National Homebrew Club Ireland

Hi All

I got my hands on a freezer, got it home and took the freezer compartments out and the shelves don't come out.
There is a pipe going from the compressor to the freezer shelves, I am assuming this is the coolant.
Was hoping to get two kegs in here but it looks like the shelves don't come out.

Has anyone taken a similar one apart.  Its a Zanussi ZUT113W

Pics attached, image2 has the pipe coming from the compressor.
Image 3 is where the pipe connects to the shelves.
Thanks

I don't reckon that they can be used as a kegerator you may be able to bend the shelves back against the rear panel but you'll end up with two panel lying against each other, which might end up with ice building up. Most guys use the top opening type freezers. If using a fridge I think the hotpoint ones make the best ones as the compressor is in the back corner so you don't lose floor space all the way across the back

Thanks Sa, I am building a bar and was thinking I could build it around it and just use the freezer to keep a chamber at kegging temps, something like this
http://www.nchomebrewing.com/diy-mini-fridge-beer-fermentation-chamber-build/

Do you think this is possible?

I don't know why I'm posting because I have no experience whatsoever but if you were to cut and seal those cooling lines it might work. If you're going to get rid of it anyway you could always try.

Same as , have no experience but don't want to get rid or ruin it. I would like to get some sort of use for it.  Don't know how they cool, is there coolant in the lines or is it conductive cooling line. I feel some research coming on

Think I could use the dremmel to cut around the lines on the middle shelf then bend them back, might work

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I don't see any reason it wouldn't work but on the other hand the money from a sale could go towards another fridge. How much did you pay for it?

Bending could work, but be prepared for the dreaded 'hissss'. Once the gas gets out, its out.
I would not advise cutting or remaking pipes. Dempsey knows a bit about fridge leak.
Looking at the link, Garry did a fridge like this, made a coffin shaped one. Do not think to can turn it into a walk-in fridge to big and the cooling system can't handle it even if super insulated.

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Thanks lads, going to try bend it back and cut out the bits of the shelf that I can. Was thinking if I could get 4 kegs in the cool side, then have a warm side for fermentation that can take the cool air from the cold side if needed. I wouldnt even be doubling the footprint on the cold side and will be insulated with 2" Kingspan.

I'd use that as a bottle fridge it's gonna end up in tears as you will have to restrict to flow of gas coolant by bending pipes

Yep. I wouldn't bother me arse Tring to get this working. Get a cheap fridge on adverts

Yeah, think I might abandon the idea, looks like it's going to be hassle

Those "shelves" are quiet delicate, I don't know how many times I've come across people who have pierced them while trying to defrost the freezer. Plus you'll need an stc 1000 or inkbird to prevent the beer from freezing. As I said keep your eye out for a hotpoint fridge as you will confortable get 2 cornys into one of them.

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A tall big larder fridge and you can get 8 in

Thanks Sa, went out just now and it looks like the shelf will bend easily, but as you said it looks delicate. I have a spare stc knocking around somewhere. CH 2 or 3 kegs are going to be dangerous enough for me, but like how your thinking. Might be back to the drawing board with this one

Got it sorted in the end, got the dremel out and trimmed off some excess off the middle shelf and bent it back carefully and pinned it to the top.  Drilled a few vent holes and put a condensation drain at the back of the shelf, going to throw a few fans in next and connect it up to an stc.  I managed to fit two kegs in, so that will keep me going for a while.  Planning on building a bar around it at some stage.

Snug

Not being smart but will there be room for disconnects & lines?

Yeah, just about got two in

Yep, checked the disconnects, its a tight fit but they fit

Remember the advice for JG fittings:

They don't like to be strained! If you are tight for space a couple of 90 degree elbows will give you full 3d flexibility of gas and beer lines.

Cheers will, I will probably only put one keg in, I might source another fridge and use this for something else. I will order a few elbows, don't want an empty co2 tank

Looking good Darren, just need to fill them up now.

So a little update on this.

The freezer was a bit tight for two kegs.  I had great difficulty getting a second hand freezer so I decided to turn it into a kegerator and fermentation chamber.  I had seen a few similar builds and said f&ck it, why not.

Laid out the frame in 2*2, all insulation was 8*4 *2 " styrofoam.  I used the styrofoam for framing all the angles, it was a great help.

It works really well.  I have the kegerator chamber working with an stc1000 and a brewpi on the ferm chamber, I still have a bit of work to do on the ferm chamber.
The compressor comes on every 40 to 45 minutes for 4 minutes roughly.  The stc probe is between the kegs and I have two 120" fans in the chamber. 
The fans are really important as the vastly reduce the cooling times in the chamber by circulating the cold air.  By having the fans running it reduced by cooling time from 11 minutes down to 4. The fans only come on when the freezer kicks in and this also reduces the cycle time of the freezer.  I can easily fit six kegs in with plenty of storage for hops and other stuff.  It was a fun project with a lot of head scratching and still a bit left to do.

Looks great! How does the fridge cool the chamber, did you put a hole in the side? Also how how do you isolate the fern chamber to only cool as much as you need when running a fermentation around 20C

No I just reused the door. If you see on  the last pic the fridge is concealed to the left of the door.

The chambers are separated by 2" styrofoam and then the chambers are all wrapped in a roll of therm wrap silver insulation.




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That looks great. Well done.

Quote from: molc on April 14, 2017, 04:16:38 PM
Looks great! How does the fridge cool the chamber, did you put a hole in the side? Also how how do you isolate the fern chamber to only cool as much as you need when running a fermentation around 20C

Did you mean cooling the ferm chamber? Haven't done anything there yet.  I have a shower extractor fan that I am going to use for this.   The plan is to build a heat exchanger.

I plan on putting some aluminium ducting in the keg chamber and sucking the hot air from the ferm chamber into the keg chamber to cool and return into the ferm chamber. This does two things
1. Minimise condensation
2. Reduce pressure. This thing is airtight. If I don't recirc the air I will have pressure issues. I will update when I have it finished.

Lovely stuff. Interested to see how you do that, as it's a great multi use for the kegerator and a fermentation chamber

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I will keep you posted, hopefully it will work

That is extremely impressive, a thing of beauty

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Built some diy tap towers for this with waste pipe connections, easy and quick diy job, I am really happy with the results

Fittings
Waste pipe
Elbow
Inspection cap
Straight pipe coupler
Pipe termination piece

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Painted them silver, built a little pill box with some beading to finish, painted and lacquered
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As I said, this was an easy diy job, and cheap, like meself

Nice job