Converting a Magic Chef 4.4 cubic feet mini fridge into a KEGERATOR!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ธ.ค. 2024
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In this video, I show you how I converted a 4.4 cubic foot Magic Chef mini fridge into a kegerator with the capacity to hold 2 cornelius (corny) kegs and a 5lb CO2 cylinder. Granted, going with a larger inner sized refrigerator would have made this a LOT easier--but I got the fridge for wicked cheap on Craigslist and had an immediate need for the kegerator (first kegged batch coming up in less than 5 days from now). Plus I didn't want to spend a lot on the mini fridge because I knew I was going to be chopping and hacking away at it. I just couldn't bring myself to fork out $180 for a new one... That's $130 I can spend now on more brew stuff! Sweet! Well, enough with this rant--enjoy the video! Cheers!
Hey Joe, all your videos have helped me tremendously with certain decisions and projects, so i want to pay a gratitude and sincere thank you...keep them coming.
Thanks for posting this! For a different reason, however. I had taken the door, gasket, and door panel off to clean up a major spill. I thought there was a missing part and couldn't figure how to get it back together! Watching this video of you disassembling it showed me what I needed to do! Thanks!
+Jim Winkler Awesome! Happy to help!
I ended up going through the top for a tower and where I ended up putting my hole had not one but two lines going parallel from front to back. They were quite hard and my drill didn't go through them. I'm pretty sure they go to the front to warm the door because when I plugged in the fridge they were warm to the touch. Thankfully the kegerator is complete now and in working order. Thanks for the help!
I just totally just stripped a mini-fridge... My daugher got it from work, and she did not like it in her room. Therefore, I took it off her hands!!! Kegerator here we come!!! Thanks for the instructions.
@terpsichoreankid - Converting my fridge now, much harder than I expected. Mine is a Kenmore 4.4, and the shelves are not screwed in to a door panel as yours were. They were solid coated foam, I took a die grinder to them, and got them off. The shelves are not stopping the door now but there is a lip at the bottom, preventing it from closing. This lip is not at the top of the door, so I can flip the door upside down, just cut more, or install a platform to elevate the keg to clear this lip.
I was concerned about cutting into the door but it looks really easy. A friend gave me his old mini fridge, and I just got a keg system for my home brew. I'm only going to do a single tap in my 4.4 so seeing all that fit in there makes me feel better about it. I'm excited about converting it!
Well done! There are lesser men who would have settled for lesser results. Yet you persevered and tamed the 4.4 cubic foot monstrosity.
Cheers!
dude, i never new u could fit them in a fridge like that. u have totaly inspired me.
You sir are my hero for the day. From what I could see, condensation may be a slight annoyance. Prior to the demolition it collected in the try under the evaporator coils but now it will just run down to the bottom of fridge.
loving the improvisation!
Good work and good effort :)
you got your priorities right... Cheap! (Y) way to go my friend
Thanks for posting this! I saw it previously and today, found a mini fridge that a neighbor left out. It's a Daewoo, same size, looks just like yours. In about 20 min., the shelves are already cut off of the door and my keg (with a nice English Bitter) is already cooling.
Planning on getting another Cornie Keg. When I do, I'll cut more plastic out.
Also, used a utility knife and a hack saw. The door plastic cuts pretty easily.
Nice!!!
Yep, that's a nice thin plastic and is easy to hack away at. Be sure if you hack into the sides that you do so carefully. You don't want to hack into a pertinent line of electricity or coolant!
Great job. I followed your instructions and got my mini-fridge almost done. I need to still install a tower or a front door tap. I can't decide. I'm also going to make a stand or a wall with the shelves removed from the door. I didn't have a dremel, but I found a utility knife worked almost as well.
