Fridge is coming today, nothing to keg!

[clayof2day]

Hey Guys,

I have an overwhelming feeling of joy, excitement, and resent. My Sanyo 4912M is coming today, I have my tower, 2 cornis, CO2, and regulator all ready to go and I'm super pumed to do the conversion.

Down side, No beer to put in the kegs!! I just bottled 2 batches about 3 weeks ago, so I have a ton of beer and I just put some in the primary Tuesday. I was half tempted to take some of my bottled beer, pour them gently into the chilled keg and get some pressure on it so I can have something to dispense on my virgin draught day.

Oh well, I should just tough it out and wait I guess. Just wanted to share my joy with you all!!

 

[jldesign]

awesome! check out my signature for the build links for the 4912 if you have not already.

I just brewed the Bonneville Flats Bitter with edits from the BYO link below and threw it on a SNPA 1056 yeast cake. had activity in 1 hour and it is most likely done I wanted to test this recipe for 6 day beer (from brew to drinking) but it has been fermenting for 8 days now so I blew it and been too busy to worry about it! might be a worthy try and might even be a good brew who knows. I wouldn't suggest pouring into the keg although tempting I remember when mine was done mmmmmmm keg!

http://***********/feature/1476.html

 

[Spyk'd]

You can always go down to the local beer store and inquire about 1/6th kegs which are about the same as a soda keg in size and volume. I know it's not home brew, but it'll still be on tap!


A few tips regarding the conversion that you may want to keep in mind whilst converting:

a) Before you drill the 3" hole in the top of the fridge, put at least two screws(recommend four) back in the plastic top to keep it from shifting while you drill. Trust me, it will shift. :cross:

b) No matter how neat it looks when it falls through, do NOT touch the metal disk that was once your fridge top directly after drilling. It will be a tad hot...

c) Once you hit the styrofoam, sloooooow down and don't press too hard or you'll crack the plastic liner of the interior fridge wall. When you hit the foam, it will take off!

d) You might want to let the silicone sealant dry overnight with the door open before plugging the fridge back in to allow it to air out. Unless of course you like the smell. It will linger inside a closed fridge for about a week.




Just wanted to pass on a couple things I learned...

Good luck. It's actually REALLY easy.

My fridge:


P.S. You can see my gutted house in the background. I don't have a house, but I have a keg fridge...

 

[clayof2day]

Thanks for all the suggestions and support, that's what I love about this forum, even though I don't contribute that often, I read it ALL time at work.

I'll probably be doing the conversion tomorrow, so I'll keep you all up to date on how it goes.

I don't have any 1/2" plywood around the house and don't want to buy too much more than I need. Any ideas where I can go and grovel for scraps? Local lumberyard, condo construction, etc.

 

[passlaku]

Before you start mix up equal parts alcohol and corn flour and paint it to the top to ID the Freon line. Remember the line is spot welded to the skin of the sheet metal and not in the insulation.

 

[sailman]

Before you start mix up equal parts alcohol and corn flour and paint it to the top to ID the Freon line. Remember the line is spot welded to the skin of the sheet metal and not in the insulation.

will this work for drilling into the back or side as well. i want to run my co2 line from the outside.

 

[clayof2day]

Hey All.

What setting do you typically keep your 4912 set at, or do you all use external temp. contorlloers. I was just curious, I bought a used one on ebay and wanted to make sure it would cool, so I plugged it in and it definatley cools, the plate in the back is all frosty after 15 or so min.

Just curious if anyone has found a setting on the dial that works well besides using an external.

 

[passlaku]

will this work for drilling into the back or side as well. i want to run my co2 line from the outside.

Think about running the gasline through the drip hole in the back shelf. I am not sure whether or not the paste has enough of a consistency to stick to the wall of the unit.

Here is the rest of the build:

We also used metal duct tape to seal up the whole and ensure that the foam insulation doesn't crumble into the fridge in the years to come.

