Would like to turn a side by side Fridge into a ferm chamber - tips?

[Ragman]

Hello. We recently purchased a new fridge and kept the old one for use in the garage. The old one has broken and cracked shelving and is smaller than the new one.

I would like to turn the freezer side into a normal fridge and the fridge side into a ferm chamber.

I have no clue as how to do this. Can it even be done? I already have a keezer so I dont need to turn this into a kegerator. - although that might be a project for sometime down the road.

Any tips would be appreciated. I can get make/model info for the fridge later if that is needed to determine if it can be done.

 

[Newbrew]

Hello. We recently purchased a new fridge and kept the old one for use in the garage. The old one has broken and cracked shelving and is smaller than the new one.

I would like to turn the freezer side into a normal fridge and the fridge side into a ferm chamber.

I have no clue as how to do this. Can it even be done? I already have a keezer so I dont need to turn this into a kegerator. - although that might be a project for sometime down the road.

Any tips would be appreciated. I can get make/model info for the fridge later if that is needed to determine if it can be done.

I am doing this right now. I found a video on YouTube and am currently waiting for the fans and controllers to arrive. That’s the video I watched.

 

[murphyslaw]

There are a ton of examples on here. I did it 10 years ago based on this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...y-side-kegerator-fermentation-chamber.289241/

 

[Climb]

Here is a couple pointers from my past build experience.
* Understand how the cooling and electrical system of your side by side work. This will help you decide what you want to keep and what you want to replace. You may be able to use the existing temperature controller to set the freezer compartment to refrigerator temperatures.
* Realize that the freezer compartment must be colder than the refrigerator compartment. Will you be cold crashing your fermenter? If so, then the freezer compartment will need to be at freezing temperature.
* Leave the internal lights and light switches. They are handy to have.
* Plan on having a dual stage temperature controller for the refrigerator side (fermentation chamber). The dual stage controller will allow you to turn on fans, yes you need at least 2, for cooling and a heater of some kind. Both are often needed to control temperature in a fermentation chamber. I like the STC-1000; some display Celsius others display Fahrenheit, so be sure you order the one you want. If you upgrade the firmware to the STC-1000+, you can setup and run complete fermentation profiles.
* If you remove the existing temperature controller for the freezer compartment, you only need a single stage temperature controller for it.
* Leave the crisper air vent in place, as this is another aid in cooling the fermentation chamber side.
* There shouldn't be any cooling lines in the doors or the internal wall that separates the freezer and refrigerator sections and I doubt you will find cooling lines in any of the exterior walls, but verify this before you cut and drill into them. See first bullet item.
* Think about the height of the internal shelf in the refrigerator compartment, especially if you are going to add one. Make it high enough to be able to do a closed system gravity aided transfer to a keg if you are or will be kegging.

 

[Newbrew]

Here is a couple pointers from my past build experience.
* Understand how the cooling and electrical system of your side by side work. This will help you decide what you want to keep and what you want to replace. You may be able to use the existing temperature controller to set the freezer compartment to refrigerator temperatures.
* Realize that the freezer compartment must be colder than the refrigerator compartment. Will you be cold crashing your fermenter? If so, then the freezer compartment will need to be at freezing temperature.
* Leave the internal lights and light switches. They are handy to have.
* Plan on having a dual stage temperature controller for the refrigerator side (fermentation chamber). The dual stage controller will allow you to turn on fans, yes you need at least 2, for cooling and a heater of some kind. Both are often needed to control temperature in a fermentation chamber. I like the STC-1000; some display Celsius others display Fahrenheit, so be sure you order the one you want. If you upgrade the firmware to the STC-1000+, you can setup and run complete fermentation profiles.
* If you remove the existing temperature controller for the freezer compartment, you only need a single stage temperature controller for it.
* Leave the crisper air vent in place, as this is another aid in cooling the fermentation chamber side.
* There shouldn't be any cooling lines in the doors or the internal wall that separates the freezer and refrigerator sections and I doubt you will find cooling lines in any of the exterior walls, but verify this before you cut and drill into them. See first bullet item.
* Think about the height of the internal shelf in the refrigerator compartment, especially if you are going to add one. Make it high enough to be able to do a closed system gravity aided transfer to a keg if you are or will be kegging.

It appears the fan in my freezer side only supplies cold air to the fridge side. Through the normally damper controlled vent. Can I remove that fan? Or even just connect it to my controller?

 

[Climb]

That's the most common arrangement. That fan should turn on when the compressor turns on and should turn off when the compressor turns off. There may be a lag time on both starting and stopping. Why not leave that fan in place? The fan is probably AC powered, so if you connect it to your controller, be sure the controller can handle AC voltage to the fan one way or another. I suggest that you have your controller control two added fans. One of these added fans should be mounted at the top, possibly where the damper assembly is, that blows cold air from the freezer compartment into the refrigerator compartment. The second added fan should be at the bottom and should blow air from the refrigerator compartment to the freezer compartment. Both of these added fans should be controlled in unison. You will need to decide if you want a AC or DC powered fans. For AC powered fans, find a place to tap into existing AC power, just be sure that tap point always stays powered and that it is not ever switched off. For DC fans, add an AC to DC power supply that has the appropriate DC voltage required by your added fans. I have used a old notebook computer power supply for this. They are free to cheap, very reliable and typically have 12V and 24V which are the common DC voltages used to power DC fans.

Another thing to think about is if you want to completely remove the damper assembly or leave it in place. If there is a way to manually position the damper, I suggest leaving it in place. Most damper assemblies use a bi-metal thermostat to control the damper position. I have found that the bi-metal thermostats are designed to run at temperatures much cooler than typical lager fermentation temperatures and thus are not useful in this application, so they need to be removed or bypassed. Some people replace the damper assembly with a louver vent that is installed on the refrigerator side. The louver vent acts as a diode or check valve and prevents air in the refrigerator compartment from flowing back into the freezer compartment.

 

[Newbrew]

Thanks I have everything set up like you stated with the exception of the damper. I was thinking I could remove the fan before realizing its actual purpose. I think I’m good with a manual damper that I can open if the smaller fans can’t keep up in the summer. I don’t think it will be an issue but just in case

 

[IslandLizard]

I like the STC-1000; some display Celsius others display Fahrenheit, so be sure you order the one you want. [...]

[EDITS] Also a "proud" owner of 2 original STC-1000 units. Alas, not the custom re-flashed + [plus] versions.

Based on STC-1000 technology, the InkBird ITC-308 has pretty much taken over the market. Unlike the STC-1000, the ITC-308 is a simple "plug and play" unit.

Inkbird is one of our forum sponsors and runs specials from time to time.