@terpsichoreankid PT1 I'm still trying to get forced carb perfected. This is for my 3 gal kegs, not 5gal kegs. Rack to keg, leaving room beneath the IN tube, lid up. Purge with several hits of CO2 to get the O out, bleed off each hit. Raise to 20-30psi, chill overnight (5gal may be longer) to 40F or lower. Turn off CO2 and shake keg (guess with heavy 5gal you have to roll it) for abt 30 min. Here's where it gets tricky for me and I've tried a dozen or so experiments and still perfecting.
Ok you guys, I figured it out for installing a draft tower on one of these. The cooling lines on top are in a horseshoe shape and come out from the right and left back corners, then up the middle. You will want to drill your hole more towards the front of the unit to avoid it. I mean, anything over 10 inches from the front and you will hit the line
I bricked mine. I recommend finding where you want to drill, and opening on the inside using a dremel grinding wheel. Then scoup the insulation out. You may be able to cut a two inch hole, or alternately, just run the beer lines through the freon return area. The freon lines appear to be attached directly to the metal roof.
@terpsichoreankid PT2 There's 2 variables I want to change before serving, the temp and the carb level (I like 46F at 8-10psi). If you bleed off the pressure while the beer's still shaken up inside, you'll get sprayed with beer foam, LOL! I've let it sit overnight again at this point, at the proper temp, and bled off the pressure the next day and then hook up the CO2 and set it at 8-10psi. Instead, I've also let people go ahead and drink it cold and over-carbed until the pressure goes down.
A full size keg won't fit in one of these little fridges... The thermostat was easy to remove--held in by two small screws. You'd want to check to make sure wherever you put it that you don't drill into a side coolant line or anything like that. Hope that helps a bit! Cheers!
@Tsalts I am actually planning on it when I have the funds for a nice tower. When I plugged the fridge in, I noticed that the sides got warm but not the top--so I know there are lines running in the side of the fridge--so the top is totally fair game! You can bet I'll make a vid and link it with this one so the whole 'kegerator experience' will be complete. Cheers!
I just got the same fridge in black on craigslist. I was thinking of bending down the freezer tray as well as I believed it to be the only cooling unit in the fridge. I am starting with one corny, then may start more dicing and slicing to fix a second.
WOW NICE! I was trying to do the very same thing but so many people said it couldn't be done so I didn't try. Great work!
Looks good.
i wondered how to remove/bend the chiller/freezer. just push down slowly im assuming.. i set mine up with a T peice gas line, with he line running through a hole on the side of the fridge and have a hook on outside of fridge for gas. works just as well. make sure to give enough slop in the line for movements of the kegs
Super cool video bro! I was wondering if this was even possible. Thanks for sharing! :)
Great work there!! I'm using a similar frig for my kegerator but so far I'm chicken to mess with the freezer part, instead I got 3 gal kegs which are exp and frustrating. Seeing you do it, maybe I'll get brave. Not sure you want your CO2 up against the freezer, cold drops CO2 pressure, besides you need to be able to get to it easily to turn it off and on and adjusting. I may drill a hole to put mine totally outside the frig. Love how you did that first part, such great comic editing!! Tks!
Most definitely! I still use the picnic taps--works great for me, plus haven't had the money to invest in more fancy accessories. As long as the beer is good, I'm a happy camper!
@terpsichoreankid I set it to 20-30psi while chilling overnight. Disconnect the CO2 the next day (or when it's chilled, you have a 5gal, mine is 3gal) and shake it. The theory is that as you shake it, the CO2 gets absorbed by the beer. Some guys do not disconnect, they might shut it off and let the pressure bleed back down by serving the beer at the high carb pressure, then crank back down the serving pressure and open the valve to let the CO2 flow again. Depends on your bravery. :-)
Great vid man, I made it work with a 'Sanyo SR-3660S 3.6-Cubic-Foot' fridge doing the same thing. But I had to carve out a bit more insulation than you had to.
So for the record, 2 kegs and a CO2 tank with a dual regulator can fit into a 3.6 cubic foot fridge. (at least the particular model I mentioned above.)
