Planning Side-by-Side Kegerator/Ferm chamber: Any lessons learned?

I'm incredibly impressed by the side-by-side kegerator/fermentation chamber builds I've seen and would like to try it myself (my aquarium chiller-cooled swamp cooler is dead). I've never attempted anything like this before so I'd like to rely on you wonderful people. My question for those of you who've done it and learned various lessons is: "What would you do now having been through it all?" For example:

(1) Model of fridge? Analog or digital (analog seems to be how most people went but has anyone had success with a digitally controlled fridge model)? Plastic or stainless steel (is steel a pain to cut into)?

(2) What controllers work best?

(3) Do you recommend installing fans to push cold air from one side to the other or can you rig the existing system?

(4) Do you recommend a heater in the fermentation chamber?

(5) Apparently you don't want to bypass/remove the defrost function...noted.

(6) Total bill for the project?

(7) Other thoughts?

Mine is over under, but some stuff learned/planned so far..

brewzombie said:

(1) Model of fridge? Analog or digital (analog seems to be how most people went but has anyone had success with a digitally controlled fridge model)? Plastic or stainless steel (is steel a pain to cut into)?

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I just went with a used dorm sized fridge. Easiest to cut apart is one where all chilling comes from the small freezer unit. Others will have cooling in shelving or in walls, those very difficult to cut up.

brewzombie said:

(3) Do you recommend installing fans to push cold air from one side to the other or can you rig the existing system?

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I am installing fans to move air from chamber to chamber and fans to circulate through fridge unit. Using cheap PC fans and got my dc wall warts at Goodwill. (As in...i will be doing this, hoping it works... )

brewzombie said:

(4) Do you recommend a heater in the fermentation chamber?

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If you live anywhere that your chamber will get below 60F, then yes. I am using the light in a can method, but may go with the seedling mat heater if I need to.

brewzombie said:

(5) Apparently you don't want to bypass/remove the defrost function...noted.

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Don't have this option in the fridge I tore up, so inside will be waterproofed (hoping to just use something like Bullseye waterproof primer) and I will use a damp rid kind of thing. My garage is not insulated and it does get very humid in there, so this is a concern of mine.

brewzombie said:

(6) Total bill for the project?

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Not keeping track. But then most of my expenses had already been covered because the wood was from bathroom remodel and controlers I had picked up way back on a clearance at Ace Hardware. The used fridge was like $70 off of craigslist.

brewzombie said:

(7) Other thoughts?

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I am using two layers of one inch foam, but noticed that if I could have build with two inch foam it was actuall a few dollars cheaper that way.
I am using loctite foam board caulk as adhesive, just kinda hoping this works as previous 'regular' gluing of foamboard hasn't worked.
I wish I had just planned my doors to be two inches thick instead of having the foam overlap inside walls, now I have to figure out how to make that angle that lets door open and close.
The fridge coils and tubes actually move pretty easy, but be very careful to not try to bend any sharp angles. I made small tweaks using my thumb as the radius.

(1) Analog, it was free off Craigslist.

(2) I used STC-1000 controllers, I havent had any problems yet.

(3) I did setup a fan to pull cold air into the ferm side originally. I haven't quite tweaked my final setup, I'd say for me where it usually cold you don't need one. If I had a warm garage, it might be useful.

(4) Mine is in an unheated detached garage where its cold so yes I have one. I used the smallest space heater I could fine. Seems to work great so far.

(5) Apparently you don't want to bypass/remove the defrost function...noted.

(6) Fridge was free, 2 STC-1000's, probably $20 in misc electrical stuff and two cheapo computer fans and then whatever the keg setup you're going for is.

(7) I insulated the whole ferm side in 1" foam that I had from another project. Make sure your shelves allow airflow and install some computer fans in the chamber to keep air moving. I had problems with two buckets fermenting at the same time having 2-3 degree difference in temps because off the lack of air circulation. I put in fans and no more problems.

Thank you both for your comments.

namepending said:

(7) I insulated the whole ferm side in 1" foam that I had from another project. Make sure your shelves allow airflow and install some computer fans in the chamber to keep air moving. I had problems with two buckets fermenting at the same time having 2-3 degree difference in temps because off the lack of air circulation. I put in fans and no more problems.

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Why the insulation? Was most of the original fridge insulation removed?

