Using an Upright Refrigerator

[Newgene]

A buddy of mine is selling a working full-sized fridge to me for $75. We can use it for anything really, but I was going to use it to feed a 5 gallon keg or two out of the fridge. I probably will stash hops in the freezer as well. Other than that, the wife is going to use it for her batches of food she cooks.

Anyone see anything I'm doing wrong. I see everyone uses freezers for kegs, but I just assumed that was due to efficiency of the freezer vs. fridge. Any reason the fridge itself can't be used this way. I'm mostly bottling, but the occasional party will need the freezer for kegs.

 

[android]

i think you'd be surprised at the number of people that use fridges for that purpose. i had an old fridge from my folks that i used to used before investing in a freezer. there's nothing at all wrong with using a fridge as a kegerator (or just having picnic taps hooked inside the fridge). in my opinion, it's the ease of loading/moving kegs and the space that normally gets people to use a freezer.

 

[Yooper]

My full sized fridge holds 5 kegs and a 10# co2 tank. In a pinch, it can hold three kegs, a 5# co2 tank, a turkey, various foodstuffs and some beer in bottles!

If you're using picnic (cobra) taps, you have to reach in to get the tap but you can store all kinds of stuff in there, too! I put up a shelf on the bottom, sort of where the "crisper drawers" where, since I had a hump there anyway, and Bob stores his garden's root vegetables there. Even with 5 kegs in there, he manages to store a few things in my kegerator! It's just a regular upright fridge, with the freezer on top. The freezer is completely full of hops.

 

[Newgene]

This one has to be a compromise with the wife. She needs extra freezer space for her homemade soups and chili. We also need the freezer space for extra meat and stuff that I throw on the smoker. We still have the house fridge, but we are always juggling. We also could use the fridge bottom for stuff that just won't fit in the fridge on a temporary basis. I still think we'll get another freezer, but that will be for frozen food. I think this is my best and only way to keg beer.

We also have a wine chiller, but I have pretty much taken over that with beer bottles. I just wish it got colder than 41F.

 

[jiggs_casey]

Not a bad deal! I've been wanting to pick one up. I've got a little '30 pack' fridge with a really small rack area that I keep hops and yeast in. It's a constant fight for real estate in there. My washed yeast is upstairs and although she puts up with it, my wife would rather see it elsewhere...

 

[cmuench]

I'm using an upright fridge, freezer on the bottom for fermenting. When I'm done fermenting it easily holds 4-5 cornies at serving temp.

I use a ranco controller for temp control. I'm trying to figure out how to over ride the thermostat so the compressor and fan are always on. Then it'll be easier to use the ranco for temp control especially in the summer (it's in my garage).

I did this with a wine chiller that I use for a kegerator. I'm easily able to get to 34 degrees where before I over rode the thermostat it would only get to 46ish.