Beer Forum

vent · #1 (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 04:44 PM

All,

New here and have my conversion kit for a single tap door mount. I have been looking to do a conversion on a fridge and want to get started...I would like to do a side X side. single tap. I want to fit a full 1/2 barrel

(1) what size (cuft) do I need to buy to fit the 1/2 barrel? 17" in diameter, right, but no specs ever cover that

(2) I want to put my co2 tank outside. Anyone have some detailed design docs/pics to share????

Help help help. I want to be ready for the winter seasonal brews!

many thanks to all that assist!

vent · #2 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009, 12:26 PM

soooo,

I have searched and found most of my answers from this board and will show progress as it happens.

I am getting a kenmore 24.x cuft (2004ish) side x side fridge on Friday. I'm not 100% sure what I'll have to do to fit a 1/2 barrel, but I expect to have to shave/cut some of the shelf supports on the inside walls to allow enough room. will be nice if I can skip it.

I need to make a sturdy level shelf on the floor to level the slanting bottom portion (protecing the compressor) to support 200lbs I expect to use a pressure treated 1x6" cut to fit

I have ordered a singletap conversion kit, but want my 5lb co2 can outside (bonus points: more space inside+ and more effecent use of pressure with co2 outside+) so thanks to a n idea posted by "whutever" I have placed an order for the following additional componets (rememebr I bought a single tap conversion kit already):

Product name/Part No.
Ice Box Shank Assembly / 609CA
Gas Hose & Clamps / 553Rx8_SNP-10x4
5/16" Brass Tailpiece(x2) / 526E
Neoprene Washer(x2) / 759
Hex Nut(x2) / 874

my solution isn't as cool as 'whutever" 's is becuase I only need 1 keg tap (although I wish I had seen his 1st, I'd have just coped it from the get go!)

so my fridge gets here friday, and the rest of the parts likely get here monday. I'll try to make my hole cuts this weekend and shelf mods too...if I have time.

more later

vent · #3 (**permalink**) 11-08-2009, 04:37 PM

So after doing my own research and some help from the good people @ micromatic I was able to successfully build my keg fridge (stage one)
I purchased a newer (05)’ Kenmore 24.x cuft energy star fridge for $300…this is more than most want to sink into a fridge, but if you look at the kw/h efficiency after about 4 years it think will pay for the differential cost of an 10 year old+ side by side for say $100 that has rust and a funny smell! This unit averages 600 kwh/y so about $5 a month to keep it on.
Anyway I cleaned it (the only thing worse than cleaning your fridge is cleaning someone else’s. Here what it looked like after I was done bleaching the daylights out of it (looked like new!) The advantage to a side by side is (1) If you have an outdoor deep freezer, replace it with this for about the same $ you were paying per sqft for freezer space. Net energy cost of replacement makes the 15 sqft fridge space free to keep powered! (2) 15sqft will not be 100% utilized! With a top freezer there is a lot of wasted space, but the side x side uses the fridge space very efficiently. The top 2 shelves (25") are not touched AND I was able to fit the full keg inside WITHOUT removing the shelves inside the door! So you can put tons of gallon containers in here for family overflow, or whatever you want to use it for…point is you have TONS of fridge space left over!
The Kenmore and whirlpool have the best reliability and efficiency ratings according to consumer reports, and after you remove the 2 crispers and glass shelves there are groves in the framework that will support a surprising amount of weight. Most guides show bricks and supporting lumber to hold up a shelf. To my surprise a perfectly cut piece of engineered wood from lowes fit into the groves and held over 200 pounds without any support brinks! So no unsightly junk at the bottom of my SxS! Bonus! My dimensions were 17 3/8” wide X 18” deep X 1 ” thick…fit like a glove. Best part is that the guys at lowes cut it for me! Just ask them, and tell them it’s for beer!
I cut my shank holes very carefully. Btw my instructions called for a 1 3/8” hole saw. In retrospect I’d have used a 1” because the 3/8” bore shank had too much clearance in my opinion, and the stoppers on the inside wall almost had nothing to keep it secure. I used the left over scrap of the previously cut platform and cut a small section with the hole saw and it made the faucet mount more securely. Next I cut the 2nd hole for the shank used to supply co2 from outside the fridge (this is not part of a conversion kit read above the parts list in my last post) The shank for this one had a nice oversized rubber washer that covered the 1 3/8” hole very nicely so no scrap wood was needed.
The rest was just like the conversion kit stated, easy to mount the drip try, attach the coupler ect. I set pressure for 12 psi and purchased a full keg of winter porter, mounted, tapped and boom! I was done

I cannot figure how to add more pics, so the rest will be for comming

vent · #4 (**permalink**) 11-08-2009, 04:44 PM

the rest of the pics

next step is to dress it up a bit...I'm enjoying my winter porter from carolina brewing company right now. I might get to it later.

hope that helped somone.

TomK · #5 (**permalink**) 11-08-2009, 06:00 PM

Looks great. Glad you were able to find the right size fridge. I wasn't sure how big a side-by-side would have to be to fit a full keg. Enjoy!

panthermark · #6 (**permalink**) 11-08-2009, 07:57 PM

I thought about a side by side myself. I actually think they make a lot of sense....especially IF...you can put the CO2 tank in the freezer (and turn the freezer off). A lot of side by sides have vents that run between the fridge and freezer, and you could just run your hose through there.

