Converting a fridge for fermenting beer

Step 3 The shelf

The bottom of most refrigerators have a hump, or angled back to accomadate the compressor.  Wanting to maximize the useable space to fit as many fermenters as possible, I wanted a shelf to raise them above this hump.  After some measurements, I realized that if I left 24" of room above the shelf, I would have enough space for my fermenters with an airlock or blow-off attatched, and still have room to bottle condition tall 22oz bottles below.  I cut a scrap piece of 3/4" OSB to the correct size.  I used OSB simply because it was what I had available in my scrap pile.  Next I determined the length of the legs, and cut them out of some 2X scrap wood.  I then determined where the rear legs would need to sit so that they didn't interfere with the angled part at the back.  After marking the leg locations, I screwed them in place, and then screwed the front legs on to the very front.  I oriented the legs to give the maximum amount of access to the bottom shelf.  When I tried to install the shelf, i found that the shelf supports for the very bottom shelf were in the way.  A quick tap with a hammer broke the brittle plastic, and allowed the shelf to slide in place.