Yeah--large open fridges are tricky to come by, especially in the 'mini-fridge' department. Folks have wonderful setups using full size fridges and taps out the front, if you have the space for one... One of these days I'll have one of them for sure!
@terpsichoreankid PT4 In my PT1 response, I meant disconnect the CO2, not just turn it off, before shaking. Some guys leave the CO2 connected at 20-30psi while they are shaking, but here again, I want to avoid beer getting back up into my regulator. Finally, once you get your carb exactly right, turn off your little CO2 valve after each drinking session, otherwise, the beer will continue to absorb CO2 and come out too foamy.
A good way to fix it is buy some bondo fiberglass and refill the walls to fit the bottles and give a good paint over and your done. Great build.
In mine, you had to very carefully bend the entire tray down which was connected to the system by one pipe. I had to be very careful not to kink that pipe or the coolant wouldn't flow.
Just bought one of these myself for the same thing and came across this. Very helpful! Thanks!
@sbendrake You know--I actually didn't end up pulling it out , it came with the pipe sticking that far out! Maybe that is how I was able to bend mine so gradually... I'm sorry to hear yours didn't turn out! I used to live in MA--if any of my old friends happen to have a minifridge they're wanting to part with, I'll be sure to email you.
I haven't--never converted it to a tower. I actually like the way it is set up now with the picnic taps, so will probably keep it that way for a while!
@Lnoch86 I would measure out the footprint of the kegs and see if they will fit into your fridge. You may need to do one at a time between the kegs (the footprint of a tornado keg looks to be pretty wide...) For this video, I kind of just fooled around with it until things fit just right. I'm not 100% sure about the top of the Magic Chef fridge, but I would imagine there aren't any cooling lines up there--the coolant is all in the freezer tray, and that line runs down the back of the fridge.
Nice conversion dude! Small or large, kegerators are the bomb!
@bwomp313 No--I never wound up installing a tower. I've tucked the fridge underneath a table, so for right now, I can't get to the top of it. If you have a model like this one, it shouldn't be a problem because I don't think there are any lines of any sort through the top of it... Be careful though--I don't really know for sure. Cheers! And best of luck!
Thank you, I think you have convinced me to go with a 5 - 7 Cu Ft freezer instead. ;-)
@chaosinhell666 In all actuality, I don't keep the CO2 tank in the fridge these days--just the kegs. Once the brew is cold, I've found that force carbing them and then taking the co2 tank out saves fridge space and clutter. Plus it gets really freezing cold next to the chill plate, so it wound up working out better to keep it external. This was also a gift to me--so I have used what I got--no need to buy more expensive stuff if I don't have to! Cheers!
You bet! No--I actually had a problem keeping it warm enough. I have the dial set to one of the warmest temperature settings and have the fridge on a timer to cycle on for 30 mins and off for 1 hour. That keeps it from freezing and is sitting right at about 40 or so.
An improvement from cobra taps and an alternative to a draft tower would be to go through the door with shanks and side-mount your faucets.
@ 1:35 we start the great part of the vid! Terp, your commentary after this point is descriptive and easy to listen too - you talk good... or should I say, you "speak well." The sound effects earlier are hacky and especially annoying to us more sophisticated sort but the text you add is quite appreciated. And the speed-up for this early wrenching is necessary. Overall, well done. Thank you.
@SGTkiitty LOL yeah--the foam was to help insulate. Though, I didn't take out too much of it really, and it is still running and keeping quite cold just fine. I think in the best case scenario you wouldn't have to remove so much insulation obviously, but this way saved me a lot of money and didn't really sacrifice much efficiency. Cheers!
@steeljan AH! Ok--this is starting to make a lot more sense now. If I were to chill the keg, and then hit it with 30psi, disconnect, shake it , and then repeat it a couple of times until carbonation is where I want it--that would do the trick, right? Or would that be too much? In pt1 of your reply, you mention chilling it overnight at 30psi--do you leave the tank connected and on the entire time, or disconnect it before letting it set all night?
