I got mine at Midwest supply.

thats all you do? No rewiring or anything like that?

No need to rewire. These controllers are plug and play. They are great.

The controller has a temp probe with it. You drop the probe into the freezer and you are good to go. There are many debates on the best place to place the probe for efficiency or way to wrap the probe to help it better measure beer temp rather than air temp... But all that is personal preference in my opinion.

There are some good threads on here about temp control in a keezer... They are worth the read. For example, the keeze will naturally be colder at the bottom than the top of the box. Some people, self included, use fans to stir the air in the keezer to prevent this. Some tape the temp probe to their kegs to measure keg temp rather than air temp. Still others put the probe in water to prevent the unit from turning on whenever they open the door.

For the basics, buy the controller, tape the probe to the lid in such a way that it hangs down about 6-12 inches without touching anything, set it to a +\- 3 degrees and you are good to go.

+1
Amazon $52.95. Johnson A19AAT-2C. Works great!

I suppose it could be rewired, but most folks just use off the shelf controllers.

I am going to throw in another vote for the Johnson analog, I have two--one for the keez and one for the fermenter.

Excellent I will definately look into this. Thanks for the help. BrewMoreBeers, you just use a small fan inside? Run the cord out the lid? Is it on all the time?

In my keezer I have a 110v computer fan I bought on line from an office refurbish sight. I have it running all the time. I wired it through a small hole through the collar that I plugged with caulk. No worries.

i have a small 4" desk fan that i bought a target. i just run the cord our under the lid and let it run. i have t sitting on the hump and pointing slightly down to stir the bottom

I used a Ranco and it is pretty sweet. It requires some mild wiring but there is a pretty good write up on it around here somewhere. I picked it up for around 50 bucks on ebay.