Modest basement bar build...

Hi all, I thought I would share my small (I do mean SMALL!) basement bar. Still lots of work to do, but maybe good enough to show some pics

The room is roughly 10'x14'ish, and the bar is 3'x8'ish.


We bought a small freezer to use as a kegerator and removed the top.



The start of the frame for the base. There will be 2 pieces there... The bottom will be apart of the base. The top piece will be hinged to the bottom to allow access to the kegs.







Base is basically done. I will mount the freezer lid to the top piece make sure there is a proper seal.





Lid now mounted to the top. A hole is cut in the lid where the taps will be placed.



Bought a 4x8 sheet of Birch plywood for the top. I cut it down to 2x8.



Some staining done. I purchased some bar rail from an 80 year old man. He told me that this type of bar rail was used in the early 1900's. The way it mounts to the bar top (the 2x8 birch) is perfect for my needs. It will be firmly secured and will allow me to lift the top without worrying about it snapping off.

I am using 3" pvc for the tap tower. I made a box out of 1x6 pine for the "coffin" style tower.







The inside of the coffin... More insulation will be added. I will place a homemade fan box at the bottom of the cooler and run a hose up to the coffin for extra cooling. I am not sure if it was necessary, but I ran the beer line through copper tubing to help with cooling as well.



An inside pic. You can see the beer lines... My thought was that the copper would help the lines cool between the kegerator and the coffin. You can also see the temp. gauge for the external thermostat. I have it set at 38°.



Got to include a pic of the first pour!!



So, we have been doing some painting etc... Here is the bar as it currently looks.

The door to the basement. Any "Trainspotting" fans out there (my little tribute to the movie)...



The top still needs finished. I need to make a new collar for the base of the tower as well, just not sure what I want to make it out of yet.





Here is a shot from behind the bar. We have a small home theater room adjacent to the bar.



It has been a blast building the bar... We spend a lot of time down there (A LOT!!)

Looks great. I see you had some elves helping you LOL

Looks like a nice bar and a great space.

Looks great! I am jealous! Wish I had the room for something like that in my house!

looks great

Very nice, looks like a perfect size for a basement bar. I've been chalking lines on my basement floor for one very similar.

cooldood said:

Looks great. I see you had some elves helping you LOL

Click to expand...

Yeah, I did get some help from 1 wee little elf!

Fizzycist said:

Very nice, looks like a perfect size for a basement bar. I've been chalking lines on my basement floor for one very similar.

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Fizzycist, you will be so happy once you build it! We play a lot of cricket (my gf kills me most of the time!). I will be putting a big monitor down there for the NCAA basketball tourney (GO IU!!!).

njs170, you would be surprised what you can fit in a small space. You should try laying out a small bar. I used a folding table to get an idea of the space it was going to take.

Thanks for the kind words everyone

Cheers

Good job! Looks great!

How do you access the freezer?

buttcord said:

How do you access the freezer?

Click to expand...

Good question... I guess I neglected to show the hinged top.





The top raises very easily. It may seem heavy, but I can lift it with one hand. The process does not take long at all (a tidy bar top is helpful here). There are no clearance issues, I can easily put kegs in without hitting the top.

If someone decides to go this route when building a bar, I will save you some heartache... REMOVE the tap handles before you lift the top!!! Gravity is NOT your friend here and beer will end up all over the floor

Cheers