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There's no reason why a crafty person couldn't build a fridge from scratch. In fact, many walk-in refrigerators are custom built on site. It's quite possible to do the same thing on a smaller scale but I think you'll find the cost of components to be prohibitive. Some folks have successfully...

I am surprised to read all the anti-safety, anti-California rhetoric here. CA has a long history of environmental protections that have later been implemented nationally. When was the last time you could purchase leaded gasoline? Lead in gasoline directly resulted in lead in air and soil. In...

What you're seeing there is California taking an active stance against lead in consumer products. Read up on CA AB 1953 for details. In brief, the old law stated that plumbing fixtures could contain up to 4% lead in "wetted" (in contact with water) parts and still be called "lead free". AB...

Here's one possible solution: ditch the o-rings and use flat silicon stock instead. Go to your local Bed Bath and Beyond, or Sheets and Things, or whatever house-wares store you can find and pick up a silicon baking sheet. They come in all shapes and sizes, but an 8x8 inch cake pan will cost...

Have you checked with the manufacturer of the kegerator? I would ask there before modifying it free-style.

Thanks all for your input. I eventually went the brew shop route and found The Good Brewer in Livermore, CA. Daniel, the owner, has a jockey box that he rents out for $35 per day with a $200 deposit. He and I had a very pleasant conversation on the phone this morning. I'm going to pick up...

That's the biggest difference, certainly. Some other differences: 1) Beer stays good after the wedding if you've poured it with a real CO2 system. (assuming that there's any left over) 2) Beer pours consistently from a real draught system. We only have 1 bartender at the wedding and...

I found it in Tucson for $2 per foot at an industrial hose supplier. If you're in a good sized city you should be able to find it locally if you're willing to do some calling around. I had to call 10 companies before I finally found it here and what's especially funny is that it was a...

Hey all, I'm up in Berkeley, CA for my sister's wedding and I'm trying to find a jockey box for rent somewhere. My sister has purchased a keg of beer from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing but never considered how to get the beer out of the keg. Santa Cruz doesn't have any recommendation for me...

I've read somewhere that you can drill them just fine if you first freeze them in liquid nitrogen. This assumes, of course, that coming up with liquid nitrogen isn't a problem for you. You might try to make friends with the physics department at the nearest university...

A lot of the cheaper stainless steel coolers seem poorly built to me. I think it'd be great if you could find an old coleman steel side ice chest and mod it. Those things last forever! If you don't know what I'm talking about you can see one in this ebay auction: (no affiliation) VINTAGE...

Thanks everyone for the responses, both humorous and substantive. I appreciate the fact that all food has bugs or bug parts on it. I rinse my produce well, especially well if it's organic. On the other hand, I don't expect to find food products infested either. When I buy a bag of flour...

Hey all, Over this weekend I picked up 17 pounds of American Ida Pils from my local beer store in Tucson ("Brew Your Own Brew"). My wife and I were making an anniversary abbey ale. When we bought the grain we didn't notice anything living in it. We milled it there and brought it home and...

Instead of going through all that trouble just head down to a real plumbing supply store (every town, even little ones, has a plumbing supplier somewhere) and pick up a sweated pipe to pipe thread adapter. You can get them in male or female orientations. You sweat the one side to your...

Cutting a gasket out of silicon cookware is such a great and simple idea; I'm jealous I didn't think of it myself. Yesterday I fixed the bulk-head on my perpetually weeping Lauter Tun by cutting a gasket from a silicon baking dish. The dish was only 8 bucks and I can probably get 30...

When I needed to buy silicon tubing in Tucson I just started out by calling an industrial hose supplier. When they told me they didn't have it I asked for a recommendation for another shop. A couple of repetitions of this and I had it made! If you're nice to the person on the other end of the...

I don't know about the states, but in Mexico when you buy a 24 pack of beer the box it comes in is heavy duty and super-reusable (because you return your bottles in the same box, of course). If you can score some of those boxes you'll be set.

I worried about this same thing enough to decide to mash in a stainless steel kettle wrapped in a couple woolen blankets. I called Igloo support once to ask why they don't list their coolers as being hot-liquid compatible and they said it was particularly because of issues with warping.

Restaurant supply houses can set you up with BIG hardware. Standard Restaurant Supply is my local store of choice in Tucson. Their web page only shows a portion of the vast catalog of items they have access to. Whenever I need something I just go down to the store and ask for it and they'll...

I'm with your wife on this one. I called up Igloo customer service and the representative with whom I spoke told me that Igloo makes plastic coolers for cold liquids only and that putting warm / hot liquids in their plastic coolers will cause warping and possible leaching of chemicals. The...