Converting a Magic Chef 4.4 cubic feet mini fridge into a KEGERATOR! 

Super cool video bro! I was wondering if this was even possible. Thanks for sharing! :)

Hey Joe, all your videos have helped me tremendously with certain decisions and projects, so i want to pay a gratitude and sincere thank you...keep them coming.

I just totally just stripped a mini-fridge... My daugher got it from work, and she did not like it in her room. Therefore, I took it off her hands!!! Kegerator here we come!!! Thanks for the instructions.

Thanks for posting this! For a different reason, however. I had taken the door, gasket, and door panel off to clean up a major spill. I thought there was a missing part and couldn't figure how to get it back together! Watching this video of you disassembling it showed me what I needed to do! Thanks!

I ended up going through the top for a tower and where I ended up putting my hole had not one but two lines going parallel from front to back. They were quite hard and my drill didn't go through them. I'm pretty sure they go to the front to warm the door because when I plugged in the fridge they were warm to the touch. Thankfully the kegerator is complete now and in working order. Thanks for the help!

dude, i never new u could fit them in a fridge like that. u have totaly inspired me.

Well done! There are lesser men who would have settled for lesser results. Yet you persevered and tamed the 4.4 cubic foot monstrosity. Cheers!

I was concerned about cutting into the door but it looks really easy. A friend gave me his old mini fridge, and I just got a keg system for my home brew. I'm only going to do a single tap in my 4.4 so seeing all that fit in there makes me feel better about it. I'm excited about converting it!

Just bought one of these myself for the same thing and came across this. Very helpful! Thanks!

WOW NICE! I was trying to do the very same thing but so many people said it couldn't be done so I didn't try. Great work!

You sir are my hero for the day. From what I could see, condensation may be a slight annoyance. Prior to the demolition it collected in the try under the evaporator coils but now it will just run down to the bottom of fridge.

Great job. I followed your instructions and got my mini-fridge almost done. I need to still install a tower or a front door tap. I can't decide. I'm also going to make a stand or a wall with the shelves removed from the door. I didn't have a dremel, but I found a utility knife worked almost as well.

@terpsichoreankid - Converting my fridge now, much harder than I expected. Mine is a Kenmore 4.4, and the shelves are not screwed in to a door panel as yours were. They were solid coated foam, I took a die grinder to them, and got them off. The shelves are not stopping the door now but there is a lip at the bottom, preventing it from closing. This lip is not at the top of the door, so I can flip the door upside down, just cut more, or install a platform to elevate the keg to clear this lip.

loving the improvisation! Good work and good effort :) you got your priorities right... Cheap! (Y) way to go my friend

Thank you, I think you have convinced me to go with a 5 - 7 Cu Ft freezer instead. ;-)

Thanks for posting this! I saw it previously and today, found a mini fridge that a neighbor left out. It's a Daewoo, same size, looks just like yours. In about 20 min., the shelves are already cut off of the door and my keg (with a nice English Bitter) is already cooling.

@terpsichoreankid I set it to 20-30psi while chilling overnight. Disconnect the CO2 the next day (or when it's chilled, you have a 5gal, mine is 3gal) and shake it. The theory is that as you shake it, the CO2 gets absorbed by the beer. Some guys do not disconnect, they might shut it off and let the pressure bleed back down by serving the beer at the high carb pressure, then crank back down the serving pressure and open the valve to let the CO2 flow again. Depends on your bravery. :-)

Most definitely! I still use the picnic taps--works great for me, plus haven't had the money to invest in more fancy accessories. As long as the beer is good, I'm a happy camper!

I bricked mine. I recommend finding where you want to drill, and opening on the inside using a dremel grinding wheel. Then scoup the insulation out. You may be able to cut a two inch hole, or alternately, just run the beer lines through the freon return area. The freon lines appear to be attached directly to the metal roof.

Great vid man, I made it work with a 'Sanyo SR-3660S 3.6-Cubic-Foot' fridge doing the same thing. But I had to carve out a bit more insulation than you had to. So for the record, 2 kegs and a CO2 tank with a dual regulator can fit into a 3.6 cubic foot fridge. (at least the particular model I mentioned above.)

