finally my own craigslist score. now help me make this kegerator awesome

[jonp9576]

i found a guy getting rid of a kegerator on craigslist. he only wanted a 20lb co2 in exchange for it. since my family owns a welding supply shop i was able to get one pretty easily.

he said it was in bad shape and he wasnt sure if it even got cold. the cord was cut so he plugged the wires into an extension cord to show me that it turned on.

i got it home, and put a new cord on it. plugged it in and 20 minutes later...

so it runs, it gets cold, here it is. it says superior on the door, but inside says bev air bm-23.

there a re a few problems though. there is a little rust on the bottom, and the tower is missing.

i have a tower(we'll cover that later)

the inside looks kind of grungy, and the bottom of the inside has some rust.

i dont like the old brown fake wood, i was thinking of painting it all black. so should i just cand down the rusty parts and then throw on some paint?

on the inside, should i not even worry about it?

as far as the tower i have one, but its ceramic and brass. i dont want to mix the stainless top with the brass tower. should i paint the stainless top black? tile it? remove it and replace it with granite or something? can i get it "chromed" with brass?
this is the main part i am looking for input on. i'll post pictures of the tower i have once i get it together.

 

[FirstStateBrewer]

Looks like you're chillin'

 

[milldoggy]

Reminds me of the one at old fire hall.

How many kegs will it hold? ACU metal fab has some nice towers
http://acumetalfab.com/products.html

Get some Perlick 525

You could get a polishing pad and some polish compound to try to take that rust off, the Gator grit pads work well

 

[jonp9576]

here is a pic of the tower

 

[jonp9576]

Reminds me of the one at old fire hall.

How many kegs will it hold? ACU metal fab has some nice towers
http://acumetalfab.com/products.html

Get some Perlick 525

You could get a polishing pad and some polish compound to try to take that rust off, the Gator grit pads work well

i keep seeing this gator grit being talked about. i'll have to pick some up. home depot? or do i have to order it somewhere.


also, you can get 4 cornies in there with a 5lb co2.

 

[milldoggy]

HD or Lowes sell Gator Grit pads. If you use the polishing pad you need some polishing compound. Think they range from 1-5, 5 being the smoothest. They are made to fit a 4" angle grinder backer pad.

Looks like you need a tower for 4!

 

[jonp9576]

3 taps is good enough. i can have three on and the 4th carbing.

the last kegerator i built had a tower with 5 taps. i could never keep it full.

 

[blackdragon82]

My cousin just gave me the same type for free. It was one of his friends dad's old one. Looks like its in the same condition. I have some rust on the bottom inside so I'm interested to see how you cleared that up. I'll look up these gator grit pads!

Hows the back? Compressor? Fan? Etc? That seems like it will be the bulk of the work after I get rid of the rust

 

[brewmcq]

Great score! And I like the tower.

The rust on the outside can be easily taken care of.. hit it with a wire wheel and if you're going to paint the whole thing anyway, sand it all to get it rough and spray the whole thing with Krylon.

Well done!

:cheers:

 

[jonp9576]

My cousin just gave me the same type for free. It was one of his friends dad's old one. Looks like its in the same condition. I have some rust on the bottom inside so I'm interested to see how you cleared that up. I'll look up these gator grit pads!

Hows the back? Compressor? Fan? Etc? That seems like it will be the bulk of the work after I get rid of the rust

The back seems fine. The compress of is fairly clean. I blew out the cob webs and the dust. It all looks great. It runs fairly quiet. I want to take apart the inside this weekend around the inner fan. I'll clean out all of that as well.

 

[jonp9576]

Great score! And I like the tower.

The rust on the outside can be easily taken care of.. hit it with a wire wheel and if you're going to paint the whole thing anyway, sand it all to get it rough and spray the whole thing with Krylon.

Well done!

:cheers:

I plan to take a wire wheel to most of it. The bottom " wood " wrap is like a sticker. I may try to remove all that stuff, Im not sure how far i want to go.

My main concern is going to what to do with the top.

 

[milldoggy]

They sell sheats of white board, you coat it with that, or at least the door

 

[trigger]

Flames. Big hairy evil flames.

Get a wire brush from Harbor Freight and strip it down to metal, then prime with rustolem and hit it with flat black. Go to the autoparts store and get some of the green tape. Outline, mask, rattle can and you're in the money.

