Kegerator Project

I haven’t actually brewed beer in about a month (although I have made some wine!) because I have been dedicating any free time to the construction of a two-tap tower mini-fridge kegerator conversion. With help from homebrewtalk and /r/homebrewing I have recently completed this easy project and stepped up my game with style and class.

The Fridge

I purchased a Sanyo SR-4433s mini-fridge from a nearby dude on craig’s list. Smaller ones like it are for sale on Amazon.com for $579 but I was fortunate enough to talk the guy down to $110 bucks. I was told the fridge had been used for 3 months before the company who bought it closed down and sold a few fridges like it. It fit perfectly standing up in the back of my girlfriend's Honda Fit. Expensive for a mini-fridge, but it's energy efficient and sleek looking.

It’s a 4.4 cubic ft. model with a cold plate for making ice cubes at the top. There is a shelving unit on the door which holds on the rubber fridge seal. Looking into the fridge, it’s hard to imagine fitting two kegs in there but I have done it. A quick rundown of what will be done: door shelf removed, all inner shelving removed, temp controller unmounted, cold-plate bent 90° down, two holes in the side for gas lines, a hole and a tap-tower bolted to the roof.

The Door Mod

Removing the door was easy. It’s actually made to switch to the other side if you want it to swing open the other way. I removed all the screws holding it in (probably about 20 screws total) and slid the rubber seal off of the plastic shelving unit. I kept the shelving unit in tact so that I could trace it when making a replacement board. I started with a piece of plexiglass, hoping to cut it into shape and drill some holes for the screws. It did not go very well: tutorials on the internet said to score it and break it but my immediate family said it would splinter that way and to try and cut it. I decided to use an electrical hand saw and basically destroyed the piece of plexiglass. It had rigid edges all the way around and even broke some shards off large enough to destroy the screw hole areas. Plexiglass would be ideal because it wouldn't rot or warp in the cold temperatures of the fridge. I settled with some laminated particle board. I painted the board with some primer and I reinforced the edges where the seal and the board met by laying down some weather stripping. The door shut fine and the seal isstrong.

Priming the shelf replacement

Tracing the particleboard. It was
much easier to cut and drill
than the plexiglass, although,
 not ideal inner-fridge material.

Seal affixed with the assistance of
weather resistant weatherstripping.

The Inner Mods

The next step was modifying the inside of the fridge so that two kegs would be able to fit in there. Because of the design of the cooling unit on this Sanyo, I could only ever find a confirmation that two of the tall, narrow Pin Lock style kegs would fit. I went ahead with the modifications to see how much room I could get in there. First, I un-mounted the thermostat by removing the screw and unhooked it from the wall of the fridge; pretty simple once I got in there with a flashlight and could see where the one screw held it together. The scary part of the fridge mod was the bending of the cooling plate. To do this, you first allow the fridge to come to normal temperatures by having it unplugged for a day. Then, you just bend it down! There are two plastic pins holding the cold plate to the back of the fridge. The tutorial I read just left them there, so the bending fulcrum point was on these two pins. As a pure accident, I didn’t read that part, so I removed the pins then focused on bending the plate down where it was connected by the (covered) copper tubing. This is the main line that the coolant flows into the cold plate, so I was very scared of breaking it. But it all went rather well and I was able to bend the whole plate down, then I bent the shelved part that was previously held up by the pins. I highly suggest leaving it pinned in there and bending it that way. I’m unable to re-pin the cold plate, but so far this has not caused any problems.

The Gas Holes

Inside

For the gas line holes, I stuck my electric drill as far back and up as I could on the right side of the fridge. I used a normal drill bit and punched through the thin plastic, foam insulation and thin metal sheet on the outside. Once that hole was in there, I used a step drill bit until the hole could fit my gas lines. Once the step bit had made the proper sized holes in the plastic and metal, I used the normal bit again to clear out the foam, using unsafe methods of pumping the drill back and forth like a saw. Make sure there are no burrs in your hole to get the gas line caught when feeding it in, you can file them down once you’re finished. Once the first hole was in, I decided on placement for the second hole by measuring appropriate room for two lines on the outside of the fridge, then drilling from the outside this time. The inner hole was placed perfectly next to the first hole. The reason this “measure never, cut once” method worked was because of the fridge’s design: there are no cooling coils in the top corners of the side panels. Furthermore, the bulkiness of my hand drill determined the location of the first hole which gave me plenty of room for the second, it being closer to the back of the fridge. 

Outside

The Tower Hole

Creating a hole and support for the two-tap tower was the most involved process of the project. But still, it was easy and online tutorials guided me the whole way. I had to purchase a hole-cutter drill bit, but in hindsight, this was not necessary. Some elbow grease with a utility knife could have achieved the same effect. 

Foam is about 3 inches thick

1. Find the appropriate center/positioning on the fridge’s top and drill a small, shallow hole.

2. Remove the plastic top of the fridge. Use gentle force.
3. Remove insulation foam from around the shallow hole until the thin plastic roof is exposed.

4. Use the hole-cutter and cut a hole into the fridge’s thin roof.

5. Line the roof hole with aluminum temperature resistant tape.

6. Use the hole-cutter and cut a hole into the plastic top of the fridge you removed.

7. Use a utility knife and remove the ridges on the underside of the plastic top of the fridge.

8. Tower Stability needs:

a. Locate an 8x8x¾” piece of wood.

b. Using the hole cutter, cut a hole in the 8x8 piece of wood.

c. Cover the wood in aluminum temperature resistant tape

d. Locate 3 pieces of 8x8x¼” foam

9. Trace the shape of the 8x8 wood into the foam insulation on the fridge, and then use a utility knife to remove all of the foam all the way down to the thin roof of the fridge. Ensure your 8x8 wood fits snug.

10. Line up all your pieces (tower, wood, 2 pieces of the foam, fridge top) and position your tower.

11. Use a pen to mark the four spots that your tower’s bolts are to be placed.

12. If your wood is snug enough, drill your holes right through plastic, foam sheets, wood, plastic roof. Otherwise, carefully mark the intended locations of bolt holes and drill separately.

13. Once the holes are set, get your final sheet of foam in there. You’ll want to compress this piece with the bolts, but make sure not to press down too hard on the fridge top to squish it. Only use the bolt tightening pressure. You don’t want to cave in the roof of your fridge!  

14. Once the bolts are in and the nuts are tightened, use a dremmel tool to cut the extra bolt lengths off.

15. Put the freakin’ door back on finally.

And that’s it! You now have a kegerator. The issues I have found with this model are all fixed with the above steps, except the final issue of a consistent temperature. For that, I purchased a temperature regulation unit that plugs directly into the fridge. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Sanyo Fridge Conversions. I've only done it once, so I will give you the best advice I can! Cheers!

Here is a closeup of my rugged custom tap handles. Assembled from firewood, bark, rebar tie wire and nails then painted with chalkboard paint.

Pressing 29 lbs. of Merlot

Links:

my reddit post

homebrewtalk post about this Sanyo

Two-Tap Tower

Temp Regulation Unit

Hole-Cutter Drill Bits