Beer Bar For My Wedding

[inkman15]

I'm just starting to build a beer bar for my wedding (about 14 months away still) so I can serve some of my homebrew. I doubt I'm the only one who has seen this image, but I'm hoping to achieve something like this:


I'm "less than handy" but my friend agreed to take on the project with me and we started yesterday. I'm planning to build the structure and have my kegs under it in buckets of ice. Then later down the road I might buy a chest freezer and turn this into a more permanent fixture in my basement.

Right now the design is simple and we've built the frame out of 2x4's. Dimensions are:

L - 48"
H - 38"
D - 28"



Next step is to determine how I want to panel the front, sides, and top. I really like the weathered look of the boards in the picture above but I'm not sure where to source those. Any ideas?

Once that's settled, we'll build the draft tower/board and I'll buy the faucets, tubing, and all the other internal stuff (already own 3 kegs and a 5# CO2 tank).

Thanks for looking at my humble attempt at DIY.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[pannell77]

You could source some free wooden pallets and salvage what good boards there are for the "weathered" look probably. There are also ways to give wood an older/antique style finish using vinegar and steel wool: http://www.instructables.com/id/Steel-Wool-and-Vinegar-Wood-AgingEbonizingWeathe/

 

[inkman15]

That's an interesting idea with the vinegar/steel wool. Might have to try that out on a test board and see how it goes. Thanks!

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

You've probably considered this already but make sure you run your plans by the venue. Some places can be funny about where the alcohol comes from.

Good luck!

 

[inkman15]

You've probably considered this already but make sure you run your plans by the venue. Some places can be funny about where the alcohol comes from.

Good luck!

Yup - thanks for the heads-up. Already all set with the caterer/venue and they have no issue with homebrew at the wedding.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Awesome! I'm getting set to build some jockey boxes for my wedding this summer. I'm going to build a rustic facade for them based on that top pic.

Have you decided what beer to serve? I can't decide. I have a lot of hop heads in my family and friends but I still need to brew some other stuff. Thinking a kumquat saison and maybe a mild or blonde.

 

[inkman15]

Awesome! I'm getting set to build some jockey boxes for my wedding this summer. I'm going to build a rustic facade for them based on that top pic.

Have you decided what beer to serve? I can't decide. I have a lot of hop heads in my family and friends but I still need to brew some other stuff. Thinking a kumquat saison and maybe a mild or blonde.

I haven't decided what I want to serve yet but I have a bunch of friends who are BMC drinkers and I'm sure a lot of family lean that way too. Sadly, you have to appease the masses so I'll probably end up brewing some Centennial Blonde for them but I hope to do some other stuff for me and my "more enlightened" guests. Maybe an IPA, a Hefe, and something dark too.

 

[pannell77]

I would think an IPA, a Stout, brown ale and a Blonde or hefe would please most people

 

[brewstarke]

The wife and I built a keezer for our wedding out of salvaged pallets (sod pallets are the best). Originally I was thinking of doing a jockey box, but after figuring the volume of ice needed (wedding was outside at the end of summer) and the logistics of maintaining the ice etc we went with a full keezer build using a scratch and dent. Another huge concern I had was the pour. I did a few batches for my sisters wedding a few years ago and just ran them from picnic taps and the pours were all over the place through out the day as temps went up and down. We were fortunate to have the wedding on my families property so we were able to set up the keezer the day before to avoid stirring up the kegs much (I used gelatin too). Also, ending up with a keezer after all is said and done ain't bad.
As far as the beers go, I tried brewing stuff that had a story behind it. I did an Octoberfest- history tied to the royal wedding and happens to be a good session beer for the masses. A clone of Rogue Shakespeare stout- related to a trip we took years ago, a clone of NZ's Epic Pale Ale (thank you Can You Brew It) for the honey moon to NZ we had planned, an IPA the wife said was her favorite, and a Munich Helles- no real history other than the one that was a big hit at my sisters wedding. Definitely go with stuff you like first and foremost. As long as it's good, people will drink it- I converted a few macro drinkers onto new things- you also will be able to play the "but I'm brewing the beer we had at our wedding..." card when you want to make up a batch.
The saving grace of the whole deal was assigning one of my buddies who knew the ins and outs of cornie kegs to beer duty. You'll be so busy with wedding things during the event that you won't be able to attend to kicked kegs etc.
Oh and brew more than you think you'll need- at worst you have leftovers... Much better than an angry half-sober crowd.



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Make more than you think you need. Many of the online calculators are wrong when it comes to serving home brew a lot more people will try it.

Just had our wedding with ~130 adults mostly but not all drinking and 2 of the 4 kegs were gone within 30 mins of the reception starting.

Overall i think everyone got to try some at least then move to wine, and there was still some Hefe and Vanilla Porter heading into the night but the IPA tapped out almost instantly.

If i had to do it again i would have brought my 4 kegs and had friends bring 2-3 more of their own.

 

[inkman15]

@brewstarke - where did you get the pallets from? I'm also looking into buying new wood and artificially "aging" it. There are a number of tutorials online.

 

[ffknuckles]

Check craig's list in the free section, search "pallets" on google (pallet companies will give away broken pallets before they chip them), or ask local companies if they don't need them. Liquor store tend to reuse them, but I know of a electronics place near me that seems to toss them.

I tried the steel wool and vinegar on a frame I did and it didn't come close to the same effect of naturally weathered wood. It takes a butt load of testing before you can get the right mixture I'm assuming and my tests didn't even come close to the real product either. Using pallets is less time consuming, readily available, and easy on the bank. They stain very easily and fast too and not to mention I like the rough cut of the pallet wood more so than a finely sanded board.

 

[inkman15]

Thanks for the advice. I found a few guys who are giving them away in my area. Going to try and get some and see if they fit the frame I built. Worth a shot...

