My side by side to kegerator conversion

[Jtk78]

This is my journey of converting an upright refrigerator to a kegerator. Both the fridge and the freezer will be used to house kegs and need to be the same temperature. I will update the thread as I do more to it.

DISCLAIMER: I will not guarantee any of my modifications will work on your model fridge. You could cut a freon line in yours even though I haven't so far. You will need some fairly basic tools, knowledge to use them, and at least have an understanding of electricity. I am not claiming this is the best way, only way, or even right way to do the tasks below. I am only showing how I did it.

Brand - GE
Model - TPX24PRYEWW

I have been thinking and planning a conversion out for awhile. My plan way to start with a 20ish cubic foot upright freezer. I scoured the market for a few months and was not having luck. They were either too expensive, had the cooling coils in the shelves, or people were unresponsive when I inquired. I found this fridge at a great price, and had some one going to the area with a pick up, so it worked out. I did go measure it before I bought it, and figured I could get at least 8 in here with minor modifications, and 8 taps is my final plan.

Here's the fridge before I started much. I did already have my STC-1000 started, but it's not wired in this picture. I'll get into that next...

20180208_135033

• Jtk78
• Feb 10, 2018

Pretty much the starting line for the fridge. The STC-1000 is not yet wired at all.

My plan all along was to use a ceramic heat emitter which I had purchased before the fridge. This will be going in my garage, so I will need to have a heat source. I also bought a fan to run all the time, and LED lights so I could see in there. If you haven't converted a fridge or freezer, remember you will not have the lights on unless the temp controller is on a cool cycle. I wanted indicator lights to make it easy for me to see whats going on. The fan and light are powered through a 3 way toggle switch. So only the fan or light can be on, not both. The terminal strips made it so much easier to wire everything and I didn't need a ton of wire nuts in there.

Here is the progression of the temp controller.

20180204_072104

• Jtk78
• Feb 10, 2018

Project box before cutting

I didn't get to holes perfect, but they'll work. I didn't have the switch I was going to use yet.

20180204_083059

• Jtk78
• Feb 10, 2018

Project box taped and cut out.

Inside all wired up

20180209_084628

• Jtk78
• Feb 10, 2018

Wiring inside project box for STC-1000 with indicator lights, toggle switch to control fan and...

20180211_001221

• Jtk78
• Feb 11, 2018

STC-1000 with cooling and fan on indicator lights in the dark.

 

[Jtk78]

Next was planning the cutting out of the center wall to have consistent temps between the two chambers. I will be installing CO2 manifolds in the freezer side, so I I wanted to leave some of the wall for that.

Here's my markings for cutting it out. You can see the smaller box at the top and the larger one below.

20180210_075141

• Jtk78
• Feb 10, 2018

Cutouts on center wall marked out. The fan will be in the top hole blowing toward the fridge. I...

To cut it, I drilled a hole in each corner all the way through. This meant I only needed to mark one side. Then I used a Dremel to cut from hole to hole (use the reinforced cutting wheel here. I only had a part of one left. The weaker ones worked, but it took longer and I burned through quite a bit of them).

20180210_084254

• Jtk78
• Feb 10, 2018

Metal cutaway from center wall. Started with a hole drilled in each corner, and used a dremel...

Then I used a utility knife to get the insulation out.

20180210_150123

• Jtk78
• Feb 10, 2018

Open cut out.

20180210_094137

• Jtk78
• Feb 11, 2018

Top hole cut out of center wall.

 

[WBB]

Interesting. Looks like a fun kegerator conversion project. How come you went with an upright fridge vs a chest freezer? Space constraints where the unit would sit? Or more room out of the upright for keg storage?

 

[Jtk78]

I knew I was going to have to drill a few holes in the fridge, but I am trying to keep them to a minimum. I added Velcro to the outlet box being mounted in the freezer part.

20180210_232121

• Jtk78
• Feb 11, 2018

Velcro on back of outlet to mount in freezer

20180211_072211

• Jtk78
• Feb 11, 2018

Outlets inside for fan and light control

Here is a comparison picture without and with the LED light strip turned on. This picture doesn't do it justice. These lights are bright, and I'm very happy I put them in.

1518358691388

• Jtk78
• Feb 11, 2018

Comparison without and with LED strip light on. Picture really doesn't do it justice. The lights...

20180211_081537

• Jtk78
• Feb 11, 2018

Showing the self adhesive LED light strip.

 

[Jtk78]

Interesting. Looks like a fun kegerator conversion project. How come you went with an upright fridge vs a chest freezer? Space constraints where the unit would sit? Or more room out of the upright for keg storage?

I have a chest freezer I converted for a fermentation chamber. It works great for that, but is in a location that wouldn't work for a kegerator. I wanted the ability to grow to an 8 tap, which would mean a large chest freezer, and I didn't have the footprint for it. Also I wanted to be able to use the door shelves for bottle, can, and yeast storage. I'm going to have to modify some of the shelves down the road, but they'll be usable.

 

[Jtk78]

Made a little more progress. I also determined this bad Oscar can hold 11 kegs.

There is a hump in the back of the fridge compartment that has a downward angle. I made 4 wedges to level it out. This allowed me to put 4 kegs in the bottom of the fridge side, plus 4 more on the shelf above (going to remove the glass and replace with plywood), plus an additional 3 kegs on the freezer side.

20180213_162843

• Jtk78
• Feb 13, 2018

Ramps I made to level off hump in fridge section.

With 2 kegs in place

20180213_162910

• Jtk78
• Feb 13, 2018

Ramps with 2 kegs in place. I can fit 2 more to the left, and 4 above these on a shelf plus 3...

