my home draft system
 

One of my uncles was told by his doctor to quit drinking, diet, or die. He pushed his commercial grade kegerator outside and threw a tarp over it, wisely choosing life! My dad knew my wife and I were getting into home brewing, and suggest I call him and see if he wanted to sell it.

My uncle said he would be happy to give me the kegerator for free if I could get it from NJ to GA. He threw in two 5lb CO2 bottles, two regulators, two commercial keg couplings, and beer lines.

My parents went and scooped up the kegerator, and passed on the bad news to me that they spent $200 in gas and tolls round trip, and the kegerator was in rough shape. Turns out that the tarp broke down and rain leaked onto and into the kegerator for a couple of years. My wife and I drove up to NJ/PA for a family event and picked up the kegerator and loose parts and brought them back to GA. The kegerator turned on, but didn't cool. It smelled horrible, and was coated inside with slimy gunk.

I pulled the tower off the thing and with lots of elbow grease and brasso, I was able to bring it back. It was looking pretty bad until I set to cleaning it up. I installed a new shank and tap on it, as the old parts were sketchy, with old spiders nests in the tap and crud in the shank. I bought all new beer lines to hook up to it.

On Craigs list, I found a small fridge for $40 that will fit two 1/4 kegs. I had to set aside the two commercial keg couplers as they look like they need a good cleaning and rebuild, and I bought a low profile couple to fit on a commercial keg. I also bought fittings for a home brew keg (that my wife and I got as a wedding gift!), and some quick disconnect pieces for the CO2 and beer lines. Now I am able to quickly switch between my home brew keg and a commercial keg. My wife drinks Miller Lite, so as a surprise for her, I found her a Miller Lite tap handle on EBay.

Today, I put all of this stuff together and mounted the beer tower on the bar top. Mounting the tower made my anatomy shrink up, as once I drilled into the bar top, there would be no going back.

I am pretty damn proud of this. Its not like it was that difficult, but as of a couple weeks ago, I had no clue how a draft system worked. I figured it out, put it together, and now I have cold beer on tap!!!

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...08980600_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...33799905_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...31919794_n.jpg

Looks great, congratulations!

Is that cabinet vented at all? The heat from the fridge needs to go someplace! That's a very clean build, great job.

You'll probably want to take apart the old couplers to clean them, but initially you might want to put the lever down in the open position and soak them in a big bowl of hot PBW solution for a while, then rinse real well and repeat with hot water a couple times. That's all I've ever done to clean my couplers, it's been working great so far.

The messed up thing is, the only thing I kept from the original system as the tower, the co2 regulator, and the two co2 bottles. I replaced the shank, faucet, and the coupler as well as bought new beer lines. The small refrigerator is actually in the adjacent room. I just ran the beer line through the wall and along the bottom of the counter to the beer tower. Its about a 5 foot run.

Nice Looks Great!

your not drinking M/L ? {Are you}

Hahaha! That's the same thing I thought. Nice looking setup. You have any pics of the fridge in the other room?

Haha, yeah, its M/L. I wanted a cheap, small keg of something my wife would drink too, so a 1/4 keg of M/L it was!. I'll post up pictures of the rest of the draft system, and maybe a couple of our bar, tomorrow.

So here are some pictures of the working end of the draft system:

$40 fridge from Craigslist
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0465.jpg

Quick disconnect fitting
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0467.jpg

co2 bottle, fresh lines, and quick disconnects
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0468.jpg

Low profile keg coupler (pricey, but it fits with room to spare)
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0469.jpg

And here are some pictures of the rest of the basement. Posting these is kind of bragging. But prior to moving into this house, I lived in a small two bedroom apartment with my two dogs. My (at the time) fiancee (now wife) wanted a house for us, and we found this place. The basement is a very comfortable place to enjoy our brew. :)

105" HD! (projector) It is great for XBox.
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0470.jpg

Lounge area is great for an overflow of guests
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0472.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0471.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0473.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/IMAG0474.jpg

Wow that's really nice! You earned the right to brag.

No insulation/cooling on that beer line, huh? I guess it's pouring fine, so who cares...