@terpsichoreankid PT1 I'm still trying to get forced carb perfected. This is for my 3 gal kegs, not 5gal kegs. Rack to keg, leaving room beneath the IN tube, lid up. Purge with several hits of CO2 to get the O out, bleed off each hit. Raise to 20-30psi, chill overnight (5gal may be longer) to 40F or lower. Turn off CO2 and shake keg (guess with heavy 5gal you have to roll it) for abt 30 min. Here's where it gets tricky for me and I've tried a dozen or so experiments and still perfecting.

Ok you guys, I figured it out for installing a draft tower on one of these. The cooling lines on top are in a horseshoe shape and come out from the right and left back corners, then up the middle. You will want to drill your hole more towards the front of the unit to avoid it. I mean, anything over 10 inches from the front and you will hit the line

Great work there!! I'm using a similar frig for my kegerator but so far I'm chicken to mess with the freezer part, instead I got 3 gal kegs which are exp and frustrating. Seeing you do it, maybe I'll get brave. Not sure you want your CO2 up against the freezer, cold drops CO2 pressure, besides you need to be able to get to it easily to turn it off and on and adjusting. I may drill a hole to put mine totally outside the frig. Love how you did that first part, such great comic editing!! Tks!

great video, did the same to mine - Super helpful, took me probably 10 minutes - Thanks!

Really nice job! I didn't think it was possible to do this, but it sure works fine. You could use this for fermentation in a keg, also!

Yeah--large open fridges are tricky to come by, especially in the 'mini-fridge' department. Folks have wonderful setups using full size fridges and taps out the front, if you have the space for one... One of these days I'll have one of them for sure!

Nice job, I will be trying to do this next weekend.

I did this with a similar fridge, and mounted pipe 2" flanges on the top, with 2" galvanized pipe nipples screwed into the flanges, then elbows on top of then. Then I screwed in pipe nipples, and two more pipe flanges. I mounted a decorative board on those final pipe flanges. Then I put wall mounted style taps through the board, and the beer lines go through the pipe down into the fridge and onto the kegs. It worked great and had a pretty "industrial" look. Every thing was gravy, until I drilled a hole in the side of the fridge for the gas line and just NICKED a cooling line I had no idea was there! At which point the entire effort was scrapped because while there could be a way to repair the line, there is no way to re-charge a mini-fridge with coolant. Knowing that, either do what terpsichoreandkid did and keep the gas bottle inside the fridge, or only go through the top of the fridge because there seems to be no cooling lines inside that part of the fridge. Good video.

Thanks for the video- it was a good help. Ready to chill my home brew.

@ 1:35 we start the great part of the vid! Terp, your commentary after this point is descriptive and easy to listen too - you talk good... or should I say, you "speak well." The sound effects earlier are hacky and especially annoying to us more sophisticated sort but the text you add is quite appreciated. And the speed-up for this early wrenching is necessary. Overall, well done. Thank you.

Nice guide! Ill be trying this one this summer After I finish the work to get everything to fit, Some DIY tap towers to save even more cash, and my living room will be complete

A good way to fix it is buy some bondo fiberglass and refill the walls to fit the bottles and give a good paint over and your done. Great build.

I just got the same fridge in black on craigslist. I was thinking of bending down the freezer tray as well as I believed it to be the only cooling unit in the fridge. I am starting with one corny, then may start more dicing and slicing to fix a second.

A full size keg won't fit in one of these little fridges... The thermostat was easy to remove--held in by two small screws. You'd want to check to make sure wherever you put it that you don't drill into a side coolant line or anything like that. Hope that helps a bit! Cheers!

@terpsichoreankid PT2 There's 2 variables I want to change before serving, the temp and the carb level (I like 46F at 8-10psi). If you bleed off the pressure while the beer's still shaken up inside, you'll get sprayed with beer foam, LOL! I've let it sit overnight again at this point, at the proper temp, and bled off the pressure the next day and then hook up the CO2 and set it at 8-10psi. Instead, I've also let people go ahead and drink it cold and over-carbed until the pressure goes down.

In mine, you had to very carefully bend the entire tray down which was connected to the system by one pipe. I had to be very careful not to kink that pipe or the coolant wouldn't flow.

Nice conversion dude! Small or large, kegerators are the bomb!

