Homemade kegerator problem freezing beer any help?

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accordpower99

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I have a GE mini fridge that I modified to fit my corny keg and co2 bottle. The fridge temp was at 60 yet my beer was frozen. The kegerator is outside in FL weather. Right now the days are mid 80 at night mid 60s. The temp setting is at 2 1/2 on the fridge. Any suggestions on the thermometer placement or should i wrap the keg with something or try to form a barrier between the freezer tray and keg.


Also I placed some coors in there and the super cold blue is showing up. Seems like all the metal gets alot colder then the air in there. Is this normal?

In the pic the keg is on the right side normally. Any suggestions??

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i had the same issue,,,,,hung the temp probe in the air rather than atached to the keg...problem solved.
 
If your keg froze, the freezer plate iced and the mountains turned blue the compartment had to be warmer than 60. What are you basing the temperature reading off of? Maybe the controller or temp probe is not accurate.
 
Dan said:
If your keg froze, the freezer plate iced and the mountains turned blue the compartment had to be warmer than 60. What are you basing the temperature reading off of? Maybe the controller or temp probe is not accurate.

Typo? Why would a frozen keg lead you to believe the air is warmer than 60?

I would suggest making sure the keg is not in contact with any cooling elements as the keg could become a heat sink for the system. It sounds like Ohiosteve went through a similar issue, so a good first step is doing what he says.
 
my theory is that by the time the keg gets to say 35 degrees the temp in the fridge is much colder....the keg gets to 35 and the compressor kicks off BUT the ambient temp is still much colder. the 35 degree keg is now seting in a 20 degree fridge and it freezes.
 
The temp probe is already in the air its on the top of the fridge. its the wire hanging down slightly at the end of it is my thermometer so as soon as i open the fridge door I can the temp. Prolly not the best way to check I when I try to "feel" the temp of the air seems alot warmer. My c02 tank is frosted up as well. Should I change the temp down even farther?
 
Typo? Why would a frozen keg lead you to believe the air is warmer than 60?

I would suggest making sure the keg is not in contact with any cooling elements as the keg could become a heat sink for the system. It sounds like Ohiosteve went through a similar issue, so a good first step is doing what he says.


Ha ha. Yes Freisste that was a typo.


OP, you could try mounting your temp probe to the keg and then put something to insulate it from the air. That's a fairly common method. You could also put the probe in a glass of water in the lower part of the frigde. Either method will be more accurate than hanging it in the air. If you use the water method protect your temp probe with a plastic bag.
 
Will a glass of anti freeze be just as accurate for the temp probe? At least until I get the temp setting correct?
 
Ha ha. Yes Freisste that was a typo.


OP, you could try mounting your temp probe to the keg and then put something to insulate it from the air. That's a fairly common method. You could also put the probe in a glass of water in the lower part of the frigde. Either method will be more accurate than hanging it in the air. If you use the water method protect your temp probe with a plastic bag.

I know everyone has their way that works for them, but i tried both of those methods and both produced frozen kegs and lines. i hung the probe in the air and the kegs balanced out at the ambient temp of the kegerator.and everything is working fine...the OP is having weird issues, the only thing I can think of is the keg is setting against the evaporator plate.
 
Step 1 is to use another thermometer to verify what yours is reading. The problem is as soon as you open the door all the cold air is going to fall out and immediately fill with ambient air, so its always going to feel warmer. I bet if you went out and opened it up with bare feet you'd feel all the cold air pouring out.

Also i see no temperature controller, which is causing what OHIOSTEVE mentioned. You should investigate building a STC-1000 or just getting a prebuilt Johnson controller or something.

Honestly i have no idea what your temperature control system is, are you just setting the fridge to a setting with its thermostat then reading the analog thermometer there on the back wall? That will 100% cause what OHIOSTEVE mentioned, your fridge is way overshooting temperature.
 
in a fridge would he really need a temp control? i use a freezer so I do not know.

I dont know if its a fridge/freezer combo and he just took out the freezer trays? If it is, i would assume its possible for it to output colder than freezing temp air, but like you i use a freezer so i dont know.
 
are you just setting the fridge to a setting with its thermostat then reading the analog thermometer there on the back wall? That will 100% cause what OHIOSTEVE mentioned, your fridge is way overshooting temperature.

Yes this is how i am checking the temp.
 
the fridge is a freezer tray and fridge combo. the freezer tray is bent to the back of the fridge. the temp controller is mounted to the top and has a max setting of 7. Thanks for everyones time, I hope we can fix the issue my beer froze twice...
 
the fridge is a freezer tray and fridge combo. the freezer tray is bent to the back of the fridge. the temp controller is mounted to the top and has a max setting of 7. Thanks for everyones time, I hope we can fix the issue my beer froze twice...

Try the warmest setting on the fridge and see if it works, if it still freezes you need to get a external temperature controller to turn on and off the fridge at the power source. I am going to guess that the freezer coil isnt temperature controlled, but set to a constant 30-32 degree's...and that the thermostat is only controlling the fridge coil...could be wrong, regardless its your freezer coil thats causing it to get too cold. But if im right the only way to fix it is an external temp controller to shut everything off...the STC-1000's are only like $45-50 bucks in parts, or just get a prebuilt Johnson for slightly more.
 
ahhh I see, yeah my fridge runs constantly now which i dont believe is usual. However when I 1st had the fridge the temp probe was on the freezer tray, well the freezer tray would form ice on the temp probe and then it would cut off the fridge causing the temp setting to be around 5 or 6(and the coors light mountains not blue) just to keep a constant cold temp. From being unplugged and turning on the freezer tray is the first to get cold and icy. Hope this helps some more.
 

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