Hey folks - thought I would create a post here about my kegerator and the steps and materials used to build it. Here's a look at the almost finished product:
Making your own kegerator is fun, and believe it or not, relatively inexpensive. For those of you (including yours truly) that tire of the incessant cleaning and scrubbing of bottling, kegging your own homebrew is an absolute Godsend.
Before I begin, the first thing I bought was a basic keg kit from
KegConnection.com. Here is a short and non-comprehensive list of items that I got from their
2 Keg Basic Keg Kit:
- Two (2) Cornelius kegs (soda kegs)
- Two-port manifold with check valves
- 5/16" ID hose for gas line
- 1/4" ID hose for beer lines
- 5# CO2 tank
- regulator
And in addition I purchased their most excellent
3-faucet drip tray.
Next came the fridge. I really lucked out when a neighbor of mine had a buddy who looking to get rid of his old top-down. Here's a picture of the victim:
Next, I purchased a litany of items from
Austin Homebrew Supply:
- 1 x MFL Bulkhead (4")
- 2 x Stainless Steel Shank (4 1/8") with 1/4" Fitting Kit
- 1 x Stainless Steel Nipple (1/2" NPT to 3/8" Barbed)
- 2 x Chrome Faucet with Low Profile Faucet Handle
- 2 x FFL Fitting (5/16")
- 1 x FFL Fitting (1/4")
- 1 x Air Line Hose 5/16" - Length: 2'
- 2 x Beer Line Hose 3/16"- Length: 3'
- 2 x MFL Liquid Disconnect (Ball Lock Keg)
- 8 x Stainless Steel Hose Clamp
The idea here is that I wanted to store the CO2 tank outside of the fridge (hence the MFL bulkhead), leaving more space for the kegs inside the fridge. Regular-sized bar taps are fun, but the low-pro faucet handles were needed so that I could open the freezer up without hitting the taps and spilling my oh-so-precious beer. And yes, that is a hand-drawn plan of how it all was put together. I'll try and recreate it for you guys.
Here's the tools I used:
- 1" hole saw (I think $11 at Lowes) for faucet shanks
- 3/8" bit for MFL bulkhead (crap maybe it was bigger?)
- safety googles
- teflon tape
- drill
- wrenches :)
- cold beer
Last but not least, and certainly the most important part of this whole project plan: The Foreman (aka My Lovely Assistant aka My Wife). Hey, she's an engineer from
Texas A&M University, and who am I to question that kind of authority?
Let's begin with the MFL bulkhead. I wanted this in the bottom-right corner of the fridge door, on the hinge side (duh). KEEP IN MIND that all drills were done on the DOOR of the fridge and ONLY THE DOOR. The cooling lines run through the sides of the fridge, and if you get stupid and drill blindly through them, well... kiss your fridge bye bye.
Also - do me a favor - unplug your fridge. Better safe than sorry!
I want to say that I used a 3/16" bit for a pilot hole and then moved up to a larger 3/8" bit for the final drill, but I can't remember. :(
And here's the finished product.
Next came the cutting out the holes for the faucet shanks. Because there was a rib down the middle of the interior door, the faucets had to be offset slightly to the right. This actually worked out ok because that meant there was less need for really long beer lines when the door opened, since the faucets were now on the hinge side.
Here's The Foreman checking my measurements:
1" hole saw about to get busy:
Jeffro making the cuts:
Assistant Foreman (aka My Daughter) checking on progress:
Voila - shanks inserted, drip tray mounted. The shanks are tightened by the nuts on the inside of the door. Remember not to tighten too much or else you'll warp the inside plastic.
Next, onto taping - we're almost done! Standard teflon tape used here to ensure water-tight seal with the 1/4" fittings.
Here's an interior shot of the final product (at the time):
Ready to drink! Let's pour!
LOL - don't forget to adjust your pressures! Should have bled a bit more pressure out of the keg and lowered the output psi of the CO2 to the neighborhood of 7-8 pounds.
So that's pretty much it! Really wasn't TOO hard, and I am one dumb animal when it comes to mechanical doings. If I can do it, trust me you can too!
Since then I've finally gotten around to adding the third tap, but can't use it until I get a three-valve manifold. :( Maybe for my birthday, are you reading this, Lovely Assistant????
All for now - please feel free to e-mail me at
jeff@wickedhops.com for any questions!
Prost,
Jeffro