Looks good. i wondered how to remove/bend the chiller/freezer. just push down slowly im assuming.. i set mine up with a T peice gas line, with he line running through a hole on the side of the fridge and have a hook on outside of fridge for gas. works just as well. make sure to give enough slop in the line for movements of the kegs

@terpsichoreankid PT3 The key here is that I don't reconnect my CO2 until I'm sure the pressure has gone down inside the keg, 'cause I don't want beer to go backwards into my CO2 line. Yet you want to crank down the CO2 pressure to be low when you reconnect and turn it back on. So, yeah, if no one is standing there waiting for beer ;-) I like to shake it and leave it overnight, bleed off the pressure, turn down my regulator, hook it back up, and adjust the CO2 regulator back up to my 8-10psi.

@Tsalts I am actually planning on it when I have the funds for a nice tower. When I plugged the fridge in, I noticed that the sides got warm but not the top--so I know there are lines running in the side of the fridge--so the top is totally fair game! You can bet I'll make a vid and link it with this one so the whole 'kegerator experience' will be complete. Cheers!

awesome, i'm building one right now. this is helpful. my door doesn't screw off so i'm just going to have to cut it.

An improvement from cobra taps and an alternative to a draft tower would be to go through the door with shanks and side-mount your faucets.

I haven't--never converted it to a tower. I actually like the way it is set up now with the picnic taps, so will probably keep it that way for a while!

Nope--no problem keep cool. I have actually found the fridge seems to be colder with the cooling tray bent down, so I've had to increase the temp on the internal thermostat to compensate. It works like a charm!

Nicely done! Thanks. Will be a spring project for me. :)

@bwomp313 No--I never wound up installing a tower. I've tucked the fridge underneath a table, so for right now, I can't get to the top of it. If you have a model like this one, it shouldn't be a problem because I don't think there are any lines of any sort through the top of it... Be careful though--I don't really know for sure. Cheers! And best of luck!

@terpsichoreankid Well, hang on. Just leaving it overnight to chill at 30psi will not carbonate the beer. It'll come out fast and with a foamy head, but the body of it will not have CO2 in it. You have to shake it up to get the CO2 into the beer that fast. Remember, don't get beer back in your CO2 line, which happens when the keg pressure is higher than your line pressure. The alternative is setting the CO2 at the pressure and temp you want in the first place and leave it for a week.

This is a really great video! Thanks :-)

That you could!! I may have to do that--give a lager a try!

Awesome video. Thanks for posting it.

You bet! No--I actually had a problem keeping it warm enough. I have the dial set to one of the warmest temperature settings and have the fridge on a timer to cycle on for 30 mins and off for 1 hour. That keeps it from freezing and is sitting right at about 40 or so.

Excellent tutorial thanks for sharing.

@SGTkiitty LOL yeah--the foam was to help insulate. Though, I didn't take out too much of it really, and it is still running and keeping quite cold just fine. I think in the best case scenario you wouldn't have to remove so much insulation obviously, but this way saved me a lot of money and didn't really sacrifice much efficiency. Cheers!

Yoou are an engineering genius.

Great video as always. Nicely done, very informative.

@steeljan Very cool--thanks for this! I have read to chill the brew in the keg, then attach the CO2 and let it sit overnight at 30 or so psi, left on all night long. Then in the morning or next afternoon, pour a glass (you don't have to shake it at all because it was left on all night long). Bleed off, then pour obviously (don't want 30psi pours!) I like your method though because it is quick--esp. if you want a quick force carbed beer... Hrmmm... Decisions, decisions...

@terpsichoreankid PT4 In my PT1 response, I meant disconnect the CO2, not just turn it off, before shaking. Some guys leave the CO2 connected at 20-30psi while they are shaking, but here again, I want to avoid beer getting back up into my regulator. Finally, once you get your carb exactly right, turn off your little CO2 valve after each drinking session, otherwise, the beer will continue to absorb CO2 and come out too foamy.

@TakeSomeAdvice Thanks! As I got further into chipping the foam out, I was starting to wonder myself. I have a few more things I'd like to do to it, but for now, it will do!

