Side by Side Refridgerator

[crupp]

Not sure if I posted this in the right forum, but here goes.
I let my fiancé convince me that we needed a new refrigerator (didn’t take much convincing, but don’t tell her that). So, now I have a side by side in the basement. It looks like it will hold four corneys and a bunch of bottles. My question is this, how can I make the most of this thing. I would like to be able to keep it in the 40’s to serve, or even use it as a fermentation chamber from time to time. Is it possible to do this while keeping the freezer a freezer? I’d like to use the freezer for all of my hops. My understanding is that the cold air is pumped over from the freezer to keep the fridge side cool. If I have an external temp controller turning the fridge off when it hits a certain temp, will the freezer hold temp? Am I better off using the freezer side for beer, too? Or should I just leave it alone?
I’m quite daft when it comes to these things….any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[DannyW]

I normally use my side by side the way you first mention - 4 cornies on the bottom, shelves for bottles up high. Since I only use it for serving the freezer works as it always did, holding my hops (and a few pizzas and stuff for the family).

On occasions when I need to ferment in there, I remove everything from the freezer and put it in another freezer. I ferment in the fridge side and just leave the freezer empty until I'm ready to turn it back into a serving fridge again.

[Quin]

+1 .

Just use it for serving. No external temp controller needed; adjust the refrigerator side thermostat to a warmer setting to get you to your desired temp. The freezer side will continue to function as needed.