I need help with modifying a side by side fridge.

Ok, I live in the desert in Arizona where it doesn't get cold for very long so brewing lagers is hard. Also my house doesn't stay a very constant temp throughout the day. I wanted the freedom to brew a lager or ale whenever I wanted as well as the freedom to do more than one batch at a time so I went and bought a second hand side by side fridge. Now the problem I'm having is the freezer section even set at its warmest wont go above 30 and the fridge section at its warmest wont go above about 40. Now I know I can use a temperature controller and set the temp I want and it will turn the fridge on and off to maintain the temp I want but what I would rather do if it is possible is to adjust the temperature range of both the fridge and freezer section. This way I can use the freezer section for lagers and the fridge section for ales, even at the same time if I so wanted. Any ideas or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Use two temp controllers... one controls the compressor and maintains the freezer side lagering temp, other controls a fan that moves cold air from the lagering chamber to the fermenting chamber.

The fan change requires some minor mods but is pretty straight forward.

LakewoodBrew,
Thanx for the response. I'm not sure I understand how that would work. How exactly would I set up the second temp controller and fan? What kind of modifications are we talking about?

Block all passages that lead to the fridge side off of the evaporator coil (spray foam insulation works well) make sure you have good flow returning to the freezer. Then cut a hole toward the top of separator panel and install a box fan. Wire box fan to the second controller.

All the cooling takes place in the freezer side, and the fan moves air from the freezer side to cool the fridge side.. So you put the beer that requires the cooler ferm temp in the freezer side, and use a controller for that... the you intercept the wiring that goes to the fan (it likely has a two wire connector that will allow you to unplug it from the fridge), and plug it into the second controller (for the warmer fermenting beer)...

The fan is 120v so all you gotta do is disconnect it from the fridge and plug it into the second controller.. For the freezer side you just plug the whole fridge into your controller and set the temp control of the fridge itself to the lowest possible setting...

That's the way my side by side works anyways...

The only challenge with re-using the existing fan is that you need to make sure the fan runs while the compressor is on, otherwise the evaporator will freeze up and I may run forever burning out the compressor. It's easier IMHO to just add a second fan.

LakewoodBrew said:

The only challenge with re-using the existing fan is that you need to make sure the fan runs while the compressor is on, otherwise the evaporator will freeze up and I may run forever burning out the compressor. It's easier IMHO to just add a second fan.

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That makes sense..

Are you a appliance guy? If so, I have a couple questions on a related theme...

No, Mechanical Engineer with a few keezer / kegerator / fermcellar builds under my belt.

I'm looking for someone who can tell me what's involved with cutting the lines that go from outside a fridge to inside a fridge, and resoldering them and recharging the fridge.. Hoping it's something I can do myself to one degree or another..

My goal is to completely ditch the enclosure of a donor fridge and build a new, super insulated box, and then install the donor guts in the new enclosure...

Once you cut the lines you need to be able to evacuate and re-charge the system. This requires special tools (you can get at harbor frieght) but I would recommend just getting a small room air conditioner to serve as the cooling powerplant. It's already set up to do what you are looking for.

I thought of that, but it's impractical for the space and I'm concerned about the fact that it is a big air leak, making it less efficient...

These boxes (there will be three of them) will be built into a unit that has a long countertop on top... and each will have frameless walls filled with a minimum of 4 inches of closed cell foam.. sides, doors, top and bottom... think of a plywood box built inside of a bigger plywood box, with continuous foam filling the 4" (or greater) void..

I want these things to use almost 'no' power... In fact, I want to eventually power them with a couple solar panels...

Have you calc'd your energy balance? Figure out the heat gain add 10-20% depending on how thorough your loss accounting is, and that is the capacity needed. Derate for efficiency of the system and you have you input power. If it's really low you could try peltier coolers.

LakewoodBrew said:

Have you calc'd your energy balance? Figure out the heat gain add 10-20% depending on how thorough your loss accounting is, and that is the capacity needed. Derate for efficiency of the system and you have you input power. If it's really low you could try peltier coolers.

Click to expand...

I don't know how to do all that... And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad...

Thank you both so much for your help and input. I will look into that.

r8rphan: Check out this build. Might by up your alley http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Knews-Hound-Builds-the-Beast

Pontiac: I have a side by side that I am in the process of converting. The setup involves 2 controllers, one to heat and one to cool (although you may not need to heat yours). The responses I've gotten is that I simply bypass the factory thermostat with the controller for the cool setting and use a 120mm case fan to move air between the chambers. If you want to heat, use another controller with a reptile heat bulb or the like and another 120mm fan to move air.

Hope this helps!

Pontiac455 said:

Any ideas or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Boerderij_Kabouter did a great conversion.

ALL THE INFO YOU NEED

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

rudu81 said:

r8rphan: Check out this build. Might by up your alley http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Knews-Hound-Builds-the-Beast

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've read that article before... but thanks.. the construction method I want to use, will not allow for that.. I need to 'cut' the lines, extend them, and resolder them....

