Kegerator Advice

Ok, here's the deal. I have an upright freezer in the utility room, but it's pretty large for our freezer needs. I've convinced my wife that we should go buy a small chest freezer, because it will be more energy efficient, and fit out needs better. Then we can use the space that used to be the top of the upright, for putting cabinets.

So, that leaves me with a freezer for a kegerator. Problem is, I really dont' want one that big. I'd prefer a Sanyo-sized one, and keep it in the house. Wife doesn't like the idea of beer so easy to access (I mentioned tap locks).

I also have an old Coke Machine in the in-law's garage. It's one of those uprights with the little door you open to pull out your pop/beer. I had thoughts of trying to fit a keg in there, and rigging up a tap, but that would seriously limit how much pop it will serve, and my wife was against messing that up. She thinks I should restore it so that the coin mechanism actually works. I'm sort of against it too, but I have given it some thought.

So what do you wanna know? Best case, you tell your wife that you're the man of the house and you're making the decisions ...and you pop as many shanks and taps into the front of that upright freezer as possible.

Second choice...spend another $200 on a sanyo, et al. and keep the upright as your freezer.

Do whatever your wife will let you get away with.

I fit six cornies in a standard freezer-on-top refrigerator and as soon as the funds are available there will be 6 perlick faucets mounted on the door....well, maybe 5 perlicks and a stout tap....we'll see. I bet you could fit a couple more cornies in a full size upright freezer, maybe 8. You said:

"Problem is, I really dont' want one that big. I'd prefer a Sanyo-sized one,"--What?!!

Go big or go home I always say!! If you get the big one first, convincing SWMBO for a smaller later will be muuuuch easier.

If you want capacity you can grow with, the freezer is the way to go. It'd be a lot cheaper than a sanyo and you will be happy when you can have a lot of homebrew kegs on hand for any party.

If you only brew every so often and don't need aging or other fancy stuff, I can see having a sanyo might be nice. It's easy to put where you want it, as opposed to a big honking freezer.

I've been thinking that a hinge with lock on the freezer door would be a lot cheaper than tap locks. Just disconnect the kegs and lock the door with a padlock

That's what I have!

(The hinge is actually called a hasp)

Well, we've already decided to replace the upright with a smaller chest freezer, to make more room in the utility room.

I guess I don't know what my question is. Thinking out loud I guess. I really don't see the freezer as being useful to me. It's too big for inside the house, and I don't want to have to walk outside to get a glass of beer (Although if I were in the garage, I wouldn't want to have to walk to the house to get one either).

A Sanyo Kegerator is probably the right size for me. I can't see me drinking more beer than I can brew, and unless I put the thing on the front lawn with a sign that reads: FREE HOMEBREW! I don't see it being drank fast enough to keep up. Sad to say I just don't have friends who drink much, or like Real Beer if they do.

I guess I'm searching for a way to make the freezer useful, but I think I might just end up giving it away, and going with a smaller unit for a kegerator.

It would be nice to think that I have enough beer drinking friends to host parties, but reality says most of my friends are some distance away, and even when we do get together a few times a year, Only one other person will drink good beer with me. I am not interested in gettign new friends just so they can come over and drink my beer!

Maybe I could exchange the freezer to a homebrewer for some equipment or beer or something. I still need to get everything for kegging; kegs, CO2, Tower, Taps...

Oh, and the SWMBO already knows I'm getting a kegerator. She doesn' t mind as long as the kids and their friends can't just sneak drinks. (My 8yo tasted IPA at bottling time and I doubt she is going to be drinking beer anytime soon. The 13yo has no interest in brewing, beers, or any kind of drinking.)

I'm not too concerned. I can rig up some kind of lock system easy enough. I'm just trying to make the best setup I can for me.

Homercidal said:

I guess I'm searching for a way to make the freezer useful, but I think I might just end up giving it away, and going with a smaller unit for a kegerator.

Click to expand...

At least try to sell it on craigslist first...you might get enough to buy at least a far amount of the kegerator parts!

Yeah, I have been thinking about this on and off for a little while now, and I finally came to a conclusion. It's going. My reasoning is simple. That thing is an upright, and FULL of colling coils. Each shelf has cooling coils running under it. Would not be very easy to modify to fit kegs in there. I'd be better off ditching it and getting a fridge of some sort. Should have noticed that to begin with, but sometimes the obvious things are the easiest to miss.

Keep the freezer and get a Sanyo.

Once you start kegging, having a vessel to cold condition multiple kegs for weeks / months will be important.

I say you use the freezer as a cold storage unit for your kegged beer. (With some CO2 and cobra taps connected for garage sampling of course...)

Yes, but you forgot the reason I'm not using it for kegerator is that each shelf has cooling coils running underneath them. I'm not sure how to get those out of the way for the kegs to fit in there. If I could do that, I might consider using it as a kegerator. It's an upright model. I'm keeping my eyes open for a smaller fridge like the Sanyo unit. That looks like it would suit my needs the best. Or, a used fridge if push comes to shove.

that kind of freezer is a pain. I had to scour craigs list and drive to many people's houses only to find freezers like that (useless for me when I want to put in fermenters). Eventually I found frost free upright kenmore's that will work nicely.

check the price on the sanyo kegorators versus just putting a small co2 tank and picnic tap on a cornie and storing it in your regular fridge or a cheap dorm fridge or something. There are also lots of DIY articles on here about making nice looking towers that look like the sanyo setups. Explore your options and then do what seems best for you.

If you have extra space in the freezer, put in some jugs of water to cool down. THeir thermal mass will help your fridge/freezer run more efficiently, especially if you open the door a lot.