Whiskey Barrel Kegorator

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ShastyMcJasty

Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
4
Location
Cumberland
I've been lurking around here for a little while now and have felt that I have nothing worthwhile to contribute.. Until Now!

I thought some people may enjoy seeing the build of my kegorator and what went into it. If you're not one of those people scroll to the bottom for pictures of the finished product. If you are.. well then keep reading. (I apologize for the crappy cellphone pictures. It was all I had with me through out the process)

A few weeks ago I happened across a man in central Maine that declared himself as "Bob the Barrel Man". He sells used whiskey barrels from Jim Beam I guess. I thought they were cool.. So I bought one. Once I got this 120lb barrel home I realized I had NO idea what I was going to do with it. I have wanted a kegorator for a while now but wanted something different than the conventional style one (not that there is anything wrong with a conventional one). So I decided I was going to turn this barrel into my kegorator. One way or another it was going to happen.

f45ee725.jpg


First thing was to find a way to make this thing get real cold. So I found an old forgotten mini-fridge in my parents basement and yanked the refrigeration unit out of it in one piece. I really wanted to try and avoid recovering refrigerant and re-evacuating the system and recharging it. Thats a can of worms I really didn't want to open on this project. Before I took it out I let the fridge run a few days to make sure it could get cold enough reliably.

Next was to cut the barrel open. Apparently these barrels are under pressure or something. Maybe it was a little extra fermenting or a temperature change but when I drilled into the top it hissed for about a minute and filled my whole house and surrounding area with a STRONG smell of whiskey. Strong enough for a neighbor to come over and ask what smelled so good.

After removing the top, I cleaned the barrel out by scrubbing the walls and bottom with a grill brush and hosing it down. There was still some whiskey left and loose char from the barrel walls.

Next was mocking up the refrigeration unit and the platform that the keg would eventually sit on. It was beefed up much more than shown in the picture below.

a00c04b4.jpg


After this I figured that it was going to be getting pretty warm so it would need some sort of vent hole (a very poor one I may add) on the bottom with a fan to draw the hot air out. While I was down there I decided to add four castors to help make moving this thing around easier. This later turned out not to be strong enough with the load of a keg so I had to make a plywood reenforcement ring.

I bought the fan from Amazon for 15$ shipped. It is apparently suppose to be an automotive radiator fan. Since it was designed for a car I had to use a 120VAC to 12VDC adapter to convert the fan. The fan is wired into the power to the compressor, so as long as the compressors running the fan will be cooling. If this turns out to not be enough cooling I will add an independent control system for the fan with a thermocouple, but I wont cross that bridge until I need to.

db7d3170.jpg


Next was the inside lining. I found some galvanized steel sheets at Lowes for a reasonable price. All I did was drill some holes along the edge and pop rivet them together to get a circular lining as well as cut out a circle for the bottom platform.

With the cooling plate and thermostat

abc628c7.jpg


From here I needed to work on efficiency of the whole thing. I filled the gap between the steel and the barrel with R-30 insulation as well as stapled insulation to the bottom of the platform to help keep the heat from the compressor/condenser from getting through. I also bolted the cold plate to the side of the steel lining so it wouldn't flop around.

d3366f67.jpg


Here is a picture of the first test run

b0eac48e.jpg


This gave me motivation to continue, but the refrigeration unit was trying a little harder than it was in the fridge to keep the temp that low. I ended up caulking all the gaps I could find to help keep convection down as well as making a foil liner for the inside. There is also a top part of the liner that is not pictured. I also covered the gap between the barrel and liner with exhaust heat wrap.

4d410515.jpg


Finally was the top. As of now I am not 100% satisfied with the top and have some new ideas I am going to be trying out. But right now it is a piece of oak veneered plywood with a light stain and a few coats of polyurethane. I bought a brass tap from Kegworks as well as a 5lb Co2 tank and low profile tap.

Here is a picture of how everything fits inside. (sorry for the dark picture)

0196e323.jpg


It is kind of tight but it gets the job done..

And Lastly here are pictures of the finished product.

763dc2fe.jpg


And a picture of the first beer from it. I originally had the thermostat close to bottom to see what it could do. Later that day I got a glass at 30. After that I raised the temperature to 36. So far I am happy with its efficiency. While holding a temperature below 32 it turns on less frequently than the Sub-Zero fridge on the side of it in the picture. :p

de49edf0.jpg


At this point it has been running for two weeks with no problem and has had one keg successfully through it.