Anybody know if an AC contractor would be able to do that? If so, I know of a guy I might be able to do some trading with.. He's into home wine making too..

Or is this strictly the domain of an appliance or refrigeration tech?....

Rudu81,
Thanx for the help. The only thing is I have no idea how to start wiring a controller to this, nor which controller I need. Do side by side fridges have two cooling units? If so, I assume, but correct me if I'm wrong, I would then either need 2 controllers or 1 controller that has 2 outputs so that it could control each thermostat right? Thanx again for the help.

Pontiac455 said:

Rudu81,
Thanx for the help. The only thing is I have no idea how to start wiring a controller to this, nor which controller I need. Do side by side fridges have two cooling units? If so, I assume, but correct me if I'm wrong, I would then either need 2 controllers or 1 controller that has 2 outputs so that it could control each thermostat right? Thanx again for the help.

Click to expand...

Go back and read my earlier post about hooking this up..

A side by side generally only has a cooling unit for the freezer section.. It's always colder than the fridge side.. a thermostat operated fan moves cold air from the freezer side to the fridge side to cool the fridge side....

The temperatures you are going to want to operate at, are outside of the range (and accuracy) of the built in thermostat(s).. So you use aftermarket ones to control the temp...

Basically, for the freezer side, you just set the units existing thermostat to it's coldest setting, and then plug the power cord of your side by side into your aftermarket thermostat....

You can then use a 'second' thermostat, to control a small 120v box fan that you plug into it, to move air from the colder freezer side to the fridge side... You'll need to cut a hole for the new fan to move the air from one side to the other... I would go online first though, and get an exploded parts diagram for your fridge to make sure there aren't any defrost wires or whatever where you plan to cut the hole...

The set up I'm describing requires two independent 'cool only' temp controls... If you want to incorporate heat too, you get heat/cool temp controls instead of cool only controls.. Instead of a reptile heater or lamp or whatever, you can use fermenter heating blankets which are about $30 and wrap them around your fermenting vessel.... You would plug these into the heat side of the heat/cool temp controllers...

Oh ok, I'm starting to get how it all works. Thanx so much.

So r8rphan, what type of temp controller and fan would you recommend and where should I get them from?

I guess I should start with trying to figure out how to take apart the inside of my fridge. One more question I have is what temp controller and fan do you recommend and where can I get them?

r8rphan said:

Yeah, I've read that article before... but thanks.. the construction method I want to use, will not allow for that.. I need to 'cut' the lines, extend them, and resolder them....

Anybody know if an AC contractor would be able to do that? If so, I know of a guy I might be able to do some trading with.. He's into home wine making too..

Or is this strictly the domain of an appliance or refrigeration tech?....

Click to expand...

Any AC guy should be able to connect and charge a cooling system.

Pontiac455 said:

I guess I should start with trying to figure out how to take apart the inside of my fridge. One more question I have is what temp controller and fan do you recommend and where can I get them?

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The Johnson and Ranco controllers seem to be the most popular and common amongst homebrewers.. You acn get them at online or local homebrewing suppliers

Here's the prewired Ranco Heat and Cool version
(click on LINK below picture to go to MoreBeer website)


LINK
You can get unwired ones (less expensive), if you're comfortable with playing electrician, or single stage (cooling only), and there are cheaper brands out there.. You will alos probably be able to find it cheaper if you shop around (try some of the vendors that advertise here)

As far as a fan goes, any good electronics 120v box fan (like used to cool computers) should work.. I would probably get a 3 or 4 inch one... But I'm just guessing here... They're cheap.. If the one you buy is too small or doesn't do the trick, you can always get a second one and drill another hole and wire them together... (in parallel, not series)

Pontiac455 said:

I guess I should start with trying to figure out how to take apart the inside of my fridge. One more question I have is what temp controller and fan do you recommend and where can I get them?

Click to expand...

Hey Pontiac. I'm in Tucson too, and have a side by side. I haven't modded anything but you can get a controller at either of the two brewshops in town.

Also, check out the locl club at the link in my sig

Pontiac455 said:

The only thing is I have no idea how to start wiring a controller to this, nor which controller I need. Do side by side fridges have two cooling units? If so, I assume, but correct me if I'm wrong, I would then either need 2 controllers or 1 controller that has 2 outputs so that it could control each thermostat right? Thanx again for the help.

Click to expand...

If you remove the kick plate at the bottom front of the fridge, there should be a wiring diagram in there. It may be attached to the kick plate or tucked away against the metal of the cabinet - you'll have to check. The research I've done is that I can simply bypass the current thermometer and temp sensor with the cooling control lines. You can use a variety of temp controllers that you can find help on here. I personally am going to use the following: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

I agree that most fridge units have one temp controller. If you have two, check out https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/side-side-kegerator-fermentation-chamber-161176/

As far as what you need, it would be determined by what you have to work with and what you want to do. Some go with one controller and some go with two. I need two so that I can heat and cool both chambers of my fridge. Others have only one chamber and can do both with one controller.