Custom Kegerator Build Help

[Coontail]

OK so i plan on building a kegerator from the ground up for cheaps just to get to the point

I'll be getting a 1.7 cubic foot mini fridge for $20 that works perfect and is barely used and im going to gut it. I wanna keep it relatively light because I want to be able to move it easily and not break my back trying to carry it. I wanna be able to fit 2-3 kegs inside along with the miscellaneous necessary kegerator components. The kegerator will be kept inside always.

The outside walls will be pallet wood ripped along either side and glued together, they will also all be screwed to the flattest pieces of strapping i can find. For insulation will be spray foam and corrugated plastic. Lining the inside might be the wavy galvanized roofing stuff.

I figure if it is insulated well and there's enough air flow inside, the components from the smaller fridge should be ok.

Basically I'm going to make a bigger fridge out of a smaller fridge to keep it short. Has anyone done this?

 

[mongoose33]

People do stuff like this all the time.

I'm sure that once temps have stabilized the fridge will, if it's insulated well enough, be able to hold temps. The question is what happens when you put 5 gallons of warm beer in a kegerator with two other half-full kegs of cold beer. The cold ones will warm up for a while until the entire system can bring temps down.

I have a 4.4-cuft dorm fridge which I use as a ferm chamber, and it works fine for that. When I crash from 64 to 32, it takes a good full 24 hours to get there. That's with a fridge with a presumably more powerful refrigeration capacity and a smaller cooling load.

If you can get the kegs cooled before they go in there, it should work. If you're planning on crashing or cooling, it's going to be slow at best.

 

[Coontail]

People do stuff like this all the time.

I'm sure that once temps have stabilized the fridge will, if it's insulated well enough, be able to hold temps. The question is what happens when you put 5 gallons of warm beer in a kegerator with two other half-full kegs of cold beer. The cold ones will warm up for a while until the entire system can bring temps down.

I have a 4.4-cuft dorm fridge which I use as a ferm chamber, and it works fine for that. When I crash from 64 to 32, it takes a good full 24 hours to get there. That's with a fridge with a presumably more powerful refrigeration capacity and a smaller cooling load.

If you can get the kegs cooled before they go in there, it should work. If you're planning on crashing or cooling, it's going to be slow at best.

Cool! Thank you. I have a 14.5 cb ft freezer chest I just started using for a fermentation chamber so I should definitely be able to cool stuff down pretty well. I wish I could just make a keezer but I don't have the space unfortunately