My Kegerator - The Piano Bar!

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soadtool

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Messages
8
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Location
Dayton
First off, yes, I saw the sticky titled "Show us your Kegerator" and I'm probably breaking some rules by putting this in its own thread but I'm way to proud of my accomplishment to have it lost in the bottom of a 5 year old thread. Second, this post is more of a thank you to everyone in this forum for guiding me to complete this project. Most people I ran this idea past told me I wouldn't finish. But with this community at my fingertips and sometimes searching through pages and pages of information, I was able to pull it off. SO THANK YOU ALL!!!

The idea for this keezer build came to me while I was trying to fall asleep one night last Fall. I had an old, out of tune piano taking up space in my house and I had the idea to use it for my recently acquired hobby of homebrewing. I did some googling and searching through this forum and couldn't find anyone that had done what I was about to do. While true that the final product is not exactly what I had in mind to begin with, it's pretty damn close.

So without further ado, I present, The Piano Bar:

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I was pretty bad about taking progress pictures but here are a few more to show the ins and outs of the project:

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All-in-all, i worked on the project for about 4 months on and off. The most difficult part was removing the guts of the piano and building the cold box (so much calculations!). The mini fridge used is the third I went through. The first I busted the freon line. The second didn't work when i finally got it disassembled. The third was the most complicated to disassemble but ultimately worked.

I'm happy to answer any questions related to this build. I'm even more happy to receive suggestions for improvements from all of you smart people.

Once again, THANK YOU HOMEBREWTALK.COM MEMBERS!!!
 
That is the most badass "kegerator" ever only sugestion u should get a keyboard and make the piano work

LOL! I thought about that. I could possibly disassemble an electronic keyboard and hook it up to work. THEN, force a tune to be played to unlock the taps like when Willy Wonka enters the chocolate room. :) Phase 2!
 
Wow. Just wow. That is badass! So many people have crazy ideas like this but never follow through so kudos to going through with it. I like how it has that beat up bar "piani" look to it, it fits well with the skulls.

If anybody else wants to do something like this they could probably get a piano like this for free. There are so many motivated sellers or donators on craigslist looking to give away a piano like this because they don't wanna deal with moving it.
 
soadtool said:
LOL! I thought about that. I could possibly disassemble an electronic keyboard and hook it up to work. THEN, force a tune to be played to unlock the taps like when Willy Wonka enters the chocolate room. :) Phase 2!

The wonka idea is epic but even if it doesn't do that imagine the awesome time of having someone play piano while pulling a pint its the **** dreams are made of
 
you are going to be playing the piano a LOT more than you used to....
 
Very cool! I like the look of it a lot. Some of the older uprights that arn't worth fixing up are beautiful, this is a good way to keep one around and useful I think :)
 
sing us a song you're the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well we're all in the mood for a melody
and you got us all feeling alright


Pure genius, cheers!
 
This gives a whole new meaning to those "give your child an instrument" music education commercials. lol
 
That is truly a work of art.

Suggestion: Pull the existing keyboard structure and replace with an updated electronic keyboard so it actually works...just a thought. It's amazing, you know folks will try to play it, hence the suggestion.

OR: Leave as is but add an MP3 player of some kind but trigger by pressing various keys.

Sorry, I'm thinking of where I can get a piano now....that's seriously the coolest thing I've seen in a long time....
 
Very nice.

How do you change kegs?

I have to take the top piece off the piano (it's not attached anymore), pull the front piece forward and then open the hinged cold box lid. Maneuvering the full kegs around all the hoses is a bit of challenge due to the limited space but still manageable. The trickier part will be when i have to refill that 50lb CO2 tank... but i doubt that will be for a LOOOOOONG TIME. :)
 
That is truly a work of art.

Suggestion: Pull the existing keyboard structure and replace with an updated electronic keyboard so it actually works...just a thought. It's amazing, you know folks will try to play it, hence the suggestion.

OR: Leave as is but add an MP3 player of some kind but trigger by pressing various keys.

Sorry, I'm thinking of where I can get a piano now....that's seriously the coolest thing I've seen in a long time....

I've thought about doing that! If I ever come across an old free/cheap keyboard I will take it apart to determine just how feasible that would be.

As suggested in a previous comment, check out craigslist for old pianos. That's where I got this one many years ago and it was completely free. The painful part is moving them as it will take at least 4 strong people to move it up or down any stairs.

Thanks and good luck!
 
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I hope you have wheels on that bad boy. Changing kegs will get old really fast. Or maybe consider another spot to showcase it that isn't in a corner.

Anyway it is very cool :)
 
I've always wondered what you could do with all those free piano's I always see on craigslist. I might need to pick one up now....need to find 8 friends to help though

Just pure Awesomeness!!!!

I love the creativity you can discover on homebrewtalk
 
Epic.. I was wondering the same about changing kegs and also how the hell you're gonna get that CO2 tank outta there when you need a refill - woulda gone for a 5lb-10lb jobby myself. Anyhow, I'm sure the hassle of changing those things out is worth having a piece of beer art like this in your house, congrats on the awesome build!
 
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