Side-by-Side Freezer/Kegerator Controls

[butterblum]

Has anyone ever had success converting only the refrigerator half of a side-by-side fridge/freezer unit into a kegerator?
I believe you would have to control the small damper shown in the attached picture - I would like to continue to utilize the freezer for hop storage, but control the airflow into the fridge portion using keg temperature.
I'd like to stick to a Johnson/Inkbird style controller, if possible, but I don't know how the damper is controlled (presumably DC).
Thanks

 

[ClaudiusB]

Has anyone ever had success converting only the refrigerator half of a side-by-side fridge/freezer unit into a kegerator?
I believe you would have to control the small damper shown in the attached picture - I would like to continue to utilize the freezer for hop storage, but control the airflow into the fridge portion using keg temperature.
I'd like to stick to a Johnson/Inkbird style controller, if possible, but I don't know how the damper is controlled (presumably DC).
Thanks

A thermostat controls it, triggering it to close or open according to the refrigerator’s temperature needs.
The damper motor is a 120V in most units. A few mechanical versions exist.

Damper
Mechanical

 

[Climb]

I have not done what you are asking, but I do use a side-by-side for serving from the freezer compartment and fermenting in the refrigeration compartment. I am sure that what you want can be done. I suggest removing the existing damper and replacing it with two fans. One fan located where the damper is that moves air from the freezer compartment into the refrigerator compartment. Locate the second fan towards the bottom that moves air from the refrigerator compartment to the freezer compartment. This will ensure good air flow that is needed to drive low temperatures in the refrigerator compartment. Good luck and let us know what you come up with.

 

[hottpeper13]

I use the freezer side for lagering at 33* with CO2 on a Johnson control. The fridge side does not turn on, but with both vents open it gets down to 50*. On the fridge side I fit 2 -6.5 Big Mouth fermenters. The top one has a heat mat with 2 layers of reflectex plugged into an ST1000. I ferment lagers on the bottom.

In your situation I would just plug into wall outlet set freezer to -10, set fridge as high as it goes and use a heat wrap and controller around the fermenter.

 

[Deadalus]

You may be overthinking this. My refrigerator (not side by side) currently allows temperature on the refrigerator side to range from 35-44F. What keg temperature do you want? There are at least one or two builds here that I have seen which were side by sides with fermentation and chilling ranges outside the fridge and or freezer ranges. I was looking into this once myself but I recall the examples were not easily searched here. I was interested in fermenting on one side and conditioning kegs (on deck) in the other.

 

[Marc Byron]

I have not done what you are asking, but I do use a side-by-side for serving from the freezer compartment and fermenting in the refrigeration compartment. I am sure that what you want can be done. I suggest removing the existing damper and replacing it with two fans. One fan located where the damper is that moves air from the freezer compartment into the refrigerator compartment. Locate the second fan towards the bottom that moves air from the refrigerator compartment to the freezer compartment. This will ensure good air flow that is needed to drive low temperatures in the refrigerator compartment. Good luck and let us know what you come up with.

Hi Climb, I’ve just read your post and I was wondering how you are using your side by side. You said you use the fridge as a fermenter chamber and the freezer for your kegs right? Are you using any temperature controller or you control it with the fridge settings?
I have a normal fridge that I’ve been using for my fermenter but now I’m legging and I would like to have only one device for both tasks.
Thank you very much for your help!

 

[Climb]