If anyone has any questions or would like better/different pictures I would be more than glad to help. Any other ideas/criticism would greatly be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

-Tyler
 
That is awesome but lends itself to a new challenge. Create a kegerator out of, well, a keg. Take an old 30 some gallon keg and adapt it for a party ball. Ready....go!
 
I don't know whats better, the fact that your garage has things lending me to believe you're a VW fan who does his own work, or the finished product. Did I mention this is beautiful?
 
I think I got a chubby....

where does the fan pull from? (where does the makeup air come from)

I kind of swiss cheesed the bottom as much as possible to give paths for air to get in.. more than is pictured at least. It seems to have no problem cooling the compressor the way it is. Lets keep our fingers crossed lol..

As for the VWs.. YES!.. I enjoy working on/fixing my volkswagens alot.. a Corrado and a 20th AE GTI..
 
I kind of swiss cheesed the bottom as much as possible to give paths for air to get in.. more than is pictured at least. It seems to have no problem cooling the compressor the way it is. Lets keep our fingers crossed lol..

As for the VWs.. YES!.. I enjoy working on/fixing my volkswagens alot.. a Corrado and a 20th AE GTI..

I used to have a 1990 Corrado G60....I loved that car :rockin:
 
Just curious if you fastened the hoops to that staves in any way? As they barrel dries out it will shrink and the hoops will definately fall off and it will become a pile of staves. I've built alot of things from old whiskey barrels and can speak from experience (read catastrophic barrel failure).
 
You're the ****in' man! That looks awesome! Glad to see another MKIV owner here as well. I'm in Putnam, CT, not far from Cumberland at all.
 
Great job on an amazing build. I'd like to build something similar and I was wondering if you thing you'd be able to fit two cornies in there. Also do u know the size of the barrel?
 
You did a fantastic build. You could make a fortune selling those on Craigslist. I built one before I realized that the barrel could be used for fermenting Barley Wine. I used wine barrels instead of Whiskey Barrels but I have heard many use Bourbon barrel for the unique and flavorable taste it gives upon aging for a couple of years. Many of the craft brewers are re-discovering oak barrels from a century ago. Legend has it that the orginal India Pale Ales were hopped up for the long journey from England to India. By the time the ale got to India, the oak had mellowed out the bitter taste of heavy hop's and made for a unique beer. The orginal Bass No. 1 brewed in the 1800's was fermented in Oak barrels. I think there is something about heavy beers with a gravity of 1.100 that kills the bacteria. I know we are told never to stir with a wooden spoon, but the best beer I have ever tasted in my life was aged for over a year in a Wooden Oak barrel. Next barrel you get, consider aging some Barley Wine or Imperial Stout in it. It will make a train take a dirt road to get some more....

Wine Storage 4.jpg


Wine Storage 3.jpg
 
One other quick comment, the staves will dry out without any fluid in them. The hoops will losen up and fall down. You can dry out a barrel for up to 2 years then apply a ring hoop stretcher with 120 lbs of torgue and re-attach. Or you can simply drill holes in the hoop and put wood screws in to hold the hoops in place.
 
Thanks for all the kind responses! It's still running strong and has had 6 kegs successfully through it so far. The wood did loosen up a bit but not to the point where the barrel is structurally compromised.

Ill try and answer a few of the questions:

I believe the barrel is 52 gallons and two cornies would be a stretch to fit inside.

The fan is actually really quiet. I was very pleased with the speed. The adapter I used sort of under powers the fan so its not running very fast ever.


Cheers,

Tyler Howitt
 
I have two barrells (Jack Daniel's Barrels that aged a DuClaw Imperial Stout, man the first six months I had them my basement smelled SO good!) in the corners of my Pub table area.

Thanks to you I now know exactly what I'm going to do with them.
 
This is what ShastyMcJasty said to me in a message...."As for the refrigerator, it was about 2x2x2ft. The pacing items are the compressor and the condenser. You want them both as small as possible. The height of the compressor is the main concern. Mine I believe was 6.5 inches tall at its tallest point. The height is very tight. Every step should be taken to keep the height to a minimum. When mines together I have less than an inch clearance between the lid and top of the keg."
 
Back
Top