help choosing fridge for commercial kegs

[freefallnick]

Hello everyone, I've been reading a bit and want to get a small fridge to put in the garage to use as a kegerator. A lot of the setups I see here use the corny kegs but I want to just get beer from the local brewery for now. They said the smallest one they sell holds about 8 gallons which is probably a 30l and google tells me the dimensions are about 15"x16".
I was wondering what fridge I could get new that would hold this keg? I was reading a long 30 page thread about the frigidair FRC445GB and went to lowes to measure but because of the hump in the back it looks like this fridge would not work (only 11" from hump to door, above the hump you get 17" to the front but only about 19" of clearance which leaves about 3 or so inches from the top of the keg to the ceiling and by looking at the equipment that attaches to the keg this isnt enough).

Any help would be greatly appreciated . I live in WA state.

 

[JuanMoore]

They're most likely 1/4 BBL size kegs (7.75 gal) which come in two different shapes. The "slim quarter" or "tall quarter" seems to be the more common shape among the micros around here, and it measures about 23" by 11".

Here's a handy keg dimension chart.

 

[freefallnick]

Thanks for that link! I think my friend got a quarter from them a while ago and it was the fatter one, the 16" wide. I scrolled all the way to the bottom of that page and saw they showed a low profile coupler, could I just get one of those if i only have 3" of space on top of a quarter keg?

 

[kpr121]

I can personally vouch for the fact that a slim quarter will fit,although you may need to do some slight modifications. I used a multitool and chopped off the bumpout at the bottom of the door panel. I also got a low pro coupler adapter, although the beer line did fit, slightly kinked, with a regular setup.

Or you could build a collar or cold box to extend the depth of the fridge. I built a cold box out of 2 in polystyrene insulation, check it out in my thread, DIY Section-Another Bar Build. I'm currently doing some testing to make sure it is still efficient and I can keep everything down at serving temp without the compressor running too much. I can let ya know how everything is going.

I believe that fridge will hold two sixtels of brew side by side with removal of the temp controller housing.

 

[freefallnick]

the only problem is my local brewery doesnt do the slim kegs, just the regular quarter and half. A local bar does sell slim sixths of most of the brews they have on tap though. Would it be better to get a sanyo 4912m ? The Frys website has them at 249 which is like 80$ more than the frigidair, id also have to drive like 100 miles to get it..

A local guy on my CL is selling 4912's already modded and ready to go with double tap tower but he wants 600$

 

[kpr121]

would you not have the same issue with the 4912? I don't think it has 16 inches of clearance in front of the hump? I could be wrong though. If you want to go with a compact fridge, the only way your gonna fit a wide quarter or half is by making some sort of collar. If you don't want to do that, look for a standalone kegerator (Haier,Danby, etc), either on CL or new

 

[freefallnick]

is the 4912/4912m the same size as the frigidair frc445gb? I thought the 4912/m was bigger and didnt have a hump??? Frys says the sanyo is 4.9 cu ft and lowes says the frc445gb is 4.4 cu ft. Do they both have the same amount of room inside though????

 

[kpr121]

Check out this link. Post #14 has a pic that shows you can fit a standard 1/4 barrel in the 4912 if you build a stand at the height of the compressor hump. Although it still looks like he had to modify the door panel.

 

[freefallnick]

kpr, thanks for that link/photo, its good to confirm that it will fit in the 4912. Do you have any info in the internal dimensions for the 4912? I measured the frigidair when I was at lowes so I have the numbers for that one and then I could just compare..

 

[kpr121]

no I don't. I have two Frigidaires. If you want I could give you dims for that. I'm kind of curious now to see if I could fit a quarter in mine with a stand... I'll check when I get home, but I suspect it is still not deep enough...

 

[freefallnick]

on the FRC445GB above the hump i measured roughly 17" to the front, I dunno how youd get an accurate measure because you cant close the door and measure at the same time. It says here http://www.micromatic.com/images/articles/11/Kegs-new.jpg that its 16"1/8 so that leaves just under an inch, the only problem is the height, it was roughly 19.5" from the hump to the ceiling which leaves about 3" which is why i was thinking maybe its do able with a low profile coupler.... Also not sure what i'd do with the co2.

 

[freefallnick]

Are there any requirements for using a chest freezer? I found this one my local CL, it lists dimensions as 35" x 23 1/2" x 44 1/2" with appx 20 cu ft. Id have to make sure of the inside measurements but heck i could have 2 quarter commercial kegs in that! its only 60$ How would I keep the beer from freezing? External temperature regulator?