Fermentation Chamber - Bit off more than I can Chew

[Tricerahops220]

So i came up with the wise idea of building a fermentation chamber, sourced a fridge (free) that was about 7 years old, went to HD and got all the supplies, began building the unit then...hit a snag.

I began the mini fridge demo thinking the evaporator coil would be behind the fancy plastic cardboard in the back but NOPE. Of course, that is when I learned that modern fridges have evaporator coils wrapped around them internally in the insulation. On all of the threads here, I never saw a single one that had shown someone else running into this problem.

Has anyone on here ever mutilated one of these more modern fridges? Did it go well? If so, can you please either point me to a thread or a web page on how you did it?

As i already mentioned, I kind of put the cart before the horse in that I already have built most of the box. Am I sort of SOL and should I just try and source another fridge? A much older one obviously.

I know the easiest remedy would be to source another fridge and just build my box bigger to encapsulate the fridge but I was hoping not to take up that much room as I am sort of in an apartment.

 

[kh54s10]

I built a chamber out of scrap plywood, 2x4s and pink insulation foam. The minifridge is built into one end. It will hold three Better Bottles. The only thing I did to the fridge was to take off the door.

 

[NSMikeD]

I built a chamber out of scrap plywood, 2x4s and pink insulation foam. The minifridge is built into one end. It will hold three Better Bottles. The only thing I did to the fridge was to take off the door.

this seems to be the common method- removing the doors and attaching a foam insulate box to extend the area. The rear of the fridge needs to be exposed to vent the heat.