Emergency Fridge demolition

I came home tonight to check the American Wheat that I had brewed yesterday only to find out the it was really hot. It actually wasn't even getting a reading on my stick on thermometer and that goes up to 84F. I think it was probably in the high 80's. Keep in mind the basement temp is around 70 and it was sitting on the concrete slab so it must have been mainly because of the fermentation. It just so happened that a buddy of mine actually gave me a mini-fridge yesterday that we planed on using to lager. We weren't planning on converting it for at least another month though when we could really plan it out and get everything we needed ready but I didn't really have a choice but to do it immediately.

I have decided to at least post what I did just in case anyone else need to covert the same or similar fridge. Please keep in mind that it is pretty ugly and crude right now but that is just because i was completely unprepared and had to work with what I already had. I will be making it more aesthetically pleasing in the near future.

It is a Haier 4 Cubic Foot Mini Fridge Model HSL04WNAWW



The fridge has the little freezer on the top that also works as the refrigeration unit and that made it so that there was not enough clearance. Also the shelves and whatnot in the door made it so the door wouldn't close.
The first to go was the shelves in the door. I tried using multiple tools for this from a hacksaw to different bits for a dremel and various of things. Either they didn't work well or SWMBO was complaining that I was being too loud In the end a good old utility knife and new razor blade actually worked the best and it was quiet too. I just cut away as little as possible so that the body of the BB would fit and the door would close. There is alot of insulation in there so I wanted to leave as much of it as I could.



That Plastic is sharp as hell though, but nothing like a workshop band-aid to fix it.



Now onto the little freezer compartment!

There were 4 screws holding it to the top of the fridge. These turned out to be the biggest PIMA out of the whole project. They were damn near impossible to get at and took about 5000 1/4 turns of a ratchet!
Once those were out I found out the metal making the freezer was bent around and riveted at the top. There are three rivets holding the two sides together. If I had tin snips I would have just cut this section but I ended up using a paint opener to pry the rivets apart. This top section can be cut or scraped or messed up just make sure to do as little damage to the other 3 sides as possible (the sides that have all the ridges on them) these are where the refrigerant flows through.

Once that was done it needed to be folded down so that it could still work but it was out of the way. The thermostat control was in the way so this needed to move at least a little. When I removed the dial there was two screws under it and one more towards the wire going to it. Once that was off the wall then I had to work the freezer part below it. I put what was the bottom part of the freezer against the back of the fridge and bend out the two sections that made of the top of the freezer up against the walls. Then I screwed the thermostat back in.





Now all that needed to be done was the support the little shelf the BB would be sitting on. I would have liked to do this differently but PVC was about the only thing I had laying around that I could use. Once all was said and done it held my BB perfectly.

2 Hours later and the temp of the wort has already dropped the 73F.

After that I needed to have one of my, albeit EXTREMELY overcarbed but still tasty, Pale Ales.




Now my only problem is trying to hold the fridge at the right temp without a temperature controller. I think I am just going to have to let it get into the low 60 and just turn it off while i'm at work and hopefully it is insulated well enough to not get too hot. Any body have any other suggestions for me until I get a controller?

I just got one of these fridges, and am going to turn it into a kegerator. I DO have tin snips, and a screw driver meant for small places, so it should work pretty well.

dataz722 said:

Click to expand...

Looks dangerous to me ...

Well luckily for me, the kegs fit on the bottom.

maybe picking this fridge up from craigslist later today. seemed like an easy mod to fit 2 cornies - is that right? any problems since then that may make me reconsdier?

My fingers often end up looking like that when I do stuff around the house. Earlier this week I smashed my head on a wall fixture and ended up giving myself three stitches.