Controlling the Freezer in a Fridge-Freezer Separately - Kegerator and Fermentation Chamber all in one - Does anyone know how to do this?

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Permalink Reply by Slingshot on July 24, 2012 at 12:48pm

Great question...sorry I can't help :)

I've a similar question...I've got a fridge freezer - the fridge section will be the fermenting chamber and I hope to be able to both heat and cool - the freezer section I want to just use as storage space for brew gear...although not sure how to stop it freezing (or cooling at all for that matter).

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Permalink Reply by Sam on October 7, 2012 at 10:04pm

Hi Slingshot,

I'm not sure how mine works either, would have to try and get some panels off for a closer look.

I had a look on the net and for some fridge freezers the compressor keeps the freezer cold, then cold freezer air is blown into the fridge as it needs it, this doesn't seem to be how my one works but if your fridge meets this description you might not be able to keep your fridge cool without your freezer being kept cold. Depends on its design.

If only they had a compressor for each section then it would be easy 

I wonder if anyone on real beer happens to be a refrigeration engineer 

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Permalink Reply by Peter Smith on February 21, 2013 at 5:54pm

ok so if you where looking to build a fermentation chamber what would you use a fridge or a freezer?

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Permalink Reply by Robbo on February 21, 2013 at 6:09pm

a wooden box?

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Permalink Reply by Peter Smith on February 23, 2013 at 1:40pm

how would you cool this?

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Permalink Reply by Dene McDonald on February 23, 2013 at 11:14am

Slightly off topic, but I was talking to a refrigeration engineer at the pub one night. I had a had a few jugs by then so my memory might be hazy. 

He said that a fridge is basically like a heat pump - pumps cold air one way and hot the other way. Unlike a heat pump it's not possible to change from heating to cooling because the cold part is inside the fridge and the heat is vented to the outside. 

But it is possible to reuse the heat that is generated depending on how your fridge is designed. The older ones dissipate the heat with a radiator type thing on the back. The newer ones dissipate the heat through the outside of the fridge so it's harder to do with them.

Basically you can build a chamber on the back of the fridge and have your temperature probe in there rather than the fridge. When the fridge turns on it will heat the chamber.Of course this would need to be tested as the cooling in the fridge would be dependent on the temp in the heating chamber and this may mean that the while thing is a waste of time. But is an interesting concept for reusing heat from an existing fridge.

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