Those darn cats...

I'm trying to plan out my keezer build. I've read through the "show us your kegerator" thread and have plenty of ideas (maybe too many for my own good). My original plan was to do a basic collar with 2 taps now, and additional 2 later. Then I read through most of the "Show us your Kegerator" thread and have all kinds of ideas about Irish coffins and stuff.

I just have one problem. I have two cats and they're clever little buggers. They get into almost anything they want, no matter what I do. That includes them opening a locked door to get into the garage from the house, even with a heavy box stuck in front of it (I'm installing a deadbolt tomorrow). I know that tap handles will be too interesting for them to leave alone. I need to find a way to keep them away from the taps otherwise I'll come home from work to find several gallons of beer all over the floor and two drunk cats rolling around in it! Also, I have a lot of friends who are allergic to cats and I know they'll cringe at the thought of the cats just getting close enough to rub against or lick the taps their beer came out of.

How have you dealt with keeping pets away from taps on your kegerator? My first thought (and probably the simple solution) was tap locks, but that doesn't keep the cats away completely. Also, they're expensive enough for me to think hard about finding another solution first. I was thinking of making an Irish coffin that I could enclose somehow. Think something like a roll-top desk or a door that flips open up and slides into the coffin (I think called a barrister door). It would limit the size of the tap handles I could use, but I like the simple look of the basic black ones.

What are your thoughts? If I'm going to something more elaborate than a basic collar, I don't mind going the extra mile and making something really cool. I like to plan this sort of thing out, though, and I'd love your input.

Thanks!

I haven't had an issue with the cats bothering the taps but me on the other hand...

I like the roll top door idea. Takes it to a "furniture" level compared to what many treat as a utilitarian project. Pics and posts when you move forward!

Notrealdan,

a "roll-top" garage for your taps in a coffin would be fantastic if done right. A lot of work, but if you have the space, tools, time, and knowledge.... Wow.

In fact when I get back to the States if you do this I may copy your ideas. I have two boys who need to be prevented from getting near my beer.

i've stared at this for a while now, and decided i wont suggest the cheapest, most effective route to solving this problem

Is what we do in this hobby ever the cheapest, most effective method?

I had an issue with our tomcat. He would regularly spray in my office.

My 12yo son lives to build gadgets. For Christmas, he took a motion activated room freshener sprayer, and modified it. Now, it uses refillable little bottles, which I fill with lemon juice. Cats HATE the smell of citrus, especially lemon.

The room freshener is positioned on the floor, right by the door to my office. When the cat tries to enter, he gets a little spray of lemon.

I no longer have cat urine issues in my office.

:rockin:

anonymousbrew said:

i've stared at this for a while now, and decided i wont suggest the cheapest, most effective route to solving this problem

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LOL - being highly allergic I'd almost agree. But I really don't mind them if I could be in the same house with them.

On my keezer if I had cat troubles I'd just invert a box of some kind on top, a milk crate for the cheap way, fancy box for the nicer look.

Cpt_Kirks said:

I had an issue with our tomcat. He would regularly spray in my office.

My 12yo son lives to build gadgets. For Christmas, he took a motion activated room freshener sprayer, and modified it. Now, it uses refillable little bottles, which I fill with lemon juice. Cats HATE the smell of citrus, especially lemon.

The room freshener is positioned on the floor, right by the door to my office. When the cat tries to enter, he gets a little spray of lemon.

I no longer have cat urine issues in my office.

:rockin:

Click to expand...

Make sure that kid goes to school for engineering. Quite the tinkerer for a 12yo

i have a neighbor that is like the 'feline octomom'. They roam the neighborhood like free range chickens. They've gotten caught in neighbor's walls and attics. One of the Toms killed the best plants in my garden last spring, one by one (including 4 hops vines) by spraying. So i instituted a 'pavlovian conditioning program'. no more problems. (wish i could institute pavlovian conditioning on the neighbors, but i think the cats are smarter)

throw a few mouse traps up there for a few weeks, they'll get uncurious pretty fast.

Cpt_Kirks said:

I had an issue with our tomcat. He would regularly spray in my office.

My 12yo son lives to build gadgets. For Christmas, he took a motion activated room freshener sprayer, and modified it. Now, it uses refillable little bottles, which I fill with lemon juice. Cats HATE the smell of citrus, especially lemon.

The room freshener is positioned on the floor, right by the door to my office. When the cat tries to enter, he gets a little spray of lemon.

