Kegerator Plans?

[AggieDave 6]

After consuming 6 cases of beer in the past week, my roommates and I have decided to build a kegerator. Anyone have some good plans/ideas for building one out of a "large" dorm fridge? We're going to pressurize the keg and may even run a tap to the kitchen, so we don't have to go into the garage to get a fresh beer...

Ideas?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Why not build that jet powered one - looks cool

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Say no to subliminal messages

[nws01 0]

A refrigerator, the bigger the better. Side by side won't cut it, you need the one with the freezer on the top for the cold glass storage. A dorm size refrigerator will do, but that's not what I used. I obtained a 16 cu. ft. one from a coworker for $125, it was only 3 years old, so it was a pretty good deal. If you want to store a commercial keg and Corny kegs, you'll need something along the lines of a 21 cu. ft. A Corny keg is the old 5 gallon soda kegs that are perfect for kegging homebrew. The 16 cu. ft. holds the CO2 tank and commercial keg just right.
A quality draft system that includes a CO2 tank, regulator, tap, shank, lines, draft faucet and drip pan. I got mine from Beer, Beer, and More Beer. They have quality equipment and are extremely helpful if you need to call them on their toll free line. I also got an inline check valve to prevent backflow into the regulator, not required but good for peace of mind.
A 1" hole saw drill bit for metal to drill the hole in the door for the shank.
A tap handle for your favorite beer. Mine is a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale tap handle. The picture here doesn't show it, because I got it shortly after the photo was taken.
Lots of pint glasses to go in the freezer and a coffee can to collect $$$ from all your alcoholic friends that will be over.
Cool stickers and magnets for the door.

What you'll need to do:
After you get all the equipment, put the CO2 tank in the freezer or refrigerator for awhile to get it cold. (When it's cold, it will hold more CO2.) Take the tank to a local homebrew supply store or welding supply and get it filled with CO2. I pay $1/lb for it. A 5# tank will last 6-7 kegs usually if not more. Make sure the local keg store has your favorite keg ready for you, because this is going to be ready in less than an hour!
Figure out approximately how tall your tap handle will be on the tap so it doesn't get in the way of the freezer door. If you plan on using the tall wooden handles, you may need a "bonnet angler" to adapt it to the tap, and angle it away from the door. Beer, Beer, and More Beer has them.
Find the correct height for the hole and the center point in the door. You should also make sure the inside of the door where you plan to drill is not a shelf if you don't want to remove the interior door panel. I didn't remove it, but if you do, you can get a piece of sheet metal to replace this. Seemed like a hassle to me, mine works out fine without removing the panel. If you plan on adding taps in the future for homebrew, make sure you take this into account when you mark the spot for the shank and adjust accordingly.
Drill a pilot hole of 1/4" for the shank, then drill the 1" hole with the hole saw bit.
Put the shank through the door and tighten it down. Put the tap faucet on the shank and get it all straightened out. Measure about 10 inches down from the tap faucet and mark a line for the drip pan. Drill pilot holes for the self-tapping screws and install the drip pan. Don't crank these down, as you'll want to be able to remove the drip pan periodically to empty it out.
Some people like to put a small chain attached to the inside wall of the refrigerator to secure the CO2 tank and prevent it from falling. I still need to do this.
You'll need to make a sturdy shelf for the keg depending on how the bottom of the refrigerator is shaped. Mine had the produce drawers there, and when I took them out, it needed a shelf. Right now I just have a wire rack with cinder blocks for support. A wooden shelf is on the to-do list, as well.
Attach the regulator to the CO2 tank and then attach all the lines to the proper connections. Tap the keg and lift that heavy sucker into the what is now a kegerator.
Open the valve for the CO2 tank and adjust the pressure to the proper setting for the beer you have. If the guys at the brew store know their stuff, they can tell you exactly. Most beers will be from 10-15 lbs, but my Sierra Nevada only needs 6-8 lbs. When that is all set, get a pitcher and open the tap, and make sure the beer flows and there are no leaks at any of the clamps.
Get yourself a cold glass and pour a nice draft beer and enjoy!
The total cost was $365 plus the drill bit for the hole, $16.

[AggieDave 6]

I was considering just running copper tubing coiled very tightly (to fit more tubing) in the inside of a small fridge and leaving everything else outside of the fridge, the coiled tubing giving enough room to hold probably 12 drafts worth or so ice cold. This would cut down on mods required to the fridge and also allow a smaller fridge to be used.

Is there any reason why the CO2 would have be kept cold?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[nws01 0]

Quote

Is there any reason why the CO2 would have be kept cold?

It holds more CO2 if it is cold.

[AggieDave 6]

Yeah, but whoopty-shit, CO2 is cheap, cheaper then having to have a fridge that will hold everything AND the CO2 bottle, right?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[nws01 0]

Yes. You are right. And by the way. These instructions are what I used to make mine when I was in Naples. I live in a hotel now so I don't have one up here yet. The website is http://www.jump.net/~davec/kegpage.html Did not want to plagarize(sp)

[PhillyKev 0]

Depends on how fast you plan to drink it. A tapped keg that is not iced gets kind of stale. Plus you'd have to clean those lines quite regularly or the beer's gonna start tasting funny. Especially if it's not set up right so that no beer gets caught in parts of the line to spoil.

I've never done this myself but have had friends try both methods. The keg in the fridge works well. Running a bunch of line through a fridge didn't. YMMV.

[JohnnyD 0]

Make sure the frig. has enough nad to keep an entire keg cold. Find a safe place to put the faucet - inside can work very well.
A note of caution - be careful not to get caught in the trap of staggering up to the keg at 3am and saying damn I can't believe there is still beer in this thing.
Sometimes, having a seemingly endless supply of Newcastle (insert beer of choice) is not a good thing. I've had mine rolling for 6 years. Its really simple. If you run into trouble, drop me a line if you wish.

[JohnnyD 0]

checked out that site. very nice job with the exception that the keg is about one door slam from breaking that shelf

[coho21 0]

I used to run a similars setup as nws01 except that I kept the tank and the regulator outside of the frig. I had a #20 tank (we ran through a lot of beer)that I kept in the closet and ran the air line back along a wall and in through the bottom of the frig.

One thing to look out for:

Depending on the type of refrigerator you get (I had a really really old style) you don't want your hoses to touch anything metal. Mine kept frosting up on me and came close to freezing the beer in the line multiple times. (I guess, one way to solve this would be to keep it flowing...)

The backflow valve is a money idea! I just wish I had had one!

Good luck and be wary of beer mooches if you have this in any sort of public place...

BTW: Soda kegs are where it's at if you are into homebrew. You can pick them up through most homebrew shops as well as find them on the web.

J

J
YSD#0009

[JohnnyD 0]

Check this out as well.

Um, I guess beer and wine are my two biggest hobbies.