Homemade kegerator freezing keg

[slurms]

I've recently made a kegerator out of an older Igloo mini fridge. The freezer compartment, which was originally mounted to the top of the fridge, is bent down and sitting on the compressor hump up against the back wall. I currently only have one keg in there, but I can fit two kegs very (VERY) snugly.

The first keg I put in there to cool down turned into a beer slushy in a little over 24 hours. Now, I had the fridge temp set to the lowest it can go and an Inkbird in there set to 38F (admittedly the probe was just dangling in the air). I rarely opened the fridge in that time, but I know it can be pretty sensitive to ambient temperature and kick the compressor on when the door opens.

After I found I made a slushy, I warmed the keg up and I ended up filling an old bottle with water and stuck the probe in there. That way it's less sensitive to any temperature swings. Also set the fridge temp to "4" instead of "7", so the freezer panel isn't blasting the kegs with arctic air as much. Though, the freezer panel is pretty close to the kegs, which I can't do much about at the moment.

Ultimately, I would like to extend the fridge using plywood and insulation (I guess similar to a keezer collar). That way I can easily fit a fan in there, give myself some extra working room, and increase the volume which needs to be cooled, in hopes of getting a warmer and more uniform temperature throughout. But in the meantime, anyone have any other suggestions other than the temperature probe in water with a warmer fridge thermostat setting?

 

[myndflyte]

I think you found probably the best solution for right now.

 

[Deadalus]

I think you have probably solved your problem for now too. I have a friend who extended his fridge that way and the fan would help.

38F is really cold though in my personal opinion for serving temp, cellar temperature is around 50-55F. It's personal preference though, it's your beer!

 

[slurms]

Thanks. Yeah I figured that's the best option. Definitely should raise the temperature too. I don't know where I heard 38 but it did seems bit low. But, first time kegging so we shall see if it's too cold!

 

[slurms]

Just to follow up for anyone who may look at this post later on, putting the thermometer probe in a bottle of water definitely helped stabilize the temperature in the fridge. I did end up putting the fridge thermostat on at about 4 out of 7 (coldness units perhaps?).

I think in the longer term, I'm going to build an extension to the fridge, because it can clearly handle a little extra volume, and that will make things much easier for me (and be able to install faucet taps instead of having cobra taps inside).