I was bending at room temp. It looks like you were able to pull the coolant pipe out a little to make it bend easier. I tried moving slow I just think it started to kink and I didn't realize it. If anyone in Mass has a Mini fridge they want to sell cheap. Contact me!

@terpsichoreankid Or, they are counting on the pressure going lower due to the shaking, so they bravely turn back on the CO2 and shake some more until it's at the carb they want. The very fine trick is when you get to the carb you want. You want to then get it to the temp and serving psi you want, but not to let a higher pressure in the beer push back into the CO2 tank. Bit terpischorean there, lol.

awesome vid. thanks for sharing.

@steeljan AH! Ok--this is starting to make a lot more sense now. If I were to chill the keg, and then hit it with 30psi, disconnect, shake it , and then repeat it a couple of times until carbonation is where I want it--that would do the trick, right? Or would that be too much? In pt1 of your reply, you mention chilling it overnight at 30psi--do you leave the tank connected and on the entire time, or disconnect it before letting it set all night?

Hrmm... I'd measure the diameter of the keg before trying just to be sure... I couldn't tell you off the top of my head! There's a decent amount of space in there, but there's a shelf type thing at the bottom where the compressor sits--and it really hampers the overall capacity.

@Lnoch86 I would measure out the footprint of the kegs and see if they will fit into your fridge. You may need to do one at a time between the kegs (the footprint of a tornado keg looks to be pretty wide...) For this video, I kind of just fooled around with it until things fit just right. I'm not 100% sure about the top of the Magic Chef fridge, but I would imagine there aren't any cooling lines up there--the coolant is all in the freezer tray, and that line runs down the back of the fridge.

@bwomp313 Interesting... I didn't think there would be lines up there--at least, not in my fridge anyway. If I wind up putting in a tower, I'll have to keep my eye out for that. Thanks for the heads up!

I say you did quite some cutting through the plastic of the fridge... how did you plan on cutting all this, taking into consideration the possible cooling lines?

@chaosinhell666 In all actuality, I don't keep the CO2 tank in the fridge these days--just the kegs. Once the brew is cold, I've found that force carbing them and then taking the co2 tank out saves fridge space and clutter. Plus it gets really freezing cold next to the chill plate, so it wound up working out better to keep it external. This was also a gift to me--so I have used what I got--no need to buy more expensive stuff if I don't have to! Cheers!

@steeljan Ah--I see. I like your plan--I think that will be the method I use this weekend. I'll be sure to give a shout out! :-)

Well, actually both pin and ball lock disconnects come in tall and short--so that's not the best way to differentiate them. Pin lock literally has pins that protrude from the base of the post, whereas ball lock does not. It's all in how the disconnect attaches to the post, not the color or height of the disconnect (though that will help you differentiate between gas in and beverage out.

It would have been tricky, because I needed that indentation in order to fit two corny's... Maybe if I had a panel and then had a way to indent it...

Probably can't fit 2 sixtels in there, huh? 9.25" diameter. Tough going for me so far to find an adequate fridge for that. Great video! Will definitely becoming back when I begin my conversion. Thanks

Hey, thanks for the instructional video! Because of you and your clever ways I now have the exact same mini converted for cornies. I have a question: What temp do you keep you dial set to? I find 1, the lowest setting is almost too cold??? Any thoughts? Also, where do you have the temp prob? Thanks.

@ChrisTripp Wow--very cool to know. Thanks for sharing! And well done!

Thanks!

@bwomp313 if you use a paste of water and starch (somewhat on the watery side)... spread on top of the fridge and turn on it will warm up the lines and you will be able to see it through this mixture, then find a place to drill.

@acraine Slowly, checking to make sure there were no kinks in the line as I went. I also tried to bend down sectionally--so I'd try to bend the first quarter, then the next, then the next, etc. until the entire line was bent down. The trick is to bend the entire thing without a kink occurring in that little piece of tubing that comes out of the wall, so I bent in sections gradually until the entire thing was where I wanted it. Just grabbing and pulling the tray down would be disastrous!

@sbendrake You know--I actually didn't end up pulling it out , it came with the pipe sticking that far out! Maybe that is how I was able to bend mine so gradually... I'm sorry to hear yours didn't turn out! I used to live in MA--if any of my old friends happen to have a minifridge they're wanting to part with, I'll be sure to email you.

