Running beer lines through top freezer?

[davekippen]

Couldn't seem to find anyone who has asked this question!

Thinking of moving from the keezer to a standard keggerator (lots of reasons why...) Anyway, was wondering if anyone has mounted their taps in the freezer door and not the main refrigerator door? (I'm not interested in side mounting the taps, not an option)

Couple of possible pitfalls:
Coolant lines in the "floor" of the freezer may make it hard to create an access hole?
Freezer would still run, which might make a lot of condensation due to the warmer air of the fridge coming up through the hole?

Anyone have experience with this?

 

[Shooter]

How does your freezer/refrigerator work? I believe the cooling in my refrigerator is just a result of drawing cold air down from the freezer unit above. So, the freezer might have to be running regularly to cool the lower area. Not sure how you would set this up with a standard temp controller without bypassing several electrical components in the appliance. Can you set the freezer high enough that it won't freeze the beer in the lines as they pass through?

 

[billybryson54]

If I'm understanding correctly, you want to store your kegs in the refrigerator, run the lines upward through the freezer "floor" and run the taps through the freezer door? The first thing I would be afraid of is the beer freezing in the one or two feet of line that is actually in the freezer, or at least attempting to freeze (slushy beer). Secondly, as you mentioned there is the chance that you could puncture a coolant line and make the whole thing totally useless. I'm not sure where the coolant lines run in that style of fridge.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[day_trippr]

As already provided, running beer lines through a top-freezer section isn't going to work. Not a matter of coolant lines as you'd want to run the lines through the ceiling of the fridge section/floor of the freezer section and the coolant lines are at the back wall, it's simply that the beer will in fact freeze...

Cheers!

 

[davekippen]

Yes, this is a standard refrigerator with a top freezer. Assuming that the freezer does actually cool the refrigerator portion, and I could cut a large enough hole in the freezer floor (refrigerator ceiling) perhaps the lines would not freeze?

 

[AnOldUR]

Not relevant to your question, but why not just put the taps in the fridge door?

Then you'd still have the freezer for storing hops.




Here's an early morning fog, off topic idea. Anyone ever block the flow of cold air to the fridge portion and use the freezer with a temperature control as a jocky box and serve through the freezer door. More energy efficient?

 

[Jacinthebox]

I have 2 lines going through the freezer in one of my fridges...
older fridge, just turned up the freezer temp, removed the vents/dampers at the back of the freezer floor, and ran lines from the fridge to the taps...I did wrap the lines in pipe insulation...thet can sit for weeks with beer in the lines without freezing...water on the other hand will freeze in the lines

 

[davekippen]

Perfect! I was hoping someone had actually done this and would share!