@pachdaddy I didn't drill through anything in this video... If you're looking for tips on that, check some of the homebrew forums--I know there is one method where you make a paste with baking soda and then put it on the fridge where you'd like to drill--the areas with cooling lines will dry faster because they warm up. With this fridge, the shelf is the only cooling area, and I think the lines actually run through the sides rather than the top. I haven't drilled on it, so can't say for sure!
Really nice job! I didn't think it was possible to do this, but it sure works fine. You could use this for fermentation in a keg, also!
It's actually in storage right now, so can't get to your question right away. 12.5" sounds like it would be cutting it awful close... I'd try to find a larger model, just to be sure.
@bwomp313 Interesting... I didn't think there would be lines up there--at least, not in my fridge anyway. If I wind up putting in a tower, I'll have to keep my eye out for that. Thanks for the heads up!
Nope--no problem keep cool. I have actually found the fridge seems to be colder with the cooling tray bent down, so I've had to increase the temp on the internal thermostat to compensate. It works like a charm!
@terpsichoreankid PT3 The key here is that I don't reconnect my CO2 until I'm sure the pressure has gone down inside the keg, 'cause I don't want beer to go backwards into my CO2 line. Yet you want to crank down the CO2 pressure to be low when you reconnect and turn it back on. So, yeah, if no one is standing there waiting for beer ;-) I like to shake it and leave it overnight, bleed off the pressure, turn down my regulator, hook it back up, and adjust the CO2 regulator back up to my 8-10psi.
@acraine Slowly, checking to make sure there were no kinks in the line as I went. I also tried to bend down sectionally--so I'd try to bend the first quarter, then the next, then the next, etc. until the entire line was bent down. The trick is to bend the entire thing without a kink occurring in that little piece of tubing that comes out of the wall, so I bent in sections gradually until the entire thing was where I wanted it. Just grabbing and pulling the tray down would be disastrous!
I did this with a similar fridge, and mounted pipe 2" flanges on the top, with 2" galvanized pipe nipples screwed into the flanges, then elbows on top of then. Then I screwed in pipe nipples, and two more pipe flanges. I mounted a decorative board on those final pipe flanges. Then I put wall mounted style taps through the board, and the beer lines go through the pipe down into the fridge and onto the kegs. It worked great and had a pretty "industrial" look. Every thing was gravy, until I drilled a hole in the side of the fridge for the gas line and just NICKED a cooling line I had no idea was there! At which point the entire effort was scrapped because while there could be a way to repair the line, there is no way to re-charge a mini-fridge with coolant. Knowing that, either do what terpsichoreandkid did and keep the gas bottle inside the fridge, or only go through the top of the fridge because there seems to be no cooling lines inside that part of the fridge. Good video.
+Byron Sarchet Do you happen to have a picture of that set up before you drilled the coolant line?
It would have been tricky, because I needed that indentation in order to fit two corny's... Maybe if I had a panel and then had a way to indent it...
Well, actually both pin and ball lock disconnects come in tall and short--so that's not the best way to differentiate them. Pin lock literally has pins that protrude from the base of the post, whereas ball lock does not. It's all in how the disconnect attaches to the post, not the color or height of the disconnect (though that will help you differentiate between gas in and beverage out.
Hrmm... I'd measure the diameter of the keg before trying just to be sure... I couldn't tell you off the top of my head! There's a decent amount of space in there, but there's a shelf type thing at the bottom where the compressor sits--and it really hampers the overall capacity.
Just very gradually, very carefully. I didn't have any specialty tools--just used my hands and took plenty of time to make sure I didn't crimp the pipe!
@drew1350 You know, I'm not 100% sure on that one as I have never tried it, but just from looking online at a couple sites showing dimensions of various kegs, it doesn't look like a 1/6 keg is too far off at all from the cornelius kegs I use. I would think that it would fit without any troubles.