Marc – Your understanding of how I use my side-by-side kegmentor is correct. I have included some pictures hoping they will compliment my writeup.
I have removed most of the original temperature control mechanisms. It now uses two 12V DC powered temperature controllers; a single stage for the freezer compartment and a dual stage for the refrigerator compartment. I use the single stage temperature controller to turn on the compressor when the freezer section is too warm. I use the dual stage temperature controller to turn on fans that recirculate cold air from the freezer compartment into the refrigerator compartment when the refrigerator compartment is too warm and to turn on a portable heater (that has an internal fan as well as heat and fan speed settings) when the refrigerator compartment is too cold.
Both temperature controllers are mounted in the refrigerator door. I installed a computer power supply in the compressor area, taped into AC power there and route the 12V DC into the refrigerator compartment to the temperature controllers. The left one is for the freezer compartment and is the single stage controller. Routing its temperature sensor to the freezer compartment doesn’t make for a super clean install due to the extra wire needed to deal with the movement of the refrigerator door. I mount the temperature sensors against a keg and a block of styrofoam between the keg and the freezer wall. I do similarly for the fermenter and the temperature sensor for the dual stage temperature controller.
FYI, a single stage temperature controller only has one output that can be used to either turn on a heater or a compressor. A dual stage temperature controller has two outputs, one can be used to turn on a compressor and the other to turn on a heater.
I removed the in-door ice & water dispenser and have mounted the two faucets there. I keep my CO2 tank outside and run one CO2 tube into the freezer compartment through the ice maker water inlet. The CO2 tube is connected to the output of the primary regulator on the CO2 tank and to the input of a dual secondary regulator in the freezer compartment. All tubing is EVABarrier.
I have made shelves in each compartment and can fit 4 sixth kegs in the freezer compartment.
The one problem I have is that I can only cold crash to about 45 F on the refrigerator side unless I decrease the temperature significantly in the freezer compartment which then causes the kegs/tubing to freeze.
Let me know if you have any more questions and good luck with your build.

 

[Marc Byron]

Marc – Your understanding of how I use my side-by-side kegmentor is correct. I have included some pictures hoping they will compliment my writeup.
I have removed most of the original temperature control mechanisms. It now uses two 12V DC powered temperature controllers; a single stage for the freezer compartment and a dual stage for the refrigerator compartment. I use the single stage temperature controller to turn on the compressor when the freezer section is too warm. I use the dual stage temperature controller to turn on fans that recirculate cold air from the freezer compartment into the refrigerator compartment when the refrigerator compartment is too warm and to turn on a portable heater (that has an internal fan as well as heat and fan speed settings) when the refrigerator compartment is too cold.
Both temperature controllers are mounted in the refrigerator door. I installed a computer power supply in the compressor area, taped into AC power there and route the 12V DC into the refrigerator compartment to the temperature controllers. The left one is for the freezer compartment and is the single stage controller. Routing its temperature sensor to the freezer compartment doesn’t make for a super clean install due to the extra wire needed to deal with the movement of the refrigerator door. I mount the temperature sensors against a keg and a block of styrofoam between the keg and the freezer wall. I do similarly for the fermenter and the temperature sensor for the dual stage temperature controller.
FYI, a single stage temperature controller only has one output that can be used to either turn on a heater or a compressor. A dual stage temperature controller has two outputs, one can be used to turn on a compressor and the other to turn on a heater.
I removed the in-door ice & water dispenser and have mounted the two faucets there. I keep my CO2 tank outside and run one CO2 tube into the freezer compartment through the ice maker water inlet. The CO2 tube is connected to the output of the primary regulator on the CO2 tank and to the input of a dual secondary regulator in the freezer compartment. All tubing is EVABarrier.
I have made shelves in each compartment and can fit 4 sixth kegs in the freezer compartment.
The one problem I have is that I can only cold crash to about 45 F on the refrigerator side unless I decrease the temperature significantly in the freezer compartment which then causes the kegs/tubing to freeze.
Let me know if you have any more questions and good luck with your build.
View attachment 871122View attachment 871119View attachment 871118View attachment 871117

Woooooow mate that’s amazing! I wouldn’t know how to do that. I’ve been using an inkbird to control the temperature of my fridge for fermenting. That works very well and I’m very happy with it. Now that I’m kegging I wanted to avoid two different fridges (fermentation and serving) as I was thinking that the temperature controllers of each section of the side by side would do the job. It looks like there’s much more to do than just connecting it and setting up the temperature.
Unfortunately, I think I might need to get another fridge for my kegs…
Thank you so much anyway for your knowledge