Kegerator Makeover

I picked up this little gem off Craigslist for $100, including what you see in the photos plus a sanke keg that might become a fermenter some day. The kegerator a little old and ratty but it gets very cold and I think its a pretty good candidate for some lovin'. It's a Kenmore which should be a pretty robust brand.

I'm not sure if it started life as a kegerator or if it was converted from a small fridge. The cold plate looks like a freezer compartment bent down, but there are no holes up high where it would have attached. The hump is in the top rather than the bottom, and it looks like some factory-looking grommet/trim on the inside where the lines go up into the tower. Plus the door interior doesn't have any shelves, so maybe it was a kegerator from the start. I can't figure out why it doesn't have a top on it though.

Plans are to:

• Clean everything up
• Ditch the crusty old beer lines
• Trade the CO2 bottle in for a current one
• Sell the single gauge regulator (I have a better regulator for it)
• Sell the tower and its single faucet, plus the Bud Light tap handle
• Put some casters under it--probably have to build a frame to attach the casters then set the fridge on top of it
• Build a new top, maybe out of Corian, maybe out of butcher block, maybe out of cheap laminate counter top, not sure which direction to go yet.
• Install a new 2 or 3 faucet tower with Perlicks (need to see if this thing will hold 3 cornies) and new lines
• Maybe build some nicer wooden fascias for the door and sides, or maybe paint the whole thing
• Start enjoying homebrew in the house without having to go outside to the poolhouse to get a pint from my beer fridge out there

This may be a rather slow transformation, as most of my projects tend to be. So updates to this thread might be few and far between but I'll post up whenever I've got something to show on this.

I currently keep my kegs inside my beer fridge with picnic taps. I was thinking of doing a kegerator conversion on the big fridge but then thought I'd rather do this, and put the shelves back in my beer fridge for holding more bottled beer.

I'll be cruising the threads here in the DIY section for tips! I know they're out there, but until I picked this thing up I hadn't really searched through the threads yet. Thanks in advance to all of you who I will be borrowing knowledge from!

That looks almost identical to the two that I have except both of mine have a top surface on them. I was able to 4 cornies into mine. I had to use pinlock (converted to ball-lock) in the back under the compressor and the 2 ball-lock kegs in the front. My co2 fit right on the middle of all 4 kegs... I think I have pictures in my gallery and I started a thread a while back about building the 4-tap tower. Good luck!!!

Ok.. Here's a link to the thread I mentioned above.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/diy-4-tap-kegerator-tower-7656/

I think I started with a very similar kegerator. I ended up putting a wood on the outside. Here is a link to my build: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/wood-covered-kegerator-build-267001/index3.html

First things first, throw out those gross lines and see about trading that nasty C02 tank in!

JoshuaW said:

First things first, throw out those gross lines and see about trading that nasty C02 tank in!

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Did you even read my post or did you just look at the pictures?

BigPatBrewer said:

I think I started with a very similar kegerator. I ended up putting a wood on the outside. Here is a link to my build: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/wood-covered-kegerator-build-267001/index3.html

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Just read your thread. It's amazing what you are able to do on a limited budget with simple tools. Very creative use if materials, I love the pennies! Thanks for posting the link, I look forward to seeing your finished photos

Jester said:

Ok.. Here's a link to the thread I mentioned above.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/diy-4-tap-kegerator-tower-7656/

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Just read through your thread. Very interesting! I'll have to do some testing to see if I can get 4 cornies in there. If not I can live with 3

polvofiloso said:

Just read your thread. It's amazing what you are able to do on a limited budget with simple tools. Very creative use if materials, I love the pennies! Thanks for posting the link, I look forward to seeing your finished photos

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Thanks! I will have to put up some finished photos soon. I am able to fit 3 cornies and a tank no problem. I could move the tank to the outside and fit 4 but I like having everything together and contained. Besides, I opted for 2 taps. I have a hard enough time keeping kegs full to feed those! Good luck with your keg makeover!

OK I finally had a little time to work on this thing today. Firs thing I did was heed Joshua's command

JoshuaW said:

First things first, throw out those gross lines and see about trading that nasty C02 tank in!

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I had to go to the welding supply shop anyhow to fill up my welding gas bottle, so I took that crusty thing in and traded it in. I had to pay the hydro inspection fee but that's better than $99 for a new bottle. I already have a 5 pounder in my other beer fridge but it will be returning to bottled beer storage duty once this kegerator is done, so I'll have a backup, or maybe I can put a CO2 system in my future fermenter/freezer project (that's another thread) for carbonating kegs in the pipeline.