The only problem I had was that the side by side I wanted was too big to fit in the space I had.

When I was looking at one...I thought I could maybe fit a pony (on top) and two sixtels (on bottom) in it. Three faucets on the front, and room for both co2 and nitro in the freezer.

vent · #7 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 10:46 AM

don't know why you'd put co2 in the freezer. Even if you can kill the cooling in the freezer side (1) you loose 9 cuft of freezer space, and you (2) keep your co2 cold making the pressure harder to guage+ making the gas compressed/thus less effective (30% performace loss I've read)

you can get a 10' gas line and put the co2 on top of the fridge if you wanted...

panthermark · #8 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vent

don't know why you'd put co2 in the freezer. Even if you can kill the cooling in the freezer side (1) you loose 9 cuft of freezer space, and you (2) keep your co2 cold making the pressure harder to guage+ making the gas compressed/thus less effective (30% performace loss I've read)

you can get a 10' gas line and put the co2 on top of the fridge if you wanted...

I'd put the CO2 in the freezer for two reasons. 1 - I'm not a fan of the "look" of CO2 on the outside. 2 - For the exact same reason as your number 2.

When I look at my "kitchen" side by side, the fridge is adjustable from 1-10, but the freezer is adjustable from 0-10 (I'm assuming that is for when you need to manually de-ice).

In a perfect world, I would actually keep the freezer on the lowest setting....however, I'm not sure if the gas lines running through the vent that is between the fridge and freezer (thus blocking the flow) would screw something up.

I guess I have to keep in mind everyones situation is different. On reason why I wanted a smaller fridge and don't care about freezer space is because there is already a deep freezer sitting next to my kegerator in the garage. Room and space saving is more important to me than freezer space.

vent · #9 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 12:08 PM

running the co2 through the small vent would not allow proper cooling between the freezer and the fridge.

I HAD to ditch my existing chest freezer because of garage space. The top freezers had 3-5 cuft max of freezer space so it would be the same size with a bigger power footprint if I did that. A side by side was used saving space in the garage (again loosing the chest fridge), increasing the freezer room to almost 10 sqft and gaining tons of extra fridge space...Speaking of which there was so much extra space (see picture) you could just drop your co2 can it into the door space where milk gallons go, or remove the top shelf and place it on the single remaining shelf (25"+ headroom above the full barrel). I just wanted the co2 outside for efficiency purposes (form follows function) a preference for sure.

truebluecoltsfan · #10 (**permalink**) 11-10-2009, 05:48 PM

Looks good...I've got a side by side just like this and am evaluating my options now...so you think the CO2 would fit inside the door? I may try that... (w outside as a fallback)

If you could post a picture of the front closed and a wider picture with the door open...it would help me to show the wife...

I'm also debating whether to try to fit 2 kegs in...perhaps a pair of 6th barrels but my next step is to find what formats I can buy the brews I like in...

Thanks
Dave

jsbrugg · #11 (**permalink**) 11-11-2009, 12:36 PM

I don't think you can actually turn off the freezer. From my understanding, almost all new fridges don't do any cooling in the refrigerator compartment. It's all done in the freezer and the vent is controlled to let the cold freezer air into the fridge compartment to cool that side.

panthermark · #12 (**permalink**) 11-11-2009, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbrugg

I don't think you can actually turn off the freezer. From my understanding, almost all new fridges don't do any cooling in the refrigerator compartment. It's all done in the freezer and the vent is controlled to let the cold freezer air into the fridge compartment to cool that side.

I know for sure that the freezer on my side by side at home can be turned off without turning off the entire fridge. It is a 5 year old (POS) GE that "howls" like a monkey in heat. I got a nice check back from a class action lawsuit against GE.....some defrost part in the freezer is total crap....and keeps breaking....so the whole thing ices up and howls. I have to make sure I turn the freezer off everynow and them and let all of the ice thaw out. Nice.....

vent · #13 (**permalink**) 11-11-2009, 07:01 PM

Colts:
the co2 can (1/2 LB) is ~5" in diameter. The door bin on the bottom is well over 5" so yes you can put in in the bin. (make sure you measure yours)

you can put many multiple kegs in the sxs to be sure. weight and position is the issue. I am trying to fit 1-2 cory kegs up top, but I will have to re think my engineered wood shelf becuase I'm about 2 inches too short and it likely won't handle another 100 lbs :eek
You can fit 2-3 (maybe 4) 6ers down low if you dont have a full barrel like I do. You can fit a pony and 2-3 sixers/core there are alot of options

I want to start brewing at home, but I get a GREAT deal on a GREAT micro here winter porter (119 including tax

) so you can see the delimma I'm in!

I'll try and take those pics soon

GO JETS

vent · #14 (**permalink**) 11-13-2009, 09:14 AM

hope this helps. Btw, the reason the door bins on the fridge side aren't present is becuase they were gone when I bought the fridge second hand (they will still fit) I'm looking to buy some

truebluecoltsfan · #15 (**permalink**) 11-13-2009, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vent

hope this helps. Btw, the reason the door bins on the fridge side aren't present is becuase they were gone when I bought the fridge second hand (they will still fit) I'm looking to buy some

Thanks...looks awesome!