Portable igloo cooler kegerator

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oh it would heavy as all hell with the kegs in there

you would need to instal some solid handles and what not to move it but i figure if your going camping with that much beer usually your not alone.

strapping a cart to it to lug it to its spot would work well would just be a matter of loading in and out of the vehicle. or leave er there.
 
I just built a wooden frame and put in foam board insulation, covered it with some white vynal sheet. It will hold 3 cornies with lots of room for ice. I don't have any finished pics but here it is without the taps.


awesome pretty well same idea! i thought of just using an old not working freezer to save most of the fab work.

any idea how much it roughly weights?
 
awesome pretty well same idea! i thought of just using an old not working freezer to save most of the fab work.

any idea how much it roughly weights?

Not sure I would guess maybe 50lbs tops. I took it with to a wedding reception in Albany, and me and a buddy loaded it into a minivan while it was fully loaded with 3 kegs and about 40lbs of ice. We used some moving straps, and it was heavy but not unmanageable.
 
awesome! not bad at all! 40lbs of ice.. I need to get myself an ice machine or something if I invest in something that size lol
 
At some point it has to be easier to just go with a jockey box and a cold plate. I think that point is trying to serve more than 2 kegs for me.
 
while i do agree a jockey box is easier, I dont know if I would trust the kegs sitting out in the heat over a weekend, I would think you would still need some sort of "cooler" to keep the kegs out of the sun and heat. Especially if you plan on bringing any left over beer left if there's any and not have it go to waste because its skunked or something.
 
Completed my portable Igloo kegerator just in time for a family vacation to St. Simon's Island, GA. Figured out that 5gal of Kolsch doesn't last near long enough by the pool! 30lbs of ice kept it cold for 3 days, although it was kept inside.

Started off with the large Igloo cooler (70qt, I believe). Hacked a hole in the top with a jigsaw, initially I cut it snug to the keg. Made the hole a little larger to fit a "gasket," I found that rubber baseboard trim would work perfect and left a nice curved lip to hide the edge, used epoxy to secure it in place. I drilled a hole in one of the cup holders for the beer line to pass thru and covered the exposed section with pipe insulation.

(Side note: cutting/drilling the cooler makes a mess of the rigid insulating foam, do this step outside!)

After thoughts: For the faucet hole, I will add a PVC spacer for the shank so it doesn't compress the cooler sides as the nut is tightened. I will likely do the same for the beer line pass-thru just to make it cleaner. I used my 10lb CO2 tank from my keezer, but I would like to upgrade to a large paintball tank setup eventually. I'm very happy with the project, and I plan to use it tomorrow for our 4th of July BBQ as well. Thanks to everyone who posted their coolers for ideas!

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Completed my portable Igloo kegerator just in time for a family vacation to St. Simon's Island, GA. Figured out that 5gal of Kolsch doesn't last near long enough by the pool! 30lbs of ice kept it cold for 3 days, although it was kept inside.

Started off with the large Igloo cooler (70qt, I believe). Hacked a hole in the top with a jigsaw, initially I cut it snug to the keg. Made the hole a little larger to fit a "gasket," I found that rubber baseboard trim would work perfect and left a nice curved lip to hide the edge, used epoxy to secure it in place. I drilled a hole in one of the cup holders for the beer line to pass thru and covered the exposed section with pipe insulation.

(Side note: cutting/drilling the cooler makes a mess of the rigid insulating foam, do this step outside!)

After thoughts: For the faucet hole, I will add a PVC spacer for the shank so it doesn't compress the cooler sides as the nut is tightened. I will likely do the same for the beer line pass-thru just to make it cleaner. I used my 10lb CO2 tank from my keezer, but I would like to upgrade to a large paintball tank setup eventually. I'm very happy with the project, and I plan to use it tomorrow for our 4th of July BBQ as well. Thanks to everyone who posted their coolers for ideas!

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Ooh.. that rubber baseboard gasket is perfect. I may steal that.

Nicely done!

-sc
 
Saw this thread come up and realised I'd never posted mine, even though it was inspired by this thread.I filled it up with APA and took it camping last night. There were a few pints left in the keg and I finished them off this evening.

Three gallon keg and I did have to cut a section out of the inside of the lid to make room for the disconnects.

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Check this out: http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2016/05/20/pro-line-all-terrain-cooler-conversion-kit/
I've worried about the original plastic wheels given the weight of the keg, co2 canister and ice, particularly when I've taken my cooler to tailgates and have to pull it over a mile roundtrip. I've been trying to figure out how to put roller blade wheels on it and then I found this. Just received mine yesterday. Easy to install and rolls great now. Very smooth and quiet.
 
Check this out: http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2016/05/20/pro-line-all-terrain-cooler-conversion-kit/
I've worried about the original plastic wheels given the weight of the keg, co2 canister and ice, particularly when I've taken my cooler to tailgates and have to pull it over a mile roundtrip. I've been trying to figure out how to put roller blade wheels on it and then I found this. Just received mine yesterday. Easy to install and rolls great now. Very smooth and quiet.
That's pretty sweet.
 