A buddy of mine helped me out by insisting on going with the bigger 8" square to improve the stability of the tower. You'll have to cut out the flaps of the larger square in the center of the plastic cover.

T-nuts were counter drilled into the wood to give the tower further stability. In this case the tower is attached to the wood which is siliconed onto the unit. This thing is solid.

 

[passlaku]

This is the finished product. We ran a 3/16 tubing through drain hole (no need to drill more holes on the unit).

I'd suggest going over to ACE hardware or somewhere like that to find a scrap piece of 1/2 inch plywood. Most places will even cut it for you.

 

[david_42]

Back to the lack of beer issue. Many of the craft brewers in my area will fill a cornie for a price. You might ask around.

 

[Spyk'd]

Hey All.

What setting do you typically keep your 4912 set at, or do you all use external temp. contorlloers. I was just curious, I bought a used one on ebay and wanted to make sure it would cool, so I plugged it in and it definatley cools, the plate in the back is all frosty after 15 or so min.

Just curious if anyone has found a setting on the dial that works well besides using an external.

I used to keep mine cranked up all the way until I added my tower. Now that I'm not opening the unit up, I noticed things were freezing in there. Now I keep it on 5 and it seems to be not freezing. Try not to run your beer lines along the back of the fridge because they definitely will freeze.

Another thing to note is the CO2 canister will fit into the fridge if you balance it behind the kegs on the back "shelf" of the fridge. Many people modify this shelf by adding a piece of wood and brace it. This is how I like to keep mine so it's a self contained unit. Of course adjusting the regs takes a little more effort, but they sit high enough to be able to lean one keg out and I have enough room to adjust both regs. Next time I have two kegs in there, I'll take a picture.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Back to the lack of beer issue. Many of the craft brewers in my area will fill a cornie for a price. You might ask around.

Yeah we had a guy that did that too. He didn't even mind if we claimed it as our own homebrew. Unfortunately, he keeled over dead of a heart attack about three weeks ago.....

 

[kornkob]

Some smaller breweries have quarter barrels of beer in thin tall kegs, instead of half height fat kegs. I often grab one of those and drop it in which is why I have a sankey tapper for the kegger.

 

[Spyk'd]

Did you "break" your fridge........haven't heard from you....how'd it go?

 

[clayof2day]

Went really smoothly. Its all together, looks great, everything funtions. Just waiting for my Red to ferment so it can find it's way to a keg!

 

[Waldo]

I broke my fridge Kept reading that there is nothing in the side of a fridge that you can damage with a drill, well there sure is in a 4.9 cf Kenmore Elite I drilled two inches down from the top on the inside and snagged a coolant line

So the new fridge is on order, not sure if I have the cajones to drill again

 

[Spyk'd]

Went really smoothly. Its all together, looks great, everything funtions. Just waiting for my Red to ferment so it can find it's way to a keg!

Good to hear! Maybe you can take some pictures of your handiwork?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I broke my fridge Kept reading that there is nothing in the side of a fridge that you can damage with a drill, well there sure is in a 4.9 cf Kenmore Elite I drilled two inches down from the top on the inside and snagged a coolant line

So the new fridge is on order, not sure if I have the cajones to drill again

Been there done that. Found out the hard way that you should drill from the INSIDE. then carefully scrape away the insulation until you reach the outer shell. If you run into a freon line, you'll have to pick a new spot to drill.

 

[Spyk'd]

Ok, I have two pictures of the inside of my fridge. One shows two kegs and a dual regulator CO2 canister and the other shows the little shelf that I made to help hold the tank. Please keep in mind the shelf is a prototype that I just never got around to replacing. The final shelf will have natural curves, be a little slimmer, and be painted black.

Here's the inside:



Here's the B.S. shelf:


And yes the one keg's empty and the other on its way... Hope you enjoy!!!




On a side note, it looks like drywallers are coming on Monday to insulate and drywall!!!

 

[passlaku]

Nice work. Congratulations on your set up!