Custom Bar Build

Been trolling around the forum long enough, figure I ought to post something already.

Made my first batch of beer (a kit which didn't actually require any real brewing oh well...) and since I didn't feel like dealing with bottles I went straight for building a kegerator out of an old dorm fridge and some parts I had already laying around.

Which brought me to thinking it was about time to get started on the bar I had been planning on building. So... here is what I've built so far:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2J93z16k3ocXXbuUU4OaWA?feat=directlink
Left Opening will contain shelving for glassware and whatnot. Center will for the kegerator and bottom right opening for a wine cooler. Top right will likely be drawers and maybe ventilation for the refrigerators.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CgrmSZrLQ9EthaRoX7wpug?feat=directlink
My trim work

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TbiWcQPrFFKfGUmG4t2MUA?feat=directlink
Front view, that tile on the floor is a piece of what i plan to use for the bar top, you can also inda see my kegerator in the background

Not too bad considering I'm making this up as I go along.

Sorry about the links to the pictures, been a while since I've posted to a forum...

Very nice, and welcome to HomeBrewTalk!

Straight to kegging. I like it.

Looks like the bar could be sweet too!

Gfei said:

Been trolling around the forum long enough, figure I ought to post something already.

Made my first batch of beer (a kit which didn't actually require any real brewing oh well...) and since I didn't feel like dealing with bottles I went straight for building a kegerator out of an old dorm fridge and some parts I had already laying around.

Which brought me to thinking it was about time to get started on the bar I had been planning on building. So... here is what I've built so far:

Click to expand...

Let me try and help.


Left Opening will contain shelving for glassware and whatnot. Center will for the kegerator and bottom right opening for a wine cooler. Top right will likely be drawers and maybe ventilation for the refrigerators.


My trim work


Front view, that tile on the floor is a piece of what i plan to use for the bar top, you can also inda see my kegerator in the background

nice detail work on the bar. I can appricate those corner cuts. You got some skills

cford1 said:

Straight to kegging. I like it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I had already made a batch of wine and cleaning/sanitizing/filling was a pain... and a batch of beer was going to take about 3x as many bottles. I did bottle a few from the keg for a weekend outing.

Thanks for fixing the images for me... I was so close when I first tried it, just had the wrong URL...

Just use the IMG tags and not the URL, But you can't post pictures until you have like 25-50 posts anyway so it wouldn't have worked for you still.

I think you have to have 10 posts before you can do pictures anyway.

IrregularPulse said:

Just use the IMG tags and not the URL, But you can't post pictures until you have like 25-50 posts anyway so it wouldn't have worked for you still.

Click to expand...

Sorry for the HJ.... so you can post pics stright from your computer without a web host?

Yambor44 said:

Sorry for the HJ.... so you can post pics stright from your computer without a web host?

Click to expand...

upload to the gallery. There is a link on the same bar that has user cp, new posts, etc

I'm digging up an old thread of mine here, but I've made some progress after a long down time. Here's what I'm doing:

I had originally planned to just stick the kegerator I had built into the bar, but it can only hold a single keg which seems a shame. I figured if I pull the workings out of the existing kegerator (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iGnLJ9aVsJjzGYjgqOfjAw?feat=directlink) and built a custom fridge into the bar itself (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zvE2NGZCoJ6qxMdEoL2_1A?feat=directlink) I could fit four kegs which is way better than one.

Here is a shot of the almost complete bar:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wYbRftx5axyVghneofcczg?feat=directlink

Still need to finish the top, I decided to do a poured epoxy finish rather than the tile I was originally planning on.

Just need to get the insulation actually glued in place and install the fridge parts, and I'll be able to store some bear in there...

Edit: You may notice the finished bar pic is in a different room than the others. It's been moved since I first finished painting it. I designed it to be portable and I got to put it to the test just before Christmas. The top unscrews from the base and lifts off in one piece, then the two sections that make the 'L' come apart. The whole things breaks into three pieces and be moved quite easily. I was very impress with myself at the time when it worked as planned. (Guess I still am)

Just about have the kegerator finished. Just need to caulk and build a door.

looking good!