Welp i find myself starting a build project for one of these very shortly.

Plan so far is use my 5g cornys as I dont feel like transferring and what not.

co2 charger for the gas duty

run the line from the top of the corny coiled around inside (ghetto jocky box style)

to a tap on the front of it.

Should be fun :)
 
Hi everyone. What a great forum/thread. I have been wanting to build for a long time but never did get it altogether.
I acquired all the parts recently (over a year maybe 2)and after removing the rubber bumper around my kegs she was still a tight fit.

But I blv after a few runs she will loosen up.

I had the 20oz tank located on the outside but after hauling it to work and over to a friends house for a quick look over the bottle seemed to be in way or proned to getting banged. Plus stairs can cause that an issue. Any ways I put the tank inside a thermos cooler. It keeps it semi insulted as no ice or water will touch it. I can easily remove if this does not work.

I am excited to test it out. Sad part no beer on the go. So may need to find a keg supplier in Wpg.

I also carbonate my wine which is more like a cooler to me. So I am good to go with that. Beer n Wine on tap. I still need to secure my air lines. But I do not like drilling holes. So I want to do it right the first time around. I will get it done sooner than later.

Once again I appreciate all the input everyone has shared both good and bad in the forum. It educated me big time as I still read through.

Setup is:
20 oz. paint ball tank
70qt igloo cooler
2 x 3 gallon kegs
2 x 3" ss shanks
2 x 5' beer lines
2 valve manifold ( I had so I used)
- and whatever I had avail for taps.

I am not sure what it will be like to wheel around once full. I do have a folding wagon I can always put it in if needed but that is not the plan yet. But I may also look at a tire upgrade as well. So many ideas.

Any thoughts with the CO2 tank being inside. I will also have a towel wrapped around it so it's not moving around.

Cheers

Venge

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Bumping this old thread.

So I was going to build an actual jocky box as most of the events i bring kegs to are a matter of hours. It would also be nice to be able to dispense both mine and a friends kegs.

However, there's something real nice about being able to keep the keg cold and wheel it to the destination. But this raises a few concerns.

1) I am lazy. I mean not really, but if it takes a lot more effort than filling my trail keg, guess what i'm bring to bring to the party... See Picture in link for trail keg. I have changed out the ball lock and attached the growler to a stainless 90 degree ball lock. So the tap is no longer tilted.
https://goo.gl/photos/uZ4H7iJq4kosUMQy6

2) So the single keg in a cooler idea is really cool for someone in a rush like me! I mean I can see building it AND a jocky box both. But the keg in the cooler is probably more practical for most things I would use it for. But this leaves me with concerns below.

Concern 1) I want a REAL tap handle. No picknick Taps. Luckily I have the ball lock to tap adapter that I use for my trail keg. However, this setup isn't a growler, so I would probably have some foaming issues with the super short draw... Would a perlick flow control faucet solve this problem or is the super short draw still going to be a problem? If it solves the issue so the maintenance would be a snap (no lines, plates, or tubing to clean!)

Concern 2) would I be able to open the lid without removing the tap? I'm sure the tap would rotate fine, but I'm going to need to put ice in there a couple times a day in the summer, so will the lid be able to swing open? Gas lines are not an issue for this because there's little chance of spraying beer everywhere which can happen from time to time :)

Concern 3) Is this whole gallon keg idea dumb, because you should do a keg to keg transfer before transporting homebrew anyways? This stops sediment from mixing around in the keg you want to transport. So then would I simply be better off filling 2, 3 gallon kegs if I have to transfer anyways?

Concern 4) What do you do for a drip tray? It would be really perfect if there was a cup holder you could use for a drop tray hah!

I need to build something soon!
 
Justintoxicated:

Concern 1) -- I have a real tap handle, faucet, shank and beer hose attached to a ball lock disconnect just like in a kegerator or keezer. I also use 11 feet of beer hose coiled inside the cooler, so I have no problem with foamy beer using a regular perlick or interrap faucet. I recently added the Intertap spring so the tap automatically closes when you let go of the tap handle. That way, it can't get left open or accidently bumped open when I'm rolling it.

Concern 2) My lid opens just fine without hitting the tap handle, even my very long wooden tap handle. Even if it did, just remove the handle from the faucet, open the lid, add ice, close the lid and screw the tap handle back on.

Concern 3) I usually keg my beer in 5 gallon kegs and cold crash. Then, if I need beer for a tailgate or party, I transfer from the 5 gallon keg to a 3 gallon or 2 1/2 gallon keg. I don't do it specifically to keep the sediment down, but I guess it accomplishes this anyway.

Concern 4) I just bought one of these and put it below the tap. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002E15FIK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 I just toss it in the cooler when I'm done.
 
