Using personal ( very small ) fridge to cool ferm chamber

[soccerRef]

so long story short.... I got a great deal a while back on a perlick keg cooler ( two door, stainless top) pic attached as example, mines a slight bit larger and perlick...

my question is do people think a personal small fridge like the following
http://https://www.homedepot.com/p/Koolatron-10-4-in-6-12-oz-Mini-Refrigerator-in-Red-KWC-4/202040431

cool this for ferm temps? I originally tried to take apart an old mini fridge ( dorm size) and use the guts, it didn't work out for various reasons... I don't plan on lagering or serving from this unit, just fermentation,

There are always deals around to grab one of these for like $20 or so... if not im to the point that this cooler is juset going to be a brew stand and storage, since I can grab chest freezer for like $100 to ferm in with a temp controller!

thanks for advice/thoughts!

 

[day_trippr]

So the unstated factoid is the Perlick unit doesn't actually work?

Less than zero chance of that six-pack-fridge holding fermentation temperature in a unit that large.
A carboy filled with wort in the throes of fermentation will run out of scope for sure...

Cheers!

 

[soccerRef]

sorry for the missing detail ... yes the perlick does not work... mainly due to the lacking external cooling parts... its just the shell... replacing the cooling would be great, but not cost effective at this point... I got the perlick cooler itself for $50 so even as a stand and storage it was worth the price...


unless someone in the houston Tx area knows a cheap place to get replacement parts aka an entire cooling unit for a perlick!

 

[mulletmaster]

I have a hard time thinking a dorm fridge would cool that. Even if it could you would have to build a collar and get a fan to circulate air. Best bet is to use a the dorm fridge for a ferm chamber with a temp controller.

 

[JohnSand]

I haven't tried it.
There is a thread on here somewhere, probably DIY, in which a guy bungeed a small fridge to a home built ferm chamber. The fridge wasn't tiny, but it was definitely under 3cu.ft.
Let us know if you try it.

 

[soccerRef]

I honestly think a dorm sized fridge would do the trick - when I say dorm size I mean one of the like 3 foot ones, not the little desktop versions... again only looking for ferm temps - I agree I do not think the little 6 pack versions would do the trick... I originally posted to basically get some agreement on that...

I won't be strapping any thing to the side of this one, it has the holes on the side for a condensing unit to be mounted through, so I could pipe air in via a fridge/freezer as I have seen discussed in various threads before - but honestly don't plan on going down that path either, it would be a lot more work and not really a good solution for the footprint of the brew space ( i.e the second piece of equipment would have to always be sitting next to it...

with prices on even brand new chest freezers at HD so low and CL it will be much easier to just throw one of the temp controllers I have built already on that, add a quick collar if I need and be done. ...

like I said at the $50 I spent on taking a chance its still great for storage and as a brew stand... maybe one day I'll get lucky on a condensing unit and take the project to the next level!

thanks for the replies guys!

 

[JohnSand]

It's worth $50 in parts.