Nice, I was just thinking about doing something similar with my mini fridge. I take it you are going to have a tower/coffin box about the unit on the bar? Have you tested it out to see if it gets cold enough?

Beernip said:

Nice, I was just thinking about doing something similar with my mini fridge. I take it you are going to have a tower/coffin box about the unit on the bar? Have you tested it out to see if it gets cold enough?

Click to expand...

Eventually I plan to build a coffin box for it, but I may just throw the single faucet tower I have on it for now just to get it dispensing beer for me (I only have one keg right now anyway). Haven't had a chance to test it since I haven't built the door yet, but I had to turn the thermostat to the lowest setting to keep it from freezing in the fridge when it was still in its factory mini fridge shell below.

Nice work. Way to go for it, step right up.

Is the temperature probe supposed to be behind the refridgeration plate? You may end up wanting an external thermostat like this:
http://www.climatedoctors.com/Items...ETC-111000 Microprocessor Temperature Control

Super nice.....Great job so far.

bendavanza said:

Nice work. Way to go for it, step right up.

Is the temperature probe supposed to be behind the refridgeration plate? You may end up wanting an external thermostat like this:
http://www.climatedoctors.com/Items...ETC-111000 Microprocessor Temperature Control

Click to expand...

Yeah, this fridge has the probe attached to the chiller plate... I don't quite get the logic behind it but it seems to work OK. I'm sure a temp controller is in my future though. I'm leaning toward programming my own using a PIC I have lying around (free samples from Microchip with my old rit.edu email), just cause I like that sort of thing.

Whiskey Sowers said:

Super nice.....Great job so far.

Click to expand...

Thanks, this thing has been in progress for so long... it needs to get done.

Now that I think about it, for $50 I might have to just go for the Ranco controller... lazy, lazy.

The kegerator now has a door and I've verified that it gets cold

Not the most elegant solution, but it works. It will look much prettier once I paint it to match... actually with such a large flat surface I feel like I need to do something with it. Maybe a towel bar at the very least... Any ideas??

The barrel bolts are a pain to lock an unlock (quite a bit of tension there) but they do the job and I don't plan on having to open it up that often (just to service the kegs)
Here is another shot of the inside with it all put together:

No beer, just a lonely half gallon of water

I just need to run air lines and install the tower and will be ready to serve beer (if I had any).

What about some of that chalk board paint?

Definitely a thought, that would be nice for keeping track of whats in there and how long its been in the keg.

Anther nice build!

Just wanted to post some more progress. The tile we ordered came in and we got it layed out how we want it last night.

Just need to borrow my brother-in-laws tile saw for a few peices then I can finish this sucker.




Once the tile is in I'll go over it with an epoxy to smooth the whole thing out and make it shine.

The chrome tower is temporary, until I can get a proper coffin box built to sit on the wood base there.

I'm thinking about building my own bar. I figure I can save about half the money of buying one and it will be a fun DIY project. Do you have an esitmate on how much the materials cost for just the bar?

SquireBrewing said:

I'm thinking about building my own bar. I figure I can save about half the money of buying one and it will be a fun DIY project. Do you have an esitmate on how much the materials cost for just the bar?

Click to expand...

Don't have exact numbers but I can estimate:

Lumber for fraime: $25
Plywood skin: $100 (2 sheets of hardwood plywood, I only used these because I had them lying around and needed to get rid of them. Otherwise I wood of used thin paneling ~$15 sheet)
Molding: $60-70

About $200 for the bar without the top if you use nice plywood
More like $150 if I used cheaper paneling instead.

I'm probably looking at $350 for the whole bar, fridge parts were a freebie.

As for the top, the tile with bar top epoxy will run me about $150 when it's all done I think. Lot of different things you could do there though...

