converting a freezer top refridgerator to fermentation chamber

I got offered a freezer top for free. Immediately I started thinking, how can I make this a fermentation chamber. I've seen a few say that you need to be careful with coils between the freezer and fridge section...

So I'm thinking, anyone do this yet? Its a whirlpool model #et1chmxkq02 (2003).

The diagrams I've found so far don't show anything in between the freezer and refridgerator sections....

manual, you need to scroll down

link is no good. takes me to (basically) a blank page. there is nowhere to scroll down to.

Bummer, working from a tablet. Ill fix it when I get home. Sorry about that!

I found the diagrams by just googling "whirlpool et1chmxkq02".

I don't see anything that would indicate coils in that layer between, but...

how big is this thing? I found no specs on the size of it. Is it a mini-fridge or something?

19 cu ft. Unsure of actual dimensions at the moment.

Ok... so it's full-sized.

Why do you need to make modifications to it?

I was thinking about making it one giant refridgerator. Cutting a hole in between the freezer and refridgerator section to maximize carboy space.

You just want to make it into a fermentation cabinet? All I did was add a temp controller on a strip plug. I heat in the winter cool in the summer. Stupid simple.

Just a fermentation cabinet. I would need to make it look pretty through to get the wife's approval. But I've got that under control.

I made one. I took an old 21 cu ft top freezer fridge and made it all one chamber by taking out the freezer floor, bypassed the defroster switch and adding a Johnson controller. The cooling coils in mine were in the back. I use the shelf system that was in it and can get four, maybe five fermeters in it and can get the temperature below freezing if I want. I sanded it down and painted the body with rustoleum hammered silver paint and the door to the freeze compartment with chaulkboard paint. It doesn't look too bad and it works great.

I guess making it "one giant refridgerator" would mean you would be putting a shelf half-way up the thing so that you could have two levels of fermenters in it?

That seems like a pain. I think you would not only have to remove the "floor" of the freezer, but also the front piece.... not sure how to describe it... that you can see between the main door and the freezer door when the doors are shut.

if you didn't remove that, I don't think you would be able to get anything on/off that upper shelf.

It's not hard. You have to take the bar on the front of the fridge that seperates the freezer from fridge compartment off to take out the freezer floor and put it back so the doors seal shut. You then have one big compartment that will all be the same temp. I was going to build shelves but I just moved one of the original shelves to about half way up and split the compartment in half. I didn't take any of the door shelving out because I had plenty of room.

CGVT said:

It's not hard. You have to take the bar on the front of the fridge that seperates the freezer from fridge compartment off to take out the freezer floor and put it back so the doors seal shut. You then have one big compartment that will all be the same temp. I was going to build shelves but I just moved one of the original shelves to about half way up and split the compartment in half. I didn't take any of the door shelving out because I had plenty of room.

Click to expand...

Right... so you took off that bar, then removed the floor of the freezer, and then put the bar back in.

Isn't that bar in your way now when you want to put things in the top-part of the now-large fridge?

tying the upper and lower door together would allow you to put the seal on the door side rather than the fridge side so you could still get the 1 giant compartment sealed... but i get 4 on the floor of my full sized fridge with the door organizer removed so i never bothered ripping the freezer apart.

my freezer has coils in the "floor" so i would have to bend/hope/pray to get any more in there... but 4 has been plenty for me

Walker said:

Right... so you took off that bar, then removed the floor of the freezer, and then put the bar back in.

Isn't that bar in your way now when you want to put things in the top-part of the now-large fridge?

Click to expand...

No. This thing is huge. I can go over the bar (with a bit of angle) and put stuff on the top shelf. It takes a bit uf muscle to get a five gallon carboy up and over the bar, but it is doable. I can also take out the shelf that goes all the way across the fridge if I want and replace it with one of the "half" shelves for more versitility.

I'll see if I can figure out how to post pictures.

ahhh, ok. thanks.

Great, thanks for everyone chiming in. The plans I found look like the coils are on the back of the fridge, so I may be in luck about cutting a hole through the freezers floor.

As for aesthetics, I'm thinking about just making some cabinet doors that surround the sides of the doors and then liquid nailing it all on the front doors of the refridgerator. And possibily running a wood screw into the sides of the door to atttach for good measure. As for the sides of the refridgerator, I'm still figuring that out because the sides will definitely be visible.

It would have been better to connect the doors somehow and lose the bar, but I was too impatient It came out of a carport so it was in pretty rough shape, but I got it for free. I may not have removed the freeze floor, but the styrofoam was saturated with rotted fish juice and there was no way I was going to get rid of the smell without taking it out. I think that it got stuck on the auto-defrost cycle, but since I bypassed the switch that is not a problem.

This the inside after I took out the freezer floor.

CGVT: that is the exact same ugly-ass fridge I have in my garage to hold fermenters. Right down to the puke yellow color.

as a matter of fact... your garage door is the same, too.

Are you in my f*cking house?

Ha! 1987 model. It was in rough shape. The front was really rusted up. I had to take off the handles and bondo up the doors to make it presentable.

It Africa hot here in Lower Alabama and I don't keep the house cool enough to ferment in the summer so it really serves the purpose.

Here's a shot of the inside of mine. I can get three carboys in there on a shelf I built, one one of them has to be a 5 gallon carboy. Can't get three 6.5's in there unless I want to yank off the door shelves.

I measured and I would have to remove the shelf or build one a few inches taller than the highest setting for the existing shelves if I wanted to use 6.5s. Right now all I have is a plastic ale pail in it, but plan to add more this weekend...

Hey Improv, post some pictures when you get it done. I'm curious to see what you come up with.

I definitely will. Earliest I would get the fridge is the week after labor day. I'll keep things updated. Thanks for all the advice!

Must be a popular model 'cause I have two of them (although one just died and is on it's way to the dump).

Walker said:

Can't get three 6.5's in there unless I want to yank off the door shelves.

Click to expand...

You can easily get 4 carboys of any size plus a couple growlers in the fridge compartment by replacing the molded shelving panel on the inside of the door with something flat. I used a piece of coated 1/8" hardboard.

I will probably take the panel off of mine sometime. I left it thinking I might want to use the shelves, but I probablly won't.

As I look at your picture I see that the bottom shelf is broken on yours JuanMoore. That must have been standard on that model. Mine is broken the same way...

JuanMoore said:

You can easily get 4 carboys of any size plus a couple growlers in the fridge compartment by replacing the molded shelving panel on the inside of the door with something flat. I used a piece of coated 1/8" hardboard.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know I could get more in there, but:

(a) I don't need to. I usually only have two carboys going at a time. I have three right now because I am brewing extra for a party in October. I don't see myself needing space for 4. If I do, then I could always rack them into cornies for secondary instead of carboys.

(b) I like storing/aging bottles in the door shelves. Got some 2006 Bigfoot in there as well as other stuff.