I no longer have cat urine issues in my office.

:rockin:

Click to expand...

That is really clever of him! I have a motion-sensing cat deterrent that works kind of like that, but sprays some inert aerosol propellant and makes a bunch of noise in the process. Refills are also a bit expensive. It's called Ssscat. I could put it near the garage door, but they have to walk by this door to get to their litterbox. So if I make them afraid of the whole area, I'll have worse problems to clean up after... I've heard about the citrus smell thing before and I tried rubbing the door and handle with lemon juice the other day. The cat who's the real troublemaker spent a couple minutes sniffing the door before continuing his work on the handle. I guess whatever is driving him to get into the garage is stronger than his distaste for citrus. The funny thing is they're not at all interested in going outside, just to the garage.

Anyways, this isn't a pet behavior forum, so I'll get back to the main topic. I don't think I want to get sprayed with lemon juice every time I try to pull a pint...

Maybe a simple cabinet-style enclosure with two doors that swing open left. Oh, the inside of the doors could then have chalkboards listing what's in the taps!

How about faucet locks and it will keep your beer safe from cats and neighbors

BuckeyeBrewAZ said:

How about faucet locks and it will keep your beer safe from cats and neighbors

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^^Yes^^

52pickup said:

Make sure that kid goes to school for engineering. Quite the tinkerer for a 12yo

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You don't know the half of it. He has projects EVERYWHERE, drives my wife nuts.

I always have him involved in my brewery changes. More often than not, he will come up with an idea I didn't think of.

:rockin:

I was thinking about this issue too as I am planning a keezer build for the future and I have a son Id like to keep out. And the tap locks Ive seen are expensive-ish

my ideas was a simple padlock on the lid of the keezer and valves inline on the beer tubes right by the tap on the inside. That way if the tap handles are pulled, the most that might come out is whatever is in the tubes between those valves and the faucet

Had the same concern when I built my kegerator but it turned out the cats showed zero interest in it. The tower's tall enough that the handles are out of inadvertent bumping range. I do pop the liquid connects off the kegs when on vacation though.

cut the top off an old roll top desk and install it on top of your keezer

How about just unscrewing the tap handle until you're ready to pour a pint. I doubt the cats could generate enough force to work the lever w/o a handle. Plus, cost=free!

They make mats that will shock the cats if stepped on. You can put one around the tap area, I think they would get the idea pretty fast.

Looks like fun

http://www.plasma2002.com/blenderdefender/

I would use short tap handles and put a Rubbermaid bin over the top.

i am still liking this idea. i would look at garage sales and local thift stores.

I considered tap locks, but they're pretty expensive so I wanted to explore other options. Plus, even if they can't open the taps, I'd rather not have them rubbing up against them, licking the spouts, etc. I don't want to have to clean the taps every time I want to use them... Besides, it gives me a project to do and should be a lot of fun to make and show off when done.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to start drawing up some plans and will make a build thread when the time comes.

Edit: Whoops. Too late...

What about simply installing tap locks?



FWIW, I have two very curious cats that jump on on the counter on which my tower sits, and they have never once licked the faucet (at least while I was watching). That being said, the DIY guy in me says go for the cool rolltop.

Cool roll top sounds like a good plan.

As for training a cat, place some ground black pepper on top of the keezer, and when you see a cat up there jam there face in it. Do this once maybe twice, you'll never need to put pepper on it again.

One treatment had my cat trained for 15 years before he passed.

sensibull said:

FWIW, I have two very curious cats that jump on on the counter on which my tower sits, and they have never once licked the faucet (at least while I was watching). That being said, the DIY guy in me says go for the cool rolltop.

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I hear ya. On one hand they might not be interested at all. On the other hand, they already get into EVERYTHING, so it'd be a bit of a gamble to do the build assuming they'll leave the taps alone.

If you want to stick to the collar idea instead of a tower that could be enclosed by the roll-top desk idea, you could mount a french cleat just above your tap handles, and build a box to hang off of it.

That might not make any sense, but think of it like a 'floating shelf'. Google "French Cleat" and you'll know what i mean.

Sorry to revive this old thread, but I finally finished building this kegerator. Go here for the thread where I show it off.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-kegerator-255232/

How about tap handles that resemble a bulldog that have a motion activated "growl, snarl, drool and bark" function, just a thought

I came home one night to find 4 gallon of lost beer on the garage floor and empty co2 container from the cats playing with the handles. I just removed the tap handles and have no problems since.