Corny Cooler Portable Kegerator

Grill-out season in upon us and I got tired of the need to bottle beers to bring to a picnic, so, I decided it was time to build a portable kegerator. I have seen a bunch of posts and articles on building one out of a cooler but they all seemed to be for 2.5 gallon kegs - don't have any of those and don't want any...

I used a 100 quart Coleman Xtreme wheeled cooler, drilled some holes, put in a Perlick tap and a drip tray. I got a mini-regulator from Williams Brewing that runs off of paintball CO2 cartridges and ran that to the keg through a hose with a shut-off valve. The keg is held in place with two fabric straps that I fastened to the bottom of the keg. And I added a digital thermometer that I found which fit perfectly into one of the cupholders.

I positioned the corny to rest against the side of the cooler opposite the wheels because there is a sort of ledge on the other side and that side has the big handle to rest the cooler on when standing up.

I used it yesterday for the first time and it worked great. I bought a dozen of those blue freezer packs and it got the cooler down to 35 in about an hour and it stayed cold all afternoon. While it was upright, sitting on the handle, it was very stable - you would have to try to knock it over.

Overall, it was pretty easy and well worth the effort...

Now that is seriously cool. My hat is off to you. I may have to shamelessly copy this.

Is there a backflow or checkvalve somewhere in this to keep beer from coming back into the regulator for when it's being towed?

that is a sweet set up man!!

Now that's thinking outside the box!

This looks awesome!

Gunfighter: There is a an inline shutoff valve between the regulator and the keg but it has no checkvalve. You can sort of see the red-handle in the second pic... and the valve itself in the last. I just close that when it is not upright. I have only used the cooler once, so, no problems yet. I may switch the barb-connector coming from the regulator to be a valve with check like come off of the regulators in my main kegerator...

Very cool!

Adding to my DIY list

That's a new twist, and pretty neat.

If you can fit in a five gallon bucket, you can ice the keg, and let the cooler insulation hold in the cold.

:rockin:

That is awesome. On my list...

Great first post man.

Sweet.

You could also screw in a 'lid' of some kind on the bottom section of the cooler. Then fill with ice, and when you tip the cooler up/down, the ice stays in the bottom section.

B

I am envious of that mini regulator. I want one.

If you sold it... I would buy it...

Wookie: I would love to sell these but the cooler is $120.00 and the regulator is $135.00. All told, it is probably about $300.00 just in parts... and daddy needs to make some profit... I said it was worth the effort, I didn't say it was worth the money...

That's freaking brilliant. And it looks like you could use a paintball tank in there if you wanted to save on regulator costs, (paintball tank -$15, regulator on ebay - $30, CGA-320 nipple - $7).

Bravo man, that's the best new take on a rolling kegerator I've seen.

I hear ya man, it's awesome for sure.

Great idea I am gonna copy this idea shamelessly!

Loving this Idea! It looks like there's still some room in there. Do you think a standard 5lb Co2 tank would fit?

Brilliant!

I just did this past weekend at a horseshoe tournament. Instead of modifying a short cooler, the chest coolers are perfect size for corneys!

I even fit my C02 Tank in it and the chest cooler I had had a flap that I pulled the picnic tap out of. I then had a bungie cord around it on a dolly. I put the C02 tank in it then made it go upright. I filled it with ice.

A little more redneck than yours but it works without the extra equipment. I might try to make a nicer one like yours. I do have an extra shank/tap laying around so I could use it for this.

Great idea. I was looking at building a portable kegerator but didn't consider having a 5 gal keg in a sideways cooler. Possibilities are endless!

I've been looking and looking for a water cooler that would fit a corny but most are just inches shy of fitting it in with the lid... i wanted to put a tower on the lid.. i thought i saw one on this forum i guess not.

I think i'll go with this.. but cut the lid in half and seal the bottom with caulking sort of opening up like the freezer on a fridge.. long as i can get my corny in it.. i can fill it half way with Ice.. and just make sure there is some sort of gasket where i cut the split the lid... it seems to be the cheapest way to do this... thanks for the head start on the idea.

What we do for beer...

Sorry for reviving a old/dead thread, but I felt that I needed to give credit where credit is due for inspiring me to build this.



I used the Coleman Xtreme 62qt. Wheeled Cooler. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago when Home Depot had it on sale for just under $30.


The cooler seals really well, but I was worried about the constant turning on its side. I added two rubber hood latches, like you might find on a jeep (or a certain very expensive brand cooler) to the lid.
View attachment 293399



Next, I drilled a hole through the lid for the shank. The shank I originally used was just over 4", but after adding a hose barb to the end it was two long and the beer line kinked when closed. I ended up swapping it out for one that was 2 1/8". The 2 1/8" is as small as you can go and still feed the shank through the lid, but I think it is the perfect size.