@PiperPilot140 Awesome! Yeah--with the door you don't have too much to worry about--it's the sides where you have to be careful. If you slice too deep and hit a coolant line, it can ruin the whole fridge. So when you convert yours--take your time and have a homebrew! :-)

Perfect! Just make sure you don't saw or drill through your coolant lines--that would kill the fridge!

It has stayed in tact for me for well over a year now, and I use the hell out of the kegerator... LOL

nice job

Just saved me $200. Thanks budydy.

@aHalfaMongrel Nope--no condensation on the outside at all. I have noticed though that the cooling tray will build up ice on all its surfaces inside the fridge, so a periodic complete thawing/cleaning is definitely a must. Though--for a cheap as hell fridge and two kegs of perfectly cooled beer--it's well worth it!

@tedizzle45 No--there's a ledge in there that makes even fitting the two cornelius kegs in there a squeeze. A 1/2 would be way too big for this little fridge. Hope that helps! Cheers!

Sweet!

@yartp Why thank ya! Yeah, I will need to keep that one in mind. Last mini fridge I had would always build up ice and whatnot on the coils--so I'll keep my eye on it regularly. Plus, I don't mind pulling it all out and wiping it down every once in a while. I'm kind of a neat freak like that (you would guess by what I did to this poor fridge though... LOL)

@marty1966 Awesome! Well done! Mine is pretty cold, so I have it set on "2". Anything below that will literally freeze up the fridge. I also have mine now set on a timer--so that it cools for 30 minutes, then rests for an hour. Saves a ton of electricity, especially when I dont' open and close the fridge for most of the day. My probe I have sitting on the little shelf inside, right below the tray. I sort of let it just hang there after making it, and it seems to work well. Cheers!

@philliproe2836 I would definitely go with the mini fridge rather than forking out all that money for a pre-built kegerator. You may have a little difficulty finding one to fit a 1/6, but as long as you measure everything out, you should be fine. I've also seen guys who took a mini fridge, removed the door, and then built a chamber outside of the fridge for their kegs--seemed to work out really well for them!

@bwomp313 I have mine set on about 1.75 and it hits right around the 48F mark. Yeah--when I first turned it on, I had it set right at the middle around 3 or so and it froze everything solid. Because we've essentially opened up the entire interior to the full brunt of the cooling tray, it chills the entire cabinet MUCH faster. Good on energy consumption, I hope! LOL Cheers!

@jakecpunut Why thank you! I'm definitely excited about it--I've wanted one for quite a long time, so it's cool to finally sit down and rip a fridge to shreads... haha

@brhoge You know, because the fridge has the cooling tray within the fridge, I highly doubt there will be lines running in the very top of the fridge. I'll try to follow that freon line as close as I can, but will probably do the baking soda test to see if anywhere on the top of the fridge is getting heated. But yeah--I'm thinking that because the cooling is occurring with that internal tray, there's probably no lines up at the top... If you wind up chopping away--please let me know!

I'm in the process of converting the same fridge, got it real cheap, only $25! I was wondering if you ever ended up drilling through the top for a tower and how it worked out for you because that's certainly part of my plan.

Are the sound effects in the video from Pocket Legends? Hearing those sounds instantly reminds me of playing that game on my Android phone late at night :)

Perfect! I still have the cobra (plastic) taps. They've always worked so well, plus any mods would make it more difficult to have two kegs in there...

Possibly--if the tray is not bolted or welded in place (aka can be bent down) it should still work...

That's what you gotta do! Be careful with the cooling tray--be slow and precise and you'll be fine.

On youtube type "ball lock vs pin lock" in the search engine and pick the 3rd video down (titled the same as the search). He explains perfectly, the difference. But essentially, the Pin Lock (Coke) has a Red top and is short. And the Ball Lock (Pepsi) is tall and black top.

Exactly!

Awesome!

For mine the pipe didn't bend at all, but the metal near it did. either way it did in fact work out, and currently is on the 24 hour cooling cycle. Thanks again for helping me make my decision. I might not had taken the deal if I hadn't seen your guide and learned that it could be done! Side note: did you ever add a tap to the top, or just keep with the thumb tap? how did just keeping the tap in the fridge work out?