Next I wanted to remove the tower and that make-shift top someone had put on the kegerator. I'll be selling the tower, faucet, Bud Light tap handle, and sankey tap, hopefully I can almost cut the price I paid for this thing in half.

The tower was just attached to the sheetmetal top with some self-tapping sheetmetal screws. Definitely not the way it came from the factory. Then I removed the piece of galvanized sheetmetal they had for a top (more non-factory self-tappers) and found an un-insultated space underneath.

My plan is to build a new countertop for it, I'm not sure what material I'll use yet, but I'll stuff some insulation down in there before I attach the new top.

The next thing I wanted to do was to see how many kegs I could fit in this thing. Turns out it will fit four, but the two in the back need to be pin-locks because the space is shorter. Even with three, one of them will need to be a pin-lock. I have a couple of each but I eventually want to have everything one style, preferably ball-lock. Does anybody know if/how you can convert a pin-lock keg to ball lock? Is it as simple as un-threading the pin-lock posts and threading on ball-lock posts?

I plan to have a 3-faucet tower on this thing but it will be nice to have a reserve keg in there carbonating. If I do it that way I'll have to figure out a way to keep the CO2 bottle outside as I don't think it will fit inside with four kegs.

And for my biggest project of the day, I built a frame with wheels for it. This is actually one of the reasons I wanted to refurb a used kegerator rather than buying a new one (that and the fact that I was going to ditch the stock tower anyhow in favor of a 3-faucet tower with Perlicks). I know some new ones come with itty bitty casters already, but I wanted to put some bigger ones under there, with a heavy duty frame, so I could push it all over the place--out to the pool, take it other places and be able to roll on rough surfaces, etc.

I had some 1"X2"X.065" rectangular tubing laying around that I thought would work perfectly for this. So out came the hot saw, welder, grinders, etc. I hadn't had a welding project in a while so it took a few beads to get my groove back. But I was grinding them all down anyhow so no need for pretty beads. Grinder, sander and flap-wheel and all was smooth.

I picked up these casters yesterday at Harbor Freight. To rigids and two crazy wheels with brakes. One hassle when building a frame like this out of tubing is that every hole needs to be one size on one side (small for the bolt or screw to go through) and another size on the opposite side (big for the nut or bolt head and socket). It turned my beautiful square into swiss cheeze but you'll never see it, only the side of the tubing.

Once the wheels were on I attached the whole thing to the bottom of the kegerator with some #12 sheetmetal screws. Flipped it back up on its wheels and it rolls smooth as a baby's butt.

I'll leave it like this until I'm done with the rest of the project, then I'll pull the frame back off and powder coat it before final assembly.

I've been thinking of what to do with the exterior of this thing. I've come to the conclusion I'm not a good enough woodworker to do a nice wood fascia. I considered paint but I want better than a rattle can job, but it's not really worth doing a professional paint job in it.

I'm starting to lean toward a vinyl wrap. You know, like a vehicle wrap. I can do the artwork myself and get buddy pricing from one of the decal/wrap vendors we use at my work.

Has anybody else used a vinyl wrap to spruce up an old kegerator? I'd love to see some examples if there are any out there. I'd also like to hear suggestions in what to put in the design. Should I design a logo for my "brewery"? Or just do hot rod flames like you see on some custom painted vintage refrigerators? Im a marketing director by trade with a background in graphic design so I should be able to implement whatever ideas I/we come up with

Man, I don't know if I'm more excited for your kegerator or your Bronco!

LilManBrewing said:

Man, I don't know if I'm more excited for your kegerator or your Bronco!

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Thanks! It needs some attention too though. If it could talk it would probably be chewing me out for working on this old kegerator. But its nice to have a project that I can finish in just a few days rather than months or years. I've got a Bronco out back that's been in pieces for years waiting for me to put it back together.

polvofiloso said:

Thanks! It needs some attention too though. If it could talk it would probably be chewing me out for working on this old kegerator. But its nice to have a project that I can finish in just a few days rather than months or years. I've got a Bronco out back that's been in pieces for years waiting for me to put it back together.

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I totally know what you mean. I have a 1970 El Camino I've been working on and I feel that I never have enough time or money to do what I want to do to it.

LilManBrewing said:

Man, I don't know if I'm more excited for your kegerator or your Bronco!

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^ This :rockin:

Yeah your bronco looks like a hella fun time. Would be handy where i go for off-grid camping.

