devilyellow
New Member
I've been lurking for awhile and I could have sworn I registered back many many moons ago. I recently picked up a free mini fridge from a friend and finally pulled the trigger on building a kegerator, something I've wanted to do for a long time.
I started with a Danby mini fridge (I believe it's a DAR452BL). I made 2 modifications to it before installing the tower. I removed the plastic top piece and used a dremel tool to cut out the supportive plastic webbing in the center. I replaced it with a piece of 3/16" thick plywood that I shaped to fit perfectly in the center. I then plastic welded the wood to the top.
My stubbornness got the best of me when I took the inside door panel off an replaced it with a sheet of black acrylic plastic. I initially wanted 3/16" but due to it being out of stock I had a local plastics company cut out a 1/4" sheet which turned out to be too thick for the gasket but made a perfect guide use to drill a 1/8" sheet. I cracked the first 1/8" sheet by using a hand drill. The second 1/8" remained intact when I used a drillpress and installed quiet nicely.
I picked up a kit that included a low profile coupler, a Perlick 525SS faucet, a 3" stainless steel tower and the rest of the bits needed. After a lot of careful measurement I was able to get the tower perfectly mounted.
I let it cool over night and picked up the first 'tester' keg the following day. It's a 1/6 of Sam Adams Summer Ale. I let that sit in the fridge for a day and I also cleaned out the beer line. The next day I tapped it, and without knowing the beer valve was open and with how my regulator was set I got a tiny bit of beer in the co2 line. I was able to get most of it out but (photo was taken before I tried to get the beer out of the line). It's not near the regulator. I will take it all apart when the keg is emptied to clean it out.
I was having foaming issues, but I had 2 problems. One I had my co2 pressure set a hair above 10psi. Lowering that down to 6-7psi helped out a lot. Also I seem to be able to keep the fridge at an internal temperature of either 30F or 40F. It's really hard to hit it in the middle and I don't want to go to a external controller just yet. I guess I'm having fears of the beer freezing if the temp is at 30F. The fridge will get down into the 20's if cranked. The foaming issues are not a 'first pour of the day' issue - it was after multiple pours. After trying to get the pressure and temps down I was able to get at least one 'perfect pour'.
I started with a Danby mini fridge (I believe it's a DAR452BL). I made 2 modifications to it before installing the tower. I removed the plastic top piece and used a dremel tool to cut out the supportive plastic webbing in the center. I replaced it with a piece of 3/16" thick plywood that I shaped to fit perfectly in the center. I then plastic welded the wood to the top.
My stubbornness got the best of me when I took the inside door panel off an replaced it with a sheet of black acrylic plastic. I initially wanted 3/16" but due to it being out of stock I had a local plastics company cut out a 1/4" sheet which turned out to be too thick for the gasket but made a perfect guide use to drill a 1/8" sheet. I cracked the first 1/8" sheet by using a hand drill. The second 1/8" remained intact when I used a drillpress and installed quiet nicely.
I picked up a kit that included a low profile coupler, a Perlick 525SS faucet, a 3" stainless steel tower and the rest of the bits needed. After a lot of careful measurement I was able to get the tower perfectly mounted.
I let it cool over night and picked up the first 'tester' keg the following day. It's a 1/6 of Sam Adams Summer Ale. I let that sit in the fridge for a day and I also cleaned out the beer line. The next day I tapped it, and without knowing the beer valve was open and with how my regulator was set I got a tiny bit of beer in the co2 line. I was able to get most of it out but (photo was taken before I tried to get the beer out of the line). It's not near the regulator. I will take it all apart when the keg is emptied to clean it out.
I was having foaming issues, but I had 2 problems. One I had my co2 pressure set a hair above 10psi. Lowering that down to 6-7psi helped out a lot. Also I seem to be able to keep the fridge at an internal temperature of either 30F or 40F. It's really hard to hit it in the middle and I don't want to go to a external controller just yet. I guess I'm having fears of the beer freezing if the temp is at 30F. The fridge will get down into the 20's if cranked. The foaming issues are not a 'first pour of the day' issue - it was after multiple pours. After trying to get the pressure and temps down I was able to get at least one 'perfect pour'.