How much do you estimate the components for the kegerator section cost? I'm talking the foam, barrel bolts, wood, etc. I have a spare mini-fridge from when I was in school and I'm looking to build something similar to what you have there. Also, did you have to cut and re-seal the coolant lines on the mini fridge, or were you able to cut through the body of it so that was unnecessary? I'm obviously hoping to be able to avoid having to re-fill the coolant lines, but if that is required then it shall be done.

Also, nice looking bar!

shadowmage36 said:

How much do you estimate the components for the kegerator section cost? I'm talking the foam, barrel bolts, wood, etc. I have a spare mini-fridge from when I was in school and I'm looking to build something similar to what you have there. Also, did you have to cut and re-seal the coolant lines on the mini fridge, or were you able to cut through the body of it so that was unnecessary? I'm obviously hoping to be able to avoid having to re-fill the coolant lines, but if that is required then it shall be done.

Also, nice looking bar!

Click to expand...

Kegerator was pretty cheap. I bought 2 sheets of 3/4" foam board and glued them together (to make 1.5" thickness, same as the wood framing) with construction adhesive for about $30 I think. Then another $10 or so for the hinges and barrel bolts. The wood for the door was leftover from plywood I used for the shell of the bar. Right now there is just a 3/4" layer of foam on the inside of the door, but I may add another layer for better insulation and to make sure I'm getting a good seal.

I was able to get the fridge parts out of the old fridge and installed in the bar without cutting the lines.



I just cut a notch out of the foam board so I could drop everything in place and glued some more foam back in when I was done (and used lots of Great Stuff)

You just have to bee real careful when you dismantle the mini fridge to make sure you don't cut through or break any of the refrigerant lines.

I got these cabinets installed this afternoon. A place to keep the glassware and stuff.

DUDE! nice Bar setup/build BTW.
Do you have the top done yet? Your tile work made my mind run...
If you haven't gotten it tiled yet what size tile did you use? Reason being and I think some others guys might like this idea.
The select ones you have higher think of bottle tops! I think that would work!
Storing this thought and I hope its not a buzz kill for ya. This is the reason we have this forum.... People think of cool or sweet ideas!
Thanks again! :rockin:

Gfei said:

Just wanted to post some more progress. The tile we ordered came in and we got it layed out how we want it last night.

Just need to borrow my brother-in-laws tile saw for a few peices then I can finish this sucker.

Once the tile is in I'll go over it with an epoxy to smooth the whole thing out and make it shine.

The chrome tower is temporary, until I can get a proper coffin box built to sit on the wood base there.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliments!

The tile I used are sheets of 1x1 tiles. The finished product won't have the tiles raised like that. They're just set in there that way to lay everything out before I started dropping them into place. I will be epoxying the top though once the tile is all finished.

Do you think a bottle top would fit in there? Just a question.
Your Welcome also. Just a great post all around

Wingnutj said:

Do you think a bottle top would fit in there? Just a question.
Your Welcome also. Just a great post all around

Click to expand...

Find HBT user Chainsawbrewing's bar build thread. He did an amazing job of incorporating bottle caps into his bar top.


Edit: Here it is-Not sure which page.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-bar-build-tracking-my-progress-here-121928/

very sweet bar! making me think....

let's revive this. We want pics of the finish product.

^^^^^agreed.

rockinmarty said:

let's revive this. We want pics of the finish product.

Click to expand...

Haven't logged in for a while but noticed the new posts.

I'll snap some pics when I get home tonight. It's been a painfully long time getting this finished (just ask my wife), I've worked on it off and on.

The only thing I have left to do is epoxy the top. But that will have to wait until spring when we start leaving the house for the weekend to camp, solvent fumes and that sort of thing don't mix with people.

This is pretty fantastic! When I get into my new place I'm looking into building my own little bar. Your set up has inspired me! It's a great size that fits everything you need into it. Great work!

DeadGuyNick said:

This is pretty fantastic! When I get into my new place I'm looking into building my own little bar. Your set up has inspired me! It's a great size that fits everything you need into it. Great work!

Click to expand...

It's actually shrunk a bit since I last posted pictures.