@tedizzle45 No--there's a ledge in there that makes even fitting the two cornelius kegs in there a squeeze. A 1/2 would be way too big for this little fridge. Hope that helps! Cheers!
Probably can't fit 2 sixtels in there, huh? 9.25" diameter. Tough going for me so far to find an adequate fridge for that. Great video! Will definitely becoming back when I begin my conversion.
Thanks
@brhoge You know, because the fridge has the cooling tray within the fridge, I highly doubt there will be lines running in the very top of the fridge. I'll try to follow that freon line as close as I can, but will probably do the baking soda test to see if anywhere on the top of the fridge is getting heated. But yeah--I'm thinking that because the cooling is occurring with that internal tray, there's probably no lines up at the top... If you wind up chopping away--please let me know!
@chris95069 LOL--soon, friend! I'm sure I'll shoot video of the first pouring from the kegs (I've had them now for about a month and haven't yet used them...) So needless to say, I'm excited. First pour, second pour, third pour, fourth....pour... Oh dear--that video might get a little rough around the edges... haha
That you could!! I may have to do that--give a lager a try!
Nice guide! Ill be trying this one this summer
After I finish the work to get everything to fit, Some DIY tap towers to save even more cash, and my living room will be complete
I'm in the process of converting the same fridge, got it real cheap, only $25! I was wondering if you ever ended up drilling through the top for a tower and how it worked out for you because that's certainly part of my plan.
@sbendrake Hrmmm--were you bending it cold or warm? I know that metals become more malleable when they're warmer, but again, I'm not a professional at HVAC stuff so warming the tubes might be a terrible idea. Did you notice a crack or did anything snap? Mine was fairly easy to bend, but I went very slowly and tried to bend the entire 1.5 inches or so of the tubing a little bit at a time--moving slowly down the piece. Almost like a U bender machine bends a pipe.
@terpsichoreankid Well, hang on. Just leaving it overnight to chill at 30psi will not carbonate the beer. It'll come out fast and with a foamy head, but the body of it will not have CO2 in it. You have to shake it up to get the CO2 into the beer that fast. Remember, don't get beer back in your CO2 line, which happens when the keg pressure is higher than your line pressure. The alternative is setting the CO2 at the pressure and temp you want in the first place and leave it for a week.
It wasn't too hard--I just very gradually bent it down, trying ot bend the actual pipe rather than pulling down on the tray. It's definitely a touchy process--so go slow and constantly check the coolant line.
I was bending at room temp. It looks like you were able to pull the coolant pipe out a little to make it bend easier. I tried moving slow I just think it started to kink and I didn't realize it. If anyone in Mass has a Mini fridge they want to sell cheap. Contact me!
@TakeSomeAdvice Thanks! As I got further into chipping the foam out, I was starting to wonder myself. I have a few more things I'd like to do to it, but for now, it will do!
@rawimpact My fridge only takes about 10 minutes to get down to about 30F, and I don't event have it on the coldest setting! I know different fridges will get to different "coldest" settings, but 12 hours seems like a long time for it to get to 40F...
@aHalfaMongrel Nope--no condensation on the outside at all. I have noticed though that the cooling tray will build up ice on all its surfaces inside the fridge, so a periodic complete thawing/cleaning is definitely a must. Though--for a cheap as hell fridge and two kegs of perfectly cooled beer--it's well worth it!
For mine the pipe didn't bend at all, but the metal near it did.
either way it did in fact work out, and currently is on the 24 hour cooling cycle.
Thanks again for helping me make my decision. I might not had taken the deal if I hadn't seen your guide and learned that it could be done!
Side note: did you ever add a tap to the top, or just keep with the thumb tap? how did just keeping the tap in the fridge work out?
Perfect! I still have the cobra (plastic) taps. They've always worked so well, plus any mods would make it more difficult to have two kegs in there...
Nice job, I will be trying to do this next weekend.
