Kegerator...build vs. buy

chuckwhut

chuckwhut

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Location
Concord, NC
So a big piece of news I have yet to share here, because I didn't want to jinx it, is I am buying a house. Pretty excited. One of my first projects is going to be to build a home bar in the basemment. I figured that If anyone would have valuable input it would be you knuckleheads. Anyone ever built a kegerator? I've got some ideas but I'd love to hear yours.


Also I would love to see pics of what you've done, or even plans for that matter. Any advice/input appreciated. I'll start a "build thread" when things get rolling.
 
chuckwhut said:
I figured that If anyone would have valuable input it would be you knuckleheads.
Click to expand...

way to tap out your friends :rolleyes:

That said, never built one - but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express - and from buddies I know the range of snaziness can go from mild to wild, with the cost proportional.
Are you thinking something pretty big/cool/super-snaz, or simple and cheap?
 
PM bfeller on here. He built one not too long ago and I believe it was approx $300 including a used fridge. there is a kit that he pick up that had all the fittings, and regulater..
 
well i am thinking i would like at least 2 taps. one idea i had was to cut a section out of the wall (its a living room in a partially finished basement) face the fridge with the paneling i cut out, and be able to push the kegerator back into the wall so that it is relatively flush with the wall.

have also thought about just building the bar over the kegerator and having the taps come up out of the bar like in your favorite local pub. at any rate, i'm thinking build would be the best, especially since i have all the custom ideas. i want it to be really clean, i don't think i just want to have a fridge with a tap sticking out of the front stuck in the corner.
 
I built a basic one when we upgraded to a new refrigerator. Nothing like you're talking about. I started with an old fridge/freezer over and under combo. It fits a half keg in the bottom with plenty of reserve beer (cans and bottles) and I put the glasses in the freezer to give them a nice frost. If your talking about a couple of kegs and you want two taps I'd look at a chest freezer with a conversion kit so it doesn't freeze the beer. You should be able to put a few kegs in that thing, and probably a couple of pony kegs to keep on hand.
 
If you like your beer REALLY COLD, build one.

Use an old chest freezer with an external thermostat. It will be as cold as it can possibly be without freezing. Mine stays a 29 degrees, anything colder and it freezes in the line.

A fridge just won't get that cold.
 
My only suggestion would be to put the taps on the side, not in the door. My old one had them on the door and I did not like it. A friend just built one with 3 taps on the side and it's nice.
 
One more important thing, be sure the freezer/fridge you buy is big enough for the keg you plan on drinking. They come in many different heights/ and diameters.

Last I looked the Coors kegs were largest in diameter and some of the imports/microbrews have tall kegs.

You need roughly 4 inches of clearance at the top of the keg to clear the lines/tap. Also factor in room for the CO2 tank, you don't have to keep it inside the kegerator, but it's convenient. Last time I filled a 5lb CO2 it was $13 or so, but it's last's approx. 8 full kegs, just depending on your CO2 levels.

Regardless whether you buy or build, there are different couplers for keg types. Domestic obviously does most all domestics, Homebrew couplers, and there are different ones for imports. They're not that expensive and the domestic, homebrew, and 2 import couplers will do 99% of the kegs out there.
 
I built one a few months ago. I converted a stand up fridge from Craig's List. The best source of information was this website: http://www.micromatic.com/forum/us-en/

The local brew store in Raleigh seems to carry the same stuff as Micromatic.

I've built two. I went through the door both times. It's easier and you don't have to worry about cooling lines. Some refrigerators have the cooling lines built into the side - other have the fins on the back. Drill into a colling line - and you have problems. Either way - you need to ensure there is enough airflow around the refrigerator to keep the compressor from overheating if you going to recess it into a wall.

On mine - I removed the interior door panel (the one with all of the racks and egg holders and such. jph0913 and I then used it for a template to make a new door panel. I built a base for the keg and C02 to sit on. The changes allow a full CO2 bottle, a slim pony keg, and half of the shelves to sit inside. That leaves me room for soda, water and cold beer glasses.

The freezer up top keeps the Patrone, Cab Wabo, Root Tea and some other libations - ready to go.

A few photos are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cncjeeper/KegeratorPics#

Check out the micromatic link above. The is a lot of information on conversions up there.
 
Cool, thanks man. About the wall thing, imagine an open basement and there is one room that is finished, so if I were to recess the kegerator into one of those walls, if you walked out of that room into the "workshop area", you would be looking at the back of the unit. So essentially it sits in open air, no overheating issues anticipated.
 
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