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Justintoxicated:

Concern 1) -- I have a real tap handle, faucet, shank and beer hose attached to a ball lock disconnect just like in a kegerator or keezer. I also use 11 feet of beer hose coiled inside the cooler, so I have no problem with foamy beer using a regular perlick or interrap faucet. I recently added the Intertap spring so the tap automatically closes when you let go of the tap handle. That way, it can't get left open or accidently bumped open when I'm rolling it.

Concern 2) My lid opens just fine without hitting the tap handle, even my very long wooden tap handle. Even if it did, just remove the handle from the faucet, open the lid, add ice, close the lid and screw the tap handle back on.

Concern 3) I usually keg my beer in 5 gallon kegs and cold crash. Then, if I need beer for a tailgate or party, I transfer from the 5 gallon keg to a 3 gallon or 2 1/2 gallon keg. I don't do it specifically to keep the sediment down, but I guess it accomplishes this anyway.

Concern 4) I just bought one of these and put it below the tap. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002E15FIK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 I just toss it in the cooler when I'm done.

So the tubing just goes into the cooler from a hole in the lid? Or your using 3 gallon kegs that fit inside the cooler? I'm highly considering going the 3 gallon keg route at this point, because with a couple ports in the back, I could swap out the kegs for a cold plate, should it need to be used as a jocky box for 5 gallon kegs. (Serving someone else's beer that does not have 3 gallon kegs's etc). Either way I'm going to want at least 1 port for CO2 since this will get used at homebrew club events a couple times a year (probably) and I won't always have time to fill a 20oz (but there's always a large tank available!).

Think to get this cooler:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0126669YQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Maybe these kegs? (I kinda wish they were 3 gallon):
http://www.homebrewing.org/AIH-New-Double-Rubber-Handle-25-Gal-Keg_p_5101.html
or
http://www.homebrewing.org/Brand-NE...tal-HandleRubber-Bottom-Ball-Lock_p_1060.html but for quite a bit more money.

This solves the short draw issue for sure as I can just coil the hoses inside.

I might try those auto closing intertaps, although I didn't much like the flow control units compared to my 650SS pearls.
 
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Ok so according to igloo the bottom internal dimensions of the igloo maxcool 70 are 13.25x15.25 (the link on their site is currently down)
The 3 gallon kegs on adventuresinbrewing are 8.25" diameter, or 8.5" diameter (I think for the kegs in the picture above)

According to this site http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/circles-within-rectangle-d_1905.html The kegs will not fit in the cooler, but they look like they fit fine in the picture above. What am I missing!?!
 
Ok so I think the engineeringtoolbox link is BS... I had some help with this and this was the end result.

CoolerCalculation by glamisduner, on Flickr

so the AIH kegs should fit in this igloo maxcool 70qt cooler correct? Why do some people say they will not fit? Are the dimensions provided for the cooler or by AIH incorrect? Looks like teh AIH Kegs should fit, but the other ones shown in the pictures above should not. This is the opposite of what the specifications say. I still don't understand how the kegs are fitting in the pictures above.
 
Looks like igloo removed the cooler from their website, I believe it i 15.25 x 13.25 x ??? but I have been searching for hours and cannot find them. I can only find the external dimensions. How tall is it on the inside?

If anyone knows please help!

edit: found it in google cached page for the product website:
Item Weight: 14.5 lbs
Item Weight: 6.58kg
Exterior Dimensions: 20.26" L x 18.62" W x 23.47" D
Exterior Dimensions: 51.47cm L x 47.3cm W x 59.62cm D
Interior Dimensions - Top: 16.25" L x 14" W x 17.25" D
Interior Dimensions - Bottom: 15.25" L x 13.25" W x 17.25" D
 
For you guys running the paintball co2 tanks, will it push a full 5 gallons? I would imagine they will but want to confirm. Any issues from putting it in the cooler with the ice and water?

I'm debating on a gas bulkhead and manifold vs just buying a paintball size tank?

Thanks,
Justin.
 
I think I have pushed at least 5 off a single paintball tank. I have two in case one runs out. I do not keep mine in the cooler, but instead ran a gas line through the spigot hole on the upper cooler I use with a draft tower. That way I can run a 2.5 or 5lb as well. I can’t see any issues with it in there though apart from potentially needing to adjust pressure when the tank cools.
 
My paintball tank will push at least five or six 2-1/2 or 3 gallon kegs. I keep my paintball tank in the cooler with the keg and ice. I also keep a Williams Brewing CO2 Cartridge in the keg just in case. The mini regulator will work with both the paintball tank and the cartridges.

In answer to an earlier question, I use 11 feet of beer hose from the keg ball lock disconnect to the beer tap (shank nipple). All of the hose is kept coiled inside the cooler.
photo 3.jpg
 
Why 11ft? To balance the line or just to keep it cooled?
 
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