Were the fans circulating air in the ferm chamber always on? I would assume so.

Did you use pc fans to also move air from the kegerator side to the ferm side or did you use the existing system in the fridge? If you did use pc fans. I assume there's nothing to block cold air from convectively moving into the ferm side, but the heater kicks in when it gets too cold. If I'm not using a heater (might keep the fridge in a heated area), I wonder if this would be a problem, especially once primary fermentation is over so there's not much heat being generated by the yeast. I could see the temperature slowly creeping down, equilibrating with the kegerator side over time.

I used insulation because I had some extra laying around, so figured the more insulation the better.

I only use the pc fans to circulate air when I have two buckets fermenting at the same time. If only one is in there, there is no problem.

I've been using mine for a year or so and I'm still tweaking it, I would design for worst case scenario (heating, pc fan to move cold air, etc) and only use the features if needed.

You can check my Fridgenstein build thread in my sig. Definitely go analog controls if you can. Even my Kenmore had analog thermostats that controlled a computer. I gutted almost everything out, and in the end it worked pretty well. Done differently, I might have revised the cold air intake so cold air would be sucked from the bottom and piped up to the top of the ferm chamber. Instead, I used the existing holes and created a manual louvre-lie apparatus to restrict air flow between chambers.

One constant problem I had was with the computer fans. After several months, they would begin to squeal. Not like they were going to catch on fire - more like the bearings had lost lubrication. It could have been the cold or the humidity.

I highly recommend the ceramic terrarium heaters for your ferm side - it's what they were made to do. I added a fan across from the heater to keep the warm air moving.

To me, the biggest take-away is to find one of those analog refrigerators. Anything digital is going to be a lot harder to deal with. On the other hand, they're harder to come by for the price they are actually worth. Be patient on Craig's List and I'm sure you'll find something.

mistercameron said:

You can check my Fridgenstein build thread in my sig. Definitely go analog controls if you can. Even my Kenmore had analog thermostats that controlled a computer. I gutted almost everything out, and in the end it worked pretty well. Done differently, I might have revised the cold air intake so cold air would be sucked from the bottom and piped up to the top of the ferm chamber. Instead, I used the existing holes and created a manual louvre-lie apparatus to restrict air flow between chambers.

One constant problem I had was with the computer fans. After several months, they would begin to squeal. Not like they were going to catch on fire - more like the bearings had lost lubrication. It could have been the cold or the humidity.

I highly recommend the ceramic terrarium heaters for your ferm side - it's what they were made to do. I added a fan across from the heater to keep the warm air moving.

To me, the biggest take-away is to find one of those analog refrigerators. Anything digital is going to be a lot harder to deal with. On the other hand, they're harder to come by for the price they are actually worth. Be patient on Craig's List and I'm sure you'll find something.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your suggestions.

Are there generally issues with the PC fans not lasting or are certain ones recommended over others? I am planning to use PC fans and dryer vents to control cold air between the chambers.

Do you recommend the heater in the ferm chamber even when the fridge will be located inside? Is this because the cold air transfer from the fridge/freezer side bleeds over (even with a fan/vent setup)?

brewzombie said:

Thanks for your suggestions.

Are there generally issues with the PC fans not lasting or are certain ones recommended over others? I am planning to use PC fans and dryer vents to control cold air between the chambers.

Do you recommend the heater in the ferm chamber even when the fridge will be located inside? Is this because the cold air transfer from the fridge/freezer side bleeds over (even with a fan/vent setup)?

Click to expand...

I think it could have been the fans. I used the only AC fans carried at my Fry's Electronics - Link Depot. They have a low CFM but at least are somewhat quiet. This time around I"m going to sacrifice some old wall warts and hook up computer fans to do the job. You'd probably be fine with a DC computer fan (you can even buy power adapter with molex sockets). You don't need anything super strong - just enough to move air from one side to the other. Once your ferm chamber hits its happy place, it doesn't take a lot to maintain it.

I think the fermentation heater is a non-negotiable. It's not very expensive (can be as simple as the light bulb in a paint can, or you can use something like a FermWrap or terrarium heater), and it allows you to actually control fermentation temps. A large reason you would want this is because you have a cold chamber right next to the fermentation side. Some cool air will leak (even with dryer vents), and some heat will cross the divider into the freezer. Not to mention, your house may not be as warm as the fermentation needs to be.