My left eye twitched when i saw your magnetic bowl of screws. Like looking at an Escher painting seeing that and wondering if the picture was rotated wrong, but then seeing everything else right side up. LOL

Awesome Bronco!!!! That's the generation I've always wanted!!!!!

Thanks for showing your progress on the makeover. I have two of those in storage that I was about to get rid of because they look like crap, but you are inspiring a renovation/restoration instead of building a keezer.

Thanks for the comments on the Bronco guys. Not to derail this thread too far off topic but here's a wider shot of it so you can see more than just the tire and fender. Like many of my projects the Bronco still isn't finished even after years of tinkering on it. It has a fuel injected 5.8L engine, full width axles, custom suspension, fiberglass body panels, etc. I still need to build a cage for it, finish up a few other odds and ends, then paint it. This one's actually my wife's Bronco, mine sits out at the back of the property in pieces, waiting for some attention LOL.

OK, now back to the kegerator build

Jester said:

Awesome Bronco!!!! That's the generation I've always wanted!!!!!

Thanks for showing your progress on the makeover. I have two of those in storage that I was about to get rid of because they look like crap, but you are inspiring a renovation/restoration instead of building a keezer.

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Well haul them out and get to work on em!

I'm not sure why, but for some reason the keezer idea hasn't grabbed me yet. i don't care for the idea of the faucets coming out the front or side of the collar, and for some reason I can't quite get into the groove of the whole tower or coffin flipping up when you open the lid.

I think when I outgrow this little kegerator I'm going to keep my eyes on Craigslist for a used commercial keg fridge, like the Beverage Air ones with two doors, a couple of towers and room for about a dozen corny's inside

Got a little more done on this thing today. Went to MoreBeer yesterday and picked up their 3-faucet tower. I had them trade out the stock faucets for Perlicks. Also grabbed one of their 3 outlet gas manifolds and a few other goodies.

Then i went to Home Depot and picked up some stuff to make the counter top. I got this kegerator cheap and didn't want to put much money in it (other than the plumbing, which I can move to another kegerator if this one dies on me), plus my lack of good woodworking skills and tools didn't merit using high end materials, so I just used some cheap pine. I picked up a piece of their laminated pine tabletop stuff, and some stuff to use for the edges.

I got two pieces of the same size out of the laminated pine piece, so I glued/clamped/nailed them together to make it thicker and heavier duty. Then simply added on the side pieces all the way around. A little taller on the sides and back to form rails. I decided to just use some long stainless sheetmetal screws to attach it to the top of the fridge. Then cut the hole for the lines and test fit the tower.

It all looks pretty good for a quickie job. I've already disassembled it and put some wood putty in the nail holes and other imperfections. Next I'll sand it down and put a couple coats of polyurethane on it. Should be ready to put it all together next weekend.

nice job on the top, I am working on a bar in my basement and planning to do about the exact same thing to make the top of my old kegerator to the new bar top. Keep up the updates, great work.

Finally had some time to put it all together and I think I'm done with it for a while, other than adding a drip tray which I'll do this week. I still want to do a wrap on the exterior and powder coat the steel base frame I made (and maybe take a second crack at making a nicer top for it at some point), but all of that can wait until phase 2. For now its all done, plumbed, got two kegs in there now and a third going in as soon as its done carbonating in the next few days (I have it in my other fridge on a carb stone). So as of right now I've got a milk stout and a honey pale ale on tap, although the honey pale ale will probably kick by tomorrow. I hope I can make it last until I get the third keg in there just to say I had three going at once

Nice work - I like how you made the steel dolly underneath too. By the looks of the adjacent cabinet, your beverage station is now complete!

Now we're rollin with 3 beers on tap: Double Barrel Ale, Milk Stout, and Honey Pale Ale

Awesome work!

Not really part of the kegerator build but it goes with it. I added a dry-erase board to the wall for a "What's On Tap" sign. It's not actually a dry erase board. I went to the thrift store and found an old picture with a frame I liked. Removed the picture, covered the backing board with fake pine contact paper, and slid it back in behind the glass. I think it turned out nice except that the dry-erase markers don't lay down that well on the glass. I may swap the glass out for a black chalkboard (keeping the frame) at some point.

The man in the brown truck came yesterday and dropped of the last thing I needed for the kegerator, the drip tray. I think I'm gonna call it done for now

And a pic...

Nice job! Man, I really need to learn how to weld; would love to attach wheels to my monster-in-progress (though I don't know how often it's really going to move once I get it into the house)...