Possibly--if the tray is not bolted or welded in place (aka can be bent down) it should still work...
nice job unfortunatally i got a large frige for like 20 buks bit old but who really cairs lol it gives alot of beer so keeps me happy but if i ever need more kegs running im doing this y did u not do the co2 line splitters and pay more on regulators may i ask
I say you did quite some cutting through the plastic of the fridge... how did you plan on cutting all this, taking into consideration the possible cooling lines?
Terp, Could you give me the measurement from the compressor hump to the door. Looking to see if I can use this for beer fermentation. Would have to fit a 12.5" wide carboy in there.
how do you know there are no heating/cooling lines running through the top before you drill into it? is the shelf you folded back the only cooling unit? how do you know if thats the case?
How did you "carefully" bend down the cooling body without kinking the tubes?
@bwomp313 if you use a paste of water and starch (somewhat on the watery side)... spread on top of the fridge and turn on it will warm up the lines and you will be able to see it through this mixture, then find a place to drill.
Thanks for the video- it was a good help. Ready to chill my home brew.
In your opinion, is it also possible to install a tap on the side of the refrigerator on this model? I'm thinking once you remove the inner door panel it would be hard to install a tap on the front door.
Hey, thanks for the instructional video! Because of you and your clever ways I now have the exact same mini converted for cornies. I have a question: What temp do you keep you dial set to? I find 1, the lowest setting is almost too cold??? Any thoughts? Also, where do you have the temp prob?
Thanks.
Same here. Where did you stuff the thermometer wire? It wants to run at 27°f now on 1.
I'm doing much the same thing to a old dinged up Lemair mini fridge... just wanted to know if the outside of your fridge gathers condensation in area's you removed some of the insulation from?
What style kegs do you have? think pin lock is shorter and wider where ball lock are taller and slimmer?
@philliproe2836 I would definitely go with the mini fridge rather than forking out all that money for a pre-built kegerator. You may have a little difficulty finding one to fit a 1/6, but as long as you measure everything out, you should be fine. I've also seen guys who took a mini fridge, removed the door, and then built a chamber outside of the fridge for their kegs--seemed to work out really well for them!
with the cooling unit, how exactly did you bend it down? did you grab the pipe itself and bend it and if so did you put something behind it to help curl it down?
No clue--haven't checked for it!
Have the same kind of fridge and am trying to put a full keg in and it has the thermostat in the same spot and I need to move it. I noticed you had it on the back little shelf. Is it easy to move? All i need to do is move it a few inches. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Perfect! Just make sure you don't saw or drill through your coolant lines--that would kill the fridge!
Great video as always. Nicely done, very informative.
@PiperPilot140 Awesome! Yeah--with the door you don't have too much to worry about--it's the sides where you have to be careful. If you slice too deep and hit a coolant line, it can ruin the whole fridge. So when you convert yours--take your time and have a homebrew! :-)
Not really--as each keg I put in there is a different temperature, so that would change regardless of the refrigerator (ie a keg that is already fairly cool because it was in teh basement would be at serving temperature much quicker than a keg left in a hot room)
How difficult was it to bend the coolant line? Could you walk me through that process? I have a similar fridge that i'm wanting to convert but if i screw it up i wont be kegging for a long time...
Yup definitely started hearing a hiss when I tried bending the tray. I was doing it carefully but it just started to lightly hiss. No more keg for me. I can't afford another one. Any tips for bending this damn thing.
Would a sixth barrel keg fit in a kegerator like the one you made?
My fridge ive just bought of ebay looks the same but at the top it has a freezer, can it still be done
did u drill in the top yet? i have the exact same fridge and wanna know where to drill for tower on top
so just to clarify, I have to carefully bend the pipe down?
I want to be sure. I just managed to get the plate out of its housing, and dont want to mess anything up
Great Job!!! I just did the same thing to a 4.3 cu ft fridge, (chosen only due to lack of space in my basement bar). Only difference, I had no freezer. So I have to ask, have you tested how well or how long it takes the fridge to bring the temp down to serving temp?