I also secured the fan and LED lights wire loom. I used small self adhesive pads that have a slot for zip ties. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to with the temp sensor, so I didnt want to mess with it yet.

20180213_162546

• Jtk78
• Feb 13, 2018

Cleaned up wiring for lights.

I caulked the insulation in both cut outs. Not the prettiest, but it's better than the open insulation. I also permanently mounted the fan. I glued a small piece of wood on the freezer side hanging down in the opening enough to drill two mounting holes. This allowed the fan to be mounted right in the cut out. The fan is sucking cold air from the freezer.

20180213_162451

• Jtk78
• Feb 13, 2018

Fan permanently mounted and caulk applied to hole I cut out. Fan is sucking air from the freezer...

I obtained a wiring diagrams from GE by calling them and giving them the model number. I jumpered the thermostat out and was able to remove it, the upper light, and a large chunk of plastic from the top of the fridge side. This also removed the cold air damper and created another open space between the freezer and the fridge.

20180213_162615

• Jtk78
• Feb 13, 2018

Top of fridge with light, thermostat, and a large chunk of plastic removed.

 

[Jtk78]

I got some more work done to this recently.

I finally mounted my heat emitter as well as added an EvaDry.

20180219_114344

• Jtk78
• Feb 19, 2018

Heat emitter mounted and EvaDry in place.

I also bought some kegs for members of my homebrew club, so I was able to test it with 9 in there.

20180215_171006

• Jtk78
• Feb 19, 2018

Trial fitting with 9 kegs! (These were not all mine) 2 more could go on top, but I'm going to...

I got 2 manifolds mounted in the freezer side. I will have another 4 way and a 6 way manifold above these.

20180216_155408

• Jtk78
• Feb 19, 2018

2 manifolds in place. I will be adding another 4 way and a 6 way above these eventually.

Here it is with my CO2 and beer gas cylinder along with 4 kegs in it. The cylinders will eventually go on the outside of the kegerator, but will work in the meantime. I also changed the shelf from glass to plywood in the fridge compartment.

20180219_115504

• Jtk78
• Feb 19, 2018

Four kegs with my CO2 and nitro cylinders. These will eventually go outside kegerator.

I installed the first faucet in the fridge door. Down the road I will remove the ice/water dispenser, install a piece of ceder or hickory in its place, and have 3 faucets in the freezer door and 5 in the fridge.

20180216_165815

• Jtk78
• Feb 19, 2018

1st faucet installed. Now I need to get some brewed so I have something to pour.

My tap handles are all going to be things that are numbered or made into numbers. I made number 1 out of an old golf driver. Unfortunately it hits my fridge door. I'm going to try the offset ferrule for it, and if I need to modify the head some more I can.

20180217_104028

• Jtk78
• Feb 19, 2018

#1 tap handle. Unfortunately it hits my fridge. I'm going to try the offset ferrule and modify...

I have pretty much gone as far as I can with the parts I have. I will be ordering some additional stuff in the coming weeks to keep progressing. But I'm out of homebrew and need to get the pipeline back up.

 

[Jtk78]

I started running the gas line from the manifold area to the kegs. Three of them are done, but I may re-route the top keg though the fan hole and down to the manifolds on the freezer side. (The disconnects are just sitting on top of the post for measuring. I know I have liquid disconnects hooked up to the gas line.)

20180228_214759

• Jtk78
• Feb 28, 2018

Gas line run to two of the bottom kegs.

20180228_215126

• Jtk78
• Feb 28, 2018

Gas lines run to two of the bottom kegs and one of the upper kegs.

I will also be adding another faucet to the fridge door over the weekend. The offset ferrule should be here by the end of friday, so I'm hoping to also do a little bit of tap handle making as well.

I have 2 beers in fermenters that will be kegged around March 11th, so I'm looking forward to pulling a beer off this refreshment dispenser.

 

[Jtk78]

So the offset ferrule came in today. The club head still hit the fridge when in the closed position, but it was much better. I then cut a little more off of the club head on an angle and drilled on an angle a little bit and it worked like a charm.

20180301_192548

• Jtk78
• Mar 1, 2018

Old driver for tap handle #1

20180301_193119

• Jtk78
• Mar 1, 2018

Old driver for tap handle #1

Tap #2 and it's diy handle should be on in the next day or two...

 

[Jtk78]

20180302_224123

• Jtk78
• Mar 3, 2018
• 2

#1 and #2 Tap handles.

As promised #2 is a 1970 license plate.

 

[Jtk78]

I added 2 more faucets and tap handles for upcoming batches.

20180406_051424

• Jtk78
• Apr 6, 2018

Added 2 more faucets and tap handles.

I plan to do some more work to it this weekend as I got some goodies that came in.

 

[Surly_goat]

Looking great so far!

 

[Jtk78]

Looking great so far!

Thank you. It's been a fun build.

 

[Jtk78]

I added a 3 way gas regulator to the back of the fridge on the top behind 2 kegs. It's not the ideal location for it, but I didn't want it on the outside and it wasn't really going to fit anywhere else. I really wanted a 4 way regulator, but I got a great deal on this and I can always add to it later if I really need to.

20180407_010933

• Jtk78
• Apr 8, 2018

3 way manifold before gas lines

20180408_082547

• Jtk78
• Apr 8, 2018

Gas line hooked up to 3 way manifold

I also added another 2 way and 4 way manifold. I can now serve at two carbonation levels, and burst carb a couple kegs. The other 2 way manifold is for my nitro cylinder.

20180408_082600_001

• Jtk78
• Apr 8, 2018

Added another 2 way and 4 way distributor