JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
I apologize for the rambling post in advance, but this project is a bit of a story. Last year I found an antique mini fridge and box of kegerator parts at a yard sale for $25, so of course I took it home with me. I couldn't talk SWMBO into making room for it in our tiny house, so I fixed it up as a sanke kegerator and gave it to a friend as an early x-mas gift. A few days after it was delivered we were invited over to test it out. SWMBO liked it so much that she became jealous and changed her mind about having one in our house. Here's what that one looked like before delivery-
When we were first discussing the conditions of having a keezer int he house, SWMBO was watching the movie "The Usual Suspects", so one of the conditions was that we name it "Keezer Soze". That I could handle, but the bad news was that I had a very limited budget to work with. On the plus side, I had some parts left over from the 1st project, and a GE 5.0cf freezer that was in storage. Thanks to a little luck and some craigslist scores, I slowly gathered most of the parts I needed. Yesterday I picked up 5 cornies from HBT'er Malt-O-Meal, and decided that it was time to start building.
The small freezer will just barely hold 4 ball locks and a 5# CO2 tank if I put a tall collar on it. I have a 20# tank, so I'll only have 3 kegs for now. I'm setting it up for 4 taps in case I ever put the tank outside, or happen upon a cheap 5# tank.
I started by making some boxes out of scrap 3/4" sheet goods to form the collar. I had some 1" stucco foam left over from a remodel job that I used to insulate the boxes with.
I wanted to minimize the overall height, but without having any QD's for the cornies at my shop yesterday, I didn't know how short I could go. I made the collar pieces extra tall and left them separate so that I could later rip them to optimal height. I bought some QD's and brought them to the shop today, so I was able to cut the collar to height and assemble it. I used a motley assortment of scrap plywood, particle board, and MDF pieces, so I tried to face the nicest plywood inside where it will be exposed, and the ugly sides out where they'll be covered later. Then I ripped some mesquite to cover the top with so that the rubber part of the lid will seal well. The front pieces were bowing out, so I used some clamps to get it straight before securing the mesquite to hold it in line.
When we were first discussing the conditions of having a keezer int he house, SWMBO was watching the movie "The Usual Suspects", so one of the conditions was that we name it "Keezer Soze". That I could handle, but the bad news was that I had a very limited budget to work with. On the plus side, I had some parts left over from the 1st project, and a GE 5.0cf freezer that was in storage. Thanks to a little luck and some craigslist scores, I slowly gathered most of the parts I needed. Yesterday I picked up 5 cornies from HBT'er Malt-O-Meal, and decided that it was time to start building.
The small freezer will just barely hold 4 ball locks and a 5# CO2 tank if I put a tall collar on it. I have a 20# tank, so I'll only have 3 kegs for now. I'm setting it up for 4 taps in case I ever put the tank outside, or happen upon a cheap 5# tank.
I started by making some boxes out of scrap 3/4" sheet goods to form the collar. I had some 1" stucco foam left over from a remodel job that I used to insulate the boxes with.
I wanted to minimize the overall height, but without having any QD's for the cornies at my shop yesterday, I didn't know how short I could go. I made the collar pieces extra tall and left them separate so that I could later rip them to optimal height. I bought some QD's and brought them to the shop today, so I was able to cut the collar to height and assemble it. I used a motley assortment of scrap plywood, particle board, and MDF pieces, so I tried to face the nicest plywood inside where it will be exposed, and the ugly sides out where they'll be covered later. Then I ripped some mesquite to cover the top with so that the rubber part of the lid will seal well. The front pieces were bowing out, so I used some clamps to get it straight before securing the mesquite to hold it in line.