Extending a fridge for a keggorator

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Thats looking quite impressive. So when are you hosting the JBK Beer festival ?

Do you have any sort of fan to circulate the air, or are you working on a clever principal of keeping the the beers you want coldest nearest the fridge, and the ones that can be warmer down the far end.

[Kev888]

Ha-ha, I bet if JBK came here it would suddenly seem very inadequate! The main reason behind it is that by storing a lot I can brew in bigger batches yet still drink at a perfectly normal rate, but it does kind of feel excessive to see it all sat there.. I also keep looking at your smart silver keggorator and wondering if this isn't a bit too crude even as a functional project, but there you go.

I'm still working on the fan thing, but was probably going to go somewhere between the two - a little circulation may be useful to stop the fridge part getting very cold in comparison to its surroundings but ideally I don't want (e.g.) my stout as cool as my wheat beer so i'm not concerned about a reasonable variation in temperature from end to end. Also the fridge isn't that powerful so i don't really want to stick in a large fan that adds a few dozen watts of heat..

Hmm, much still to ponder..

Cheers
kev

[jmc]

Looks very good Kevin.

Very jealous as my kegs in garage too warm at the moment.

ATB
John

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Showed my misses this thread, she gently suggested that if I built something this big in our house, I would be in it.

[boingy]

Nice work, Kev.
Can I suggest that you may need to varnish/paint/cover those internal wood battens with something. There is going to be a lot of condensation in there.

And, yes, I'd like to join the others in saying "Bloody hell! Is that big enough????"

[Kev888]

Thanks chaps! Its down to 14c this morning and still falling so looking promising..

Yeah, my beer was unpleasantly warm too; my IPA was losing a lot of its hop aroma which I suspect may have been related to that but I can't be sure; either way though, my plan to brew infrequently and store more isn't going to work if its not keeping well. Thankfully my knackered old concervatory seems ideal to house this monstrosity without too much sacrifice - its already 'aesthetically challenged'..

Thanks for the varnish idea, Boingy - nice one, I'd not considered that.

EDIT: got home later and it had reached and settled at the 12c set temperature, even on a warm summer day. The fridge is on for quite a lot of the time so I may add extra indulation or something later, but its not continually working away so I don't seem to be asking 'far' too much of it. Yay!

Cheers
kev

[deanrpwaacs]

Hello Kev.
Hows the fridge going ?
I noticed you mentioned a couple of gas stays , if you need a couple give me an idea of what you need and i can send you a pair as that is what i make.
Kind regards Dean.

[Kev888]

Hi,
Its working out very well thanks - although I need to insulate my conservatory a bit if I'm to reduce running costs; its like an oven in there on hot sunny days! I was going to add some trim pieces to make it look like wood paneling and then take some photos, but having got it functional work has stopped as most of my spare time has suddenly vanished - I'll have to take and post an interim photo at some point to be going on with.

Thanks very much for the thing about gas stays; at the mo I've no time to do much else about it (a stick seems to be working well for now), but I'll be in touch if I decide to get more sophisticated when I complete it!

Cheers
kev