Another portable tap wall for a wedding

[crane]

So last year, my buddy got married and we built this for serving beer over the wedding weekend.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=527400

Well this year it's my turn to tie the knot. I wanted to build something more compact and have it hide the kegs/ice bucket. I also want it to look a more classy with some sort of unique look to it. I think my plan will work out pretty well.

To start off the design I needed to get an ice bucket large enough to hold 3 5 Gallon kegs. The ice buckets that you can rent from a liquor store will fit a half barrel keg fine, but are a few inches too small for 3 5 Gallon kegs. I finally came up with the idea to buy a 55 gallon plastic drum and cut it in half. I scored one off Craigslist for $10. I can fit 3 5 Gallon sanke or pin lock kegs in it or 4 ball lock kegs.

Once I had the ice bucket figured out I could design the rest of the tap wall around that. Here is the progress I've made so far.

The frame is made from 2x2's. I used 3/4" pine board for the bar top and the tap wall. I used 1/4" plywood for the skin along with some corner trim to cover up the edges.

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[Stillraining]

nice. What are you going to finish/ cover it with?

 

[day_trippr]

Theme?

Cheers! (Oh - wait. This was for a wedding, right? )

 

[crane]

nice. What are you going to finish/ cover it with?

I'm going to stain it a nice dark color this weekend. More pics to come.

 

[user 224599]

 

[crane]

Theme?

Cheers! (Oh - wait. This was for a wedding, right? )

Well my last name is Crane and I'm getting married. So the theme will follow suit.

On another note, I hope that my tap wall and the beer that will be served from it will provide better therapy than Lucy's advice.

 

[YeastMode]

That's pretty neat. Since you said you wanted a unique look, I just did my keezer collar with a "wood tile" look and it was very easy. I just stained them, cut them, and glued them on in a pattern using Loctite Powergrab. You could do the same with 1x4 or similar. Then you can have a die cut vinyl logo put on the front, and it would be sharp.

I also have quite a few extra tap handles I made out of some finer woods, so if you shoot me a PM I would be more than happy to send a couple to you if your interested as a wedding gift. Pictures are below of what I am talking about.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Always love these projects. Looking forward to the finished results!

 

[crane]

That's pretty neat. Since you said you wanted a unique look, I just did my keezer collar with a "wood tile" look and it was very easy. I just stained them, cut them, and glued them on in a pattern using Loctite Powergrab. You could do the same with 1x4 or similar. Then you can have a die cut vinyl logo put on the front, and it would be sharp.

I also have quite a few extra tap handles I made out of some finer woods, so if you shoot me a PM I would be more than happy to send a couple to you if your interested as a wedding gift. Pictures are below of what I am talking about.

I did see your keezer build thread and do really like your unique design. I have an interesting idea for the back wall that I am going to try this weekend. I will post some more pics this weekend when I try it out.

As for the tap handles, I think I might have to take you up on your offer. I'll shoot you a PM.

 

[YeastMode]

As for the tap handles, I think I might have to take you up on your offer. I'll shoot you a PM.

No problem, they are yours if you want them. I have a few others, so hit me up and we can work it out.

 

[crane]

Got some staining done today. 2 coats of minwax stain and polyurethane combo. The color is espresso.

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[crane]

So to make it unique I found this photo online and had it printed off at kinkos on their large format printer. I used mod podge to glue it to the piece of wood. After drying I put another layer of mod podge to seal it. Unfortunately the picture started to smear a little. If I were to do it again I would use some sort of clear spray paint sealer to cover it before mod podging. I used satin mod podge so it gives it a slight look of an oil painting with the texture from the paint brush.

Up next is attaching the frame pieces around the picture.

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[crane]

I got the picture mounted to the back wall and frame pieces in place. I used a piece of crown molding from home Depot for the frame.

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[Stillraining]

Wait...is the wedding venue an art gallery with champagne? I thought we were drinking beer at this shin-dig?.....Oh you sneaky dog your hiding it from the uppity mother in law arnt you.

 

[crane]

Shanks mounted

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[crane]

Well the wedding went off without a hitch. We served a Kolsch, schwarzbier, and a west coast IPA. Along with the homebrew we had a full open bar with a couple of signature drinks. All but 1 gallon of the schwarzbier was consumed, and I blame the leftovers on the fact that one of the bartenders kept telling people it was a stout even though we had a sign for the beers out.

We setup the kegs at noon and didn't need to add any more ice after that. The beer stayed cold and poured nice all evening/night.

A couple more pictures of our back drop of the Pacific Ocean.

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[NickTheGreat]

Looks beautiful! Glad the beer was a success

 

[kev211]

Well the wedding went off without a hitch. We served a Kolsch, schwarzbier, and a west coast IPA. Along with the homebrew we had a full open bar with a couple of signature drinks. All but 1 gallon of the schwarzbier was consumed, and I blame the leftovers on the fact that one of the bartenders kept telling people it was a stout even though we had a sign for the beers out.

We setup the kegs at noon and didn't need to add any more ice after that. The beer stayed cold and poured nice all evening/night.

A couple more pictures of our back drop of the Pacific Ocean.

Looks awesome! Did you get married at the Scripps Forum?

 

[crane]

Looks awesome! Did you get married at the Scripps Forum?

Yeah it was at the Martin Johnson house which is in the scripts oceanography area just a little north of the birch aquarium

 

[kev211]

Yeah it was at the Martin Johnson house which is in the scripts oceanography area just a little north of the birch aquarium

Yup. My wife wanted to get married there. Wait was too long. She would be way jealous. Me? Im jealous of that sweet tap wall

 

[crane]

Yup. My wife wanted to get married there. Wait was too long. She would be way jealous. Me? Im jealous of that sweet tap wall

I hear that. The wait for a Saturday or Sunday was over 2 years, so we went with the first available Friday which was 14 months out.

Also I designed the tap wall so the picture/frame can be removed easily by taking out some screws so I can make something else with a different board for other future parties. I may not always want a crane picture with a fancy gold frame. In addition to that I can fit 4 ball lock kegs in the ice bucket so I could make a new back wall with an extra tap.