Home making a kegerator

[cmendo2005]

I’m looking to pull the trigger on buying or building a kegerator. Unfortunately, despite all the research I’m still not fully informed on everything. I’d like a kegerator that could accept homebrew kegs as well as small commercial kegs you can purchase at beverage stores. Is this unusual?

 

[day_trippr]

Not unusual at all. You'll want to size your appliance accordingly - to at least fit the largest Sanke (commercial) keg you might want to put on tap, and rather than go with standard Sanke beer and gas line terminations you can get a set that will let you switch ends to accommodate either a Sanke keg tap or ball lock or pin lock quick disconnects (check out brewhardware.com for those - they look like swivel nuts and barbs but there's more to them).

[edit] Here is the line termination I was referring to...
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/fflxbeerthread.htm

That's pretty much all there is to that aspect...

Cheers!

 

[grampamark]

This thread will give you hundreds of ideas about how to proceed.

The most common choices for a DIY kegerator are small chest freezers or conventional upright refrigerators. The freezers cost between $150 and $200 and usually involve building a wooden collar to provide extra interior height and a place to mount the faucets. Old refrigerators can be had quite inexepensively, often for free, or close to it. Converting a fridge requires finding the places where the refrigeration plumbing isn’t and drilling through one of those spots to mount the faucets. In addition, either type of appliance will need the necessary plumbing and hardware to put Co2 into the kegs and push the beer out. In addition, a Co2 bottle and a regulator will be needed.

Thousands of homebrewers have put kegerators together. It ain’t that hard. The resources available on this board will point you in the right direction.

 

[beerme70]

Sanyo mini fridges are the most common that people use to convert over. If you decide to go with a kegerator and not a keezer, there is a trick to drilling your hole in the top for the tap tower. You have to contend with the evaporator lines under the surface, and you don't want to drill into them. Plug in your fridge, make a paste out of corn starch and water, and brush it on the top. The heat from the evaporator lines will dry the paste, and you'll be able to see where the lines are and where it's safe to bore your hole.

 

[ElPasoBrewer]

Hello I am new here and I looking for some help. I got stand upright fridge that I want to turn into a kegerator/fermentor. I have been doing some research and have found the stc 1000 used to replace the thermostat in the fridge. I am not electrically inclined so I would like to know if I should get the 12v or the 110v model. Also how would I go about hooking it up all the videos I found they are being used for keezers I would like to still be able to use the freezer part of my refrigerator. Thank you for your help.