 

[jonp9576]

owwwww. i like flames.

 

[brewmcq]

I plan to take a wire wheel to most of it. The bottom " wood " wrap is like a sticker. I may try to remove all that stuff, Im not sure how far i want to go.

My main concern is going to what to do with the top.

I hear that... that's one of the reasons I'm having such a difficult time while shopping for a tower for my home brewpub... everything in it is antiqued copper/brass colors.

Tile might look okay... but I would be tempted to just pull the top off and put a piece of stained 3/4" plywood in its place. I think it would look pretty good painted flat black (or maybe even gloss black, since the ceramic is fairly glossy-looking) with a stained and urethane top. You might even be able to find a stain that complements the brass...?

 

[milldoggy]

You should check a granite place for a rement. Maybe fine one made for a bowl sink. I hole would line up with the tower

 

[dusty1025]

I painted a 30 year old mini fridge for my daughter with that Rustoleum "hammered" finish paint. I worked awesome. It covered all of the small nicks scratches and small dents and you can paint over rust with it. I scuffed the rusty spots with 100 grit paper to level them off and painted over it . the whole thing looks like new.

It was that nasty old wood-grain also.

 

[jonp9576]

i think tomorrow i am going to take some time with the wire wheel and tons of sand paper. i wanna remove all of the rust. i'll post pictures of my progress

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

After you clean off the rust, spray the inside with Galvanizing paint (used to repair galvanized fencing).

For the wood grain areas, I'd look at 3m Di-Noc Vinyl. The carbon fiber pattern is the most commonly available. This way you wont have to worry about the wood grain or scratches in it showing through.

You could also use the Din-Noc on the top of it, but if you're thinking of replacing the top, then you might be interested in one of these places:

http://www.doityourselfgranite.com/
http://solidsurface.com/sheet-material

 

[jonp9576]

galvanizing paint? never herd of it. i'm assuming (hope) home depot will have it.

as far as the outside. the wrap idea is good. carbon fiber is sexy if i had a stainless tower. i am going to try to get all of the "wood" off and give it a nice coat of primer and a black paint. havent decided gloss or flat yet.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Not sure I would spend a lot of time energy and money on the project...clean in up, scuff it up to hit the rust and paint the *****.

 

[Layne]

I have that exact keggerator. Been working fine for years. I just replaced the fan, inside, but other than that it's been a winner. I put a 3 tap stainless tower on mine. looks and works great!

 

[jonp9576]

Not sure I would spend a lot of time energy and money on the project...clean in up, scuff it up to hit the rust and paint the *****.

more than likely thats the way its going to go

 

[jonp9576]

here are some updates. i just took a wire wheel to the bad spots, sanded the rest and primed then painted.

its all black. the drip tray, the door handle and the rails are painted in this "gold" paint. it doesnt really even look anything close to the brass on the tower. if i decide i hate them, they are gonna get the black paint too.


just waiting for it to dry and for a few more coats then a few coats of clear.

here is the tower on it. not really assembled, but pit in place to see what it would look like.

 

[jonp9576]

I decided to go with a different paint. This is a spray I found called appliance enamel. It's shiny and pretty scratch resistant. I'm happy with it so far.

 

[jonp9576]

Here it is with all of the taps on. I just need to figure out what to do for handles.

 

[jonp9576]

The best part about these perlick faucets is the "p" on them. Well...not the best part, but with my last name starting with a p, its pretty cool when your friends think you have custom faucets.

 

[jonp9576]

I am having a small problem, I had the fridge running for a day without the tower on it and there is water inside it now. Is this because the moisture was able to get in the hole on top. Should this be a concern moving forward?

 

[day_trippr]

I am having a small problem, I had the fridge running for a day without the tower on it and there is water inside it now. Is this because the moisture was able to get in the hole on top. Should this be a concern moving forward?

Actually, it'll be SOP. Unless the whole darned keezer is hermetically sealed and you never open the lid, humid air will get in there and "rain" once chilled. Nothing to get too concerned about, just need to mop it up periodically...

Cheers!

 

[jonp9576]

Thanks for the info. Maybe I'll keep a rag in the bottom and change it once a week or something.