Check craig's list in the free section, search "pallets" on google (pallet companies will give away broken pallets before they chip them), or ask local companies if they don't need them. Liquor store tend to reuse them, but I know of a electronics place near me that seems to toss them.

I tried the steel wool and vinegar on a frame I did and it didn't come close to the same effect of naturally weathered wood. It takes a butt load of testing before you can get the right mixture I'm assuming and my tests didn't even come close to the real product either. Using pallets is less time consuming, readily available, and easy on the bank. They stain very easily and fast too and not to mention I like the rough cut of the pallet wood more so than a finely sanded board.

 

[brewstarke]

I got nearly all of mine from a landscaper. As I mentioned the pallets used by many sod farms are choice. The ones I was getting were only "decked" on one side so pulling apart was much easier. The wood was mostly white oak and some other softer but sturdy wood that I can't figure out. Someone suggested elm...
Keep in mind that some companies put deposits on their pallets, others just charge upfront to the customer and then they have to deal with them (i.e. give them to scavenging homebrewers for building bar tops). Definitely go with craigslist for starters.




Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[Chrisl77]

Actually some people make pretty good side jobs scavenging discarded pallets and reselling them to places that do a lot of pallet shipping. They even piece together the broken ones.

 

[dfess1]

Something to consider is making this "knock down", fold-able, collapsible, etc. If it's rigid, you're going to need a pickup to get it where you need to go. If it's modular, you can throw it into something smaller and reassemble at your venu.

 

[rabeb25]

I threw one together this weekend out of old pallet wood for the pool area.

 

[Docbruw]

From the 5+ weddings I've brewed for the one thing that I ran into at all of them was 98% of people have no idea how to pour a glass of beer from a tap. Every one of them would just crack the tap to try and reduce the foam which only make it foam worse. I highly recommend having someone man the taps to pour beer or at least help those that don't know how.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

From the 5+ weddings I've brewed for the one thing that I ran into at all of them was 98% of people have no idea how to pour a glass of beer from a tap. Every one of them would just crack the tap to try and reduce the foam which only make it foam worse. I highly recommend having someone man the taps to pour beer or at least help those that don't know how.

I would think it would just be easier to lower the serving pressure and deal with slightly less speedy pours...

For my wedding i just lowered everything to 5PSI, sure it took 15 seconds instead of 10 to pour a glass but its hard to screw up a pour when its coming out that slow unless your dropping the glass 2 feet below the tap.

 

[HomeWetBar]

I second what you're saying. When I got married I was told 2 beers the first hour 1 beer each additional hour and that was pretty spot on. Add in home brew and everyone will want to try it, even the wine drinkers, so it will go really fast....

Make more than you think you need. Many of the online calculators are wrong when it comes to serving home brew a lot more people will try it.

Just had our wedding with ~130 adults mostly but not all drinking and 2 of the 4 kegs were gone within 30 mins of the reception starting.

Overall i think everyone got to try some at least then move to wine, and there was still some Hefe and Vanilla Porter heading into the night but the IPA tapped out almost instantly.

If i had to do it again i would have brought my 4 kegs and had friends bring 2-3 more of their own.

 

[Roscoebrewdog]

Sounds like a great idea for the big day. Beats paying five hondo for bud light. I d try to use old barn wood from craigslist or a local antique shop. Lots of that round my parts and it looks cool. Be sure to sand and seal whatever you use.

 

[inkman15]

A quick update on progress. This past weekend, we built the table top using some older, knotty pine. I'm still working on getting old palettes for the sides. We created a 3 inch overhang in the front and about an inch at the back. Next step will probably be building the tap tower. Hoping to accommodate 4 taps and to build it modular so that it can be taken off for portability/cleaning. Thanks for looking!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[WayFrae]

A quick update on progress. This past weekend, we built the table top using some older, knotty pine. I'm still working on getting old palettes for the sides. We created a 3 inch overhang in the front and about an inch at the back. Next step will probably be building the tap tower. Hoping to accommodate 4 taps and to build it modular so that it can be taken off for portability/cleaning. Thanks for looking!View attachment 207559View attachment 207560


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

If you decide to use the vinegar/steel wool to oxidize the wood, be aware that it reacts with tannins in the wood and pine is very low in tannins. If you brew some strong black tea and paint the pine with a couple coats of the tea the tannins from the tea will be enough to create the weathered look with the vinegar/steel solution.

 

[NickTheGreat]

So far so good. I did the beer for our wedding last year, and people still talk about it. I'm glad I did it.

 

[c8rose]

The wife and I built a keezer for our wedding out of salvaged pallets (sod pallets are the best). Originally I was thinking of doing a jockey box, but after figuring the volume of ice needed (wedding was outside at the end of summer) and the logistics of maintaining the ice etc we went with a full keezer build using a scratch and dent. Another huge concern I had was the pour. I did a few batches for my sisters wedding a few years ago and just ran them from picnic taps and the pours were all over the place through out the day as temps went up and down. We were fortunate to have the wedding on my families property so we were able to set up the keezer the day before to avoid stirring up the kegs much (I used gelatin too). Also, ending up with a keezer after all is said and done ain't bad.

How did you build your bar off your keezer? I'm doing this at my wedding, but we keep arguing over the design.

Thanks!

 

[brewstarke]

Sorry for the super late reply-
Here's a pic of our set up on wedding day. The plan was to build a cabinet around the keezer but ran out of time, so we ended up just hanging burlap around it. Worked out great. Still need to finish that project...
We also built 3 other 'bar' tables that we used to make a square shape. One side had wine, and the other had water/iced tea etc. We did have bartenders that poured wine from the middle of the square- you can sort of see the layout in the background of the pic.

 

[NickTheGreat]

That looks GREAT! Well done