HELP Fridge freezer conversion

[AsHoBo]

Hi all
I'm a keen home brewer and want to expand my shed/brewery with the addition of a fermentation chamber and kegerator.
I have seen designs for both on various websites but these have been for seperate units, I am wondering if it is possible to convert a fridge freezer, so one section runs on a new thermostate and will keep a yeast friendly temperature with the addition of a heat mat/light bulb whilst the other section stays cool to keep my home brew nicely chilled.
I am looking to pick up a cheep second hand unit so I'm not in a possition to look for duel compressors so if i can run this set up off of a standard cheepy fridge freezer then that would be grand.

Any help would be grand as I'm confident in following instructions but useless without and getting increasingly thirsty!

[knighty]

unfortunately that won't work

a normal home fridge freezer just has 1 thermostat, in the fridge, the compressor runs enough to keep the fridge at the right temperature, and as a by-product, the freezer is kept at the right temperature too

(freezer temperature is less critical, plus or minus a couple of degrees on -18 isn't a big deal, but would be bad in a 4'C fridge)

[AsHoBo]

Cheers for that knighty

I figured that would be the case, what if i install my new thermostat in place of the current one with the probe set in the fridge compartment (which i plan to use as the fermentation chamber so fridge would cycle on and off intermittently) Could I then isolate the freezer to come on with a manual switch when needed and another thermostat set to fridge temp to cool my kegs down if/when the fridge is working? (It dosen't need to be cool all the time but it would be nice)

I would have to seal the vent between the compartments to avoid temperature disturbences in the fermentation chamber, but would this work in theory or is it going to be WAY to complicated?

[The Viking]

OK,
Thinking out of the box here...

A modern domestic fridge freezer will be difficult, if not impossible, to convert but why don't you use 2 small, individual, fridges?

[AsHoBo]

Well that would make a whole loada sense and I have been looking for some individual units however I already have the fridge freezer so the cost/effort on materials is minimal. Hence this hair brained scheme!

Is what I'm thinking gonna be impossible to do or is there a way it could work??

To clarify what I’m trying to achieve: The fermenter unit weather this be fridge or freezer side will needs to keep a good bacterial breeding temp (for the yeast) with a heat mat using the thermostat in original post but be able to dip right down to fridge temp to 'cold crash' the brew to clear it for a couple of weeks if needs be.

The other side I'm just going to plumb a tap and beer line in regardless of the temp (So long as the brews not frozen solid!) but would ideally like it to be fridge temp however this is not essential.
I could run a long beer line through a cold section of the unit to cool the brew so if this is possible please let me know.

Can anyone help me in this increasingly dodgy looking mission?

[AsHoBo]

Out of intrest whats this bit?
thermostat1.jpg
Is this the switch that triggers the defrost cycle on the freezer?
If so could I partition off the back of the freezer so it gets cold really quick (providing the fridge is cycling off of my thermostat) will this make it deforst more often so I can put my kegs in front of the partition with out concern for them freezing?

[knighty]

you can't cool one area without cooling the other

there's nothing you can do to make it work the way you want it (not well anyway)

you're better off buying another fridge and having 2 separate units

even if you heat the fridge space with a heater mat, to cool the freezer area you have to run the compressor which cools the fridge too, so you'd be running the compressor cooling the fridge and then running a heater mat trying to warm it up again... and if the fridge area gets warm the freezer are won't cool down either

sorry, but you really need 2 separate fridges... maybe try to get a bargain on ebay ?

[AsHoBo]

It's certainly looking like way!
Thanks again knighty.