snooky

Recipes 

I am about to embark on the most extensive build that I have ever done. My wife and I moved into an old farm house recently, and we are expecting our first child in the beginning of May. Everything I have heard says that a stockpile needs to be made in preparation since my free time will be limited for a while. So, like any homebrewer, I decided to build a kegerator to help save me the time of bottling. I was surprised that it really didn't take much convincing. My wife was 100% on board, we just had different ideas of what the kegerator would be/look like. We have a small pantry, and I wanted to put a fridge in the basement and run the lines through the walls and hook up the taps in there, but I was vetoed on that suggestion and what I ended up with was a gutted fridge from the 1940's (maybe) that we found on craigslist.

As I said, this project is going to be massive, and so is the fridge. Its large enough to fit four kegs, and underneath in the small cabinet, I will be able to stash a couple tools and the CO2 tank. One of the biggest challenges is going to be taking apart a mini fridge and somehow getting the internals into the fridge. It sounds like it will be hard, but we shall see...

Someone had previously gutted this fridge and turned it into a tool chest, so one of my first orders of business was to take out all of the shelves and door compartments. Below are the after pictures.

There are still a couple things that I need to get done, the most challenging perhaps, is to buy a mini fridge, disassemble it and transfer the parts into the kegerator. The next step after that will be to insulate the kegerator and pipe in the taps, but that is a lot further down the line.

We're still not 100% sure on what we want to do with the colors, but we are thinking a robin's egg blue with white/cream doors and chrome accents. This definitely wont be something that happens over night, so I look forward to constantly updating this post on my progress with it.

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Lake Effect Brewing

sniperd

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wow, that is going to look awesome!

HopsJunkie

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Dear sweet mother. Subscribed and excited to see how this turns out.

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Generally, 1 pound grain = .75 pounds LME = .6 pounds DME. - Yooper

beertastic

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Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Is the cabinet underneath tall enough to store the CO2 tank upright? I believe they are supposed to be stored upright.

Charlieatthedisco

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I was actually thinking of doing this myself!

snooky

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It isn't tall enough to fit the CO2 tank upright. I've never heard that it has to be standing vertically. I'll have to look into it though.

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Lake Effect Brewing

basementbrewbrad

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I have heard if they are not upright liquid co2 will come out of the tank.
Cool build...I look forward to seeing how it comes along. Subscribed

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http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/mini-fridge-extension-conversion-kegerator-buildd-291249/

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/new-100-rhizome-hop-farm-400000/

Transamguy77

Recipes 

Yes it needs to be upright, I play paintball and there is a special dip tube you need to allow the tank on it's side or the liquid will come out and freeze your gun. In your case it will get into your beer.......not good. You could put it outside the fridge and run the line into it, that's how my buddy did it in his fridge.

beardedirishman

Recipes 

Only the tanks used for filling other CO2 tanks have the dip tube. Make sure you don't use those for your kegs. It probably wouldn't be a problem, but could cause some problems with your regulator and possibly send liquid CO2 into your beer.

Beverage CO2 tanks do not have a dip tube so they pull from the gas on the top, not the liquid in the bottom.

kerber

Recipes 

Looks like it has a lot of potential. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread...

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Builds:

• 1950's GE Kegerator
• Weekend Paint Booth