Project: Beer Station

I'm starting the planning early, so this is where it begins. After littering our basement with case upon case of beer, I think I've convinced the wife (not intentionally, but who am I to complain?) to back me on a keg station setup. Earlier this year, we renovated the basement, and put a couple of wing walls at one end of the room:



On the right, we put cabinetry, a counter and space for the wine fridge:



It's an old photo; the counter's on there now. On the left, it's still open, though I was smart enough to install several elec receps (one of them switched ). Check out that fiiiiine drywall job, baby:



We've talked it over and wifey supports my ambitions to put a kegging setup there, so I'm thinking we'll use the same cabinetry (more storage for glasses and stuff is never bad) and build it in. I'm also thinking that I'd like to keep my mini beer fridge there for keeping bottles chilled. So...suggestions are needed. Should I install wall cabinets and permanently install a tap tower? That's where I'm leaning right now...perhaps putting a chest freezer under a counter with a temp regulator, and just sliding it out when I need to exchange kegs or mess with anything. Is this foolish? I've never kegged, but I'm learning what I need to get started. Any suggestions will be appreciated!! I'm excited as hell...

Dude, that whole open side there is wide open to some aweome ideas. It all depends on how long you want to live there (obviously fairly long if you renovated it and aren't planning to move soon) and how permanent you really want your structure to be.

You'd really have to give us the inner dimension of that room for some starters. Is it wide enough (short wall to the outside wall) for a good size chest freezer? Is it deep enough (how deep are them wing walls) for a chest freezer?

Do you want a chest freezer that takes up more space width wise, or do you want a sanyo type that you have to jam kegs in through the door? I'd be concerned a little about a pull out freezer with that floor, but obviously things can be worked around that little bit.

Personally, if I were to do a setup in your area, I would mount a sanyo in the middle with shelving on both sides, or 2 sanyos (1 for kegs, another for bottles) with some sort of cabinetry on side to hold important things.

Another overhead cabinet with glass doors would hold all the beer glasses for different styles of brew that may be on tap.

That's just me though.

One important question comes to mind: how many kegs are you looking to serve? The Sanyo 4912 fridges that so many people (including myself) use look like they'd be perfect match for the rest of your decor - silver and black. But of course that limits you to two kegs.

If I were in your shoes I think I'd be trying to go the chest freezer route to accommodate at least 4 or so kegs just to be safe - 2 kegs isn't bad, but I sure wouldn't mind being able to fit more.

Yeah, the chest freezer seems like the best choice, and Sam's Club has them for super-duper cheap. Then again, they're not very pretty compared to the Sanyo, so I'm torn. The easiest route seems like it would be to get a chest freezer, stick it in the corner, mount a tap tower directly to the top of it, and then I can take it with me when we eventually move...no time soon, but eventually.

So I guess...if I'm gonna build it in, I wanna go with a Sanyo fridge.

I would go with the chest freezer and a tower out the top. If you have the room maybe a cabnet on one side or even both depending on size of room and freezer.

I would also go with the chest freezer, not because having more beer on tap is great, it is, but because you can use the extra space to lager. It will let you take your brewing to the next level.

I can't see the pics (Photobucket is blocked at work), but have you considered building out a cold box? I'm debating, when it's time to build myself a nice bar, either going the chest freezer or the cold box route. The 'box would give you more flexibility to build it out however you wanted, and if you do it right (get it all nice and tight), it shouldn't be much less efficient than a chest-freezer setup.

All I can say is you basement is about 50 the total floor areas of my house!

orfy said:

All I can say is you basement is about 50 the total floor areas of my house!

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I'm sure 50 times more sunny as well. How is that possible?

I would consider a kegerator setup like a Danbury or True. They are a little bigger than the Sanyo and can hold either 3 kegs +CO2 or 4 kegs with the CO2 exterior (maybe inside the bottom of the cabinet next to it). You could build it in with a counter top over it and mount a 3 or 4 tap tower and glass storage above. Doesn't do much for bottles, but maybe if there is space you could put an unmodified Sanyo in there.

You could also convert and upright fridge and freezer unit, maybe black one. If it were done right it could look nice. I would build that in with cabinets overhead and a small sink in the cabinets next to it for washing glasses.

man...I wish I could put some plumbing in over there. No plumbing, though, and I'm not about to rip out dozens of feet of wall finishes just to put it in. Not worth the investment. But I like the idea of a cold box. Hey, bird...how's one of them things get built?

olllllo said:

I'm sure 50 times more sunny as well. How is that possible?

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Half our basement is underground, the other half is less than. The first picture up top...see that window to the left? The ground level is right about at the sill. But behind the camera, where the unfinished basement is, it's fully underground.

Evan! said:

man...I wish I could put some plumbing in over there. No plumbing, though, and I'm not about to rip out dozens of feet of wall finishes just to put it in. Not worth the investment. But I like the idea of a cold box. Hey, bird...how's one of them things get built?

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Dude built one: click here it starts on post 32 and goes on from there.