Next, I attached the regulator. I used zip tie mounts to hold it to the lid and attached it in a cross section part of the lid that fits the shape perfectly. Gas will be supplied by a paintball co2 tank with an adapter.




Next, I added an LED light that automatically turns on when the cooler is opened. I don't know how necessary this will be, since it shouldn't need to be opened too often while in use, but the cool factor was too much for me to resist.




I found a great price on a 6" wall mounted drip tray at BrewInternational and mounted it just above the molds for the cup holders on the lid.


Next, I added a cup dispenser to the side, like the kind you would find at the water cooler. These are designed to hold 12oz-24oz and are the perfect size for Solo Cups.


This build was very easy and done with very minimal tools. I used a drill with a hole saw for the shank and a $14 manual riveter I purchased from amazon for nearly everything else.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041SOK6C

This cooler is perfect for taking my homebrew to parties, the pool, and neighbor's houses. I have added a buckle strap to the inside to hold the keg in place, but it is not necessary because the wheel wells hold on to the keg really well. I usually toss in a few ice packs when I load the keg and the cooler keeps the beer drinkably cold for well over 24 hours.


Finally, I would like to thank MrStack again for the inspiration provided by his original post. I hope that I have provided a little bit of encouragement for someone else to build something similar.

So the CO2 tank, it looks like you mounted it upside down. This is working?

Nice. I was gonna ask how you kept the melting ice from ruining the regulator, but then I read that you use the reusable freezer packs.

texwake said:

So the CO2 tank, it looks like you mounted it upside down. This is working?

Click to expand...

I was curious about that as well. Maybe an anti siphon tube?

We've been developing a cooler setup for kegs up to a slim quarter and mounting the tank sideways would help a lot if the anti siphon works.

texwake said:

So the CO2 tank, it looks like you mounted it upside down. This is working?

Click to expand...

Yes, it seems to work just like my kegerator refrigerator. I honestly hadn't thought about which way the co2 tank should be mounted in regards to when it is standing up. I am now looking into an anti-siphon tube that would pull from the very bottom of the tank.

Love this idea! Looks great.

So, I did some more thinking about the direction of the tank and have determined it is not a problem because of the way I fill the paintball tank. I only fill the tank off of the tank I currently use to operate my home kegerator. Therefore, I am not able to put any liquid co2 into the paintball tank. Admittedly, the paintball tank never gets completely full, but with what I can put in it, it has worked for several hours of use and has never run out.

Waaaayy more successful than my attempt using a 10 gallon round cooler from Home Depot! Nice work!

That's awesome great job

I'm still waiting on someone to use a Yeti type cooler to see how that works. I don't have the disposable income to waste if it does not, so I'm waiting on someone else to be the guinea pig. haha

Great inspiration. I just made a Stella clone on request that will be ready for Xmas. I'll need something to transport/dispense this with. I've built these items in my amazon cart, about $200 total not including the keg, but everything else. I'll update once complete, I have a couple of months!

MrStack said:

Grill-out season in upon us and I got tired of the need to bottle beers to bring to a picnic, so, I decided it was time to build a portable kegerator. I have seen a bunch of posts and articles on building one out of a cooler but they all seemed to be for 2.5 gallon kegs - don't have any of those and don't want any...

I used a 100 quart Coleman Xtreme wheeled cooler, drilled some holes, put in a Perlick tap and a drip tray. I got a mini-regulator from Williams Brewing that runs off of paintball CO2 cartridges and ran that to the keg through a hose with a shut-off valve. The keg is held in place with two fabric straps that I fastened to the bottom of the keg. And I added a digital thermometer that I found which fit perfectly into one of the cupholders.

I positioned the corny to rest against the side of the cooler opposite the wheels because there is a sort of ledge on the other side and that side has the big handle to rest the cooler on when standing up.

I used it yesterday for the first time and it worked great. I bought a dozen of those blue freezer packs and it got the cooler down to 35 in about an hour and it stayed cold all afternoon. While it was upright, sitting on the handle, it was very stable - you would have to try to knock it over.

Overall, it was pretty easy and well worth the effort...

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Click to expand...

i know this is an old thread but love this concept and want to build something similar but i'm having trouble figuring out how exactly you strapped the keg into the cooler. i see you said you attached the straps to the bottom of the keg but i am having trouble understanding how that is holding it in the cooler