need advice on compact fridge keg system

So my wife who has stated that she would rather I drink my homebrew than diet coke is allowing me to start to get into kegging, but has one demand. Since we live in a townhouse that does not have a basement and the fridge is going to be in the kitchen she would like the setup to be discrete as possible. The fridge is going to be part of a larger project that will involve the fridge with a cabinet or two for the other homebrew equipment and a countertop over the cabinet(s) and fridge for cookbook storage since I will be using the space that the bookshelf now occupies. With all of that said I am looking to see what are the recommended fridges for what I want to do.

I would idealy like to fit either 2 5gal cornys or a corny and a carboy (for lagering) along with the co2 tank. From my limited research I have found that most fridges have a freezer with the 4912 being the only one without.

Since my wife wants it discrete is my only option here to use picnic taps and can I set the regulator at say 10 psi and forget it when I comes time to dispense or do I need to trun down the pressure to pour and back up when not is use? Are there other options as far as taps given that I would like to keep the fridge as stock as possible because of a lack of tools and storage of tools.

all suggestions welcome.
Thanks,
Chris

this isn't looking promising...

I doubt you'd be able to find a compact that would fit a keg and a carboy. Carboys are quite wide. Have you thought about a chest freezer? That would give you the interior size and if you go with a collar you can make your taps unobtrusive.

The downside to a chest freezer is that it is top-loading. You would have to pull it out to load it unless you rigged something up.

I have not thought about the chest freezer much, maybe I will look into that and see what is out there...

Lets put aside the keg plus carboy idea and assume that there is only the keg and tank in the fridge. Do I need to fiddle around with the tank pressure using a picnic tap or can I leave it alone at say 10 - 12 psi for serving?

ChrisS said:

Lets put aside the keg plus carboy idea and assume that there is only the keg and tank in the fridge. Do I need to fiddle around with the tank pressure using a picnic tap or can I leave it alone at say 10 - 12 psi for serving?

Click to expand...

You should be able to find a length of hose for your picnic tap that works at your desired pressure. Holding it higher will add resistance, should it start to foam.

Don't rule out a tower...they can look very nice in a kitchen.

I think the tower is going to be a tough sell, but we shall see.

I am looking at some conversion projects. and I noticed people taking about running probes and other lines through a drain hole at the back of the unit. Is this drain hole big enough to get a gas hose through to have the bottle outside the unit? Since I am planning on having a kitchen sink cabinet next to the unit I was wondering if I could get the gas hose out the back through the drain hole and into the cabinet using the dishwaser supply hole

it doesn't seem like that would gain me any room because of the compressor ledge..

The space above the compressor hump is usually just about perfect for holding a 5lbs tank with regulator so you may as well just keep it in there if it fits. At least it's out of the way and you have a self-contained unit at that point.

Regarding serving line length, I don't have a kegerator yet but when I serve out of my kegs at parties etc I use 6' of 3/16 line with a picnic faucet at 10PSI and it works great. As was mentioned you can lift the faucet up higher to get more resistance if it starts to foam too much (or just dial back the pressure and purge the keg).

every bit helps