Convert Old FULL SIZE Refrigerator for Lagering / Fermenting

[CDGoin]

I really looked everywhere and could not find this info.. and I know it has to be fairly simple. It also has to have been posted in other threads, but darn if I can find one.

I want to convert Old FULL SIZE Refrigerator for Lagering / Fermenting.. All the threads I find do it on a Freezer.. and most have done this with Freezers or Mini-Fridges.

I have this an old Westinghouse like this one:

The control is a dial and I want to convert to this:

Will it be as simple as pulling out the old controller and running wire to the new one..? Or is it more involved..? Do I need a new temp sensor..?

I want to be able to use the Fridge in the summer to ferment when its too hot outside to ferment beer (as SWMBO will not let me ferment in the house ).

Also for lagering I am sure it would help.. when I lagered my Oktoberfest, I just used a IR Temp finder, and dialed it in best I could till I got it to 36..

Anyway, any idea if I need a 12V, 120V, or something else..? They sell a few of them.

 

[webby45wr]

It can be quite easy if you want it to be. Get an ebay aquarium controller (see this thread). Wire it up, plug your fridge into the cooling outlet, put the temp. sensor in the fridge and set your temp. I wired mine in a radio shack project box which sits outside the fridge.

I'm lagering at 33F in a freezer, so you may not be able to get that cold in a fridge, but you should get down to 36 or so, which will work. You can also build an easy paint can heater (basically mount a lightbulb in a paint can) and put it in the fridge. That would then plug into the heat outlet from the controller. With both heating and cooling, you can keep your fermentation or lager within about 1 degree.

You can get more difficult if you attempt to wire the digital controller directly into your fridge's thermostat. That's certainly prettier, but a lot more work. I go with quick and easy. You could wire the controller and build the paint can heater in a few hours.

 

[CDGoin]

My fridge is old and love to over cool.. if I set it to 9 (the coldest) during the fall beer will get frosty. I have to reset it during the fall and back again in the spring to keep it from over cooling

So if you use the plug power to control, What do you do sit it at coolest mode..?

I was hoping to just rewire the Fridges thermostat.. Hmm.. But I guess this would work.

 

[slarkin712]

This is not exactly what you want, but it should give you some ideas. From another post:

"I've modified a side-by-side to control the temp on both the freezer and fridge side. The most recent discussion on this type of topic is in this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/side-side-refridgerator-help-298649/

Here is a link where I got the idea to do a side by side fridge:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.o...tem/show?title=pimp-my-system-richard-trevino

This project is based on the project in this link:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/side-side-kegerator-fermentation-chamber-161176/


Here's one of my comments from the first thread:
I bought a Jenn-air side by side off Craigslist last month and have completed the build. It works great. My fridge only had one thermostat that controlled the compressor. So I got a 2 stage love controller and hooked one up to the replace the inline thermostat. This controls the temp on the freezer side, because it is what kicks on the compressor. The other stage controls a 120V ac fan that is set between the freezer and the fridge. So this fan controls the temp in the fridge side. It works great so far, but of course with this set up the freezer side has to be colder than the fridge side.
I didn't have much trouble with the wiring, but there is a little trick to get the fan wired up correctly. For me the side by side is great because I can get 4 carboys in the fridge side. I wanted to be able to get 2 carboys in the freezer side, but it just isn't wide enough. I bought four 3 gallon better bottles that fit great in the freezer side, which allow me to lager two 5 gallon batches in the freezer side at the same time."

You need to look at the schematic for your fridge and see if there are two thermostats, one each for the freezer and fridge sides. If this is the case you could build something very similar to the side by side builds. You need to see how the air from the freezer is move to the fridge and see if you can control this. Probably some sort of baffle, but you could override that and insert a fan. Good luck.

 

[webby45wr]

My fridge is old and love to over cool.. if I set it to 9 (the coldest) during the fall beer will get frosty. I have to reset it during the fall and back again in the spring to keep it from over cooling

So if you use the plug power to control, What do you do sit it at coolest mode..?

I was hoping to just rewire the Fridges thermostat.. Hmm.. But I guess this would work.

Yep, set the fridge to as cold as it goes and then use the ebay controller to control the temp. The controller will remove power from the fridge when it hits the desired temp. It will reapply power when the temp falls outside the variance that you set on the controller.