Anyone build a bar w/ a Kegerator and Taps?

I'm in the process of looking for a house with SWMBO. I really want to build or buy a home bar and have 4+ kegs on tap at any given time. I'm assuming the easiest way to do this is to line the area under the counter with mini-frige's and have towers come up out of the countertop.

Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations before I voyage onto the unforgiving world of 'google'?

 

I dont know how your bar is going to look, or how feasable this is.

But instead of 2-3 fridges under your bar, get 1 chest freezer on low. Taps out the top of the freezer. And cut sections of the counter top out so you can open the freezer to change out kegs.

Just a thought, but that will give you the space.


Or even a full sized fridge next to the bar, run beer lines out the side of it and they come out the top of your counter.

 

Dude made his own bar. It is quite sweet. Especially the Packer stuff all over. Check it out here.

 

I'm thinking about modifying my design to utilize a dorm fridge and a cooling chamber to maximize space. I don't really want to have to invest in multiple Sanyo's and I don't like the idea of having a chest freezer under the bar with lines coming out the side to the tap tower or having the tap tower on top.

Doing a cooling chamber like Dude did will let me open it from the front to change out kegs.

This is what it looks like so far, hopefully I'll get back to it later this year and have some updates.

 

Just keep in mind that most commercial kegerators require a certain amount of clearance on all sides for ventilation, even those that are marketed as "built-in" models. If space is tight, there are a few that are designed with cooling that allows them to be built in with no clearance. Those tend to be a little more expensive.

 

*DING* *DING* DING*

We have a winner!

I made my own bar with cold box out of pink foam, exterior sheathing, shower board, and a mini upright freezer. Dude made an Irish coffin, I couldn't swing that past the misses so I went with two towers of three faucets each.

What do you want to know?

 

When I built the bar, I framed in an alcove for a mini fridge and just installed the two faucet brass tower at the begining of the summer.



I cut the hole in the top of the fridge and ran a 2" diameter 2' section of pool hose wrapped in pipe insulation from the tower to the fridge to encase the lines.

 

I think a great route to go would be a "keezer" (chest freezer) seamlessly intergrated into a bar. Think of it as mixing mmb's beauty (above) with Jester369's flip-up keezer, so that a section of the bartop would be hinged and lift up to reveal the kegs.
If you do go the route of mmb, follow his lead and don't use anything less than freezer, as it will be too taxing on a dorm fridge to keep that much volume at servinf temps. I know this from experience.

 

I considered the lift up bar top but decided to build the cold box because I wanted to avoid having to lift kegs up and into the freezer. Full cornies are heavy as is, but a full 1/2 bbl is 160 + pounds.

Also, when your cooling device fails, and it will eventually from everything I read, I wanted something that I could swap out and replace, not something that was a structural part of the bar. Currently my freezer is butted up to the side of the cold box and I use weather stripping to prevent drafts and air leaks

 

That was what I intended to do with my backyard bar and my keezer. But it seems that the space in my backyard is limited due to the fact that the keezer takes up allot of space. I'm now in the phase of having to redesign the layout to accommodate the keezer and the bar.

I sketched it up in google sketchup and put it in the warehouse if you are interested in looking at it.

You can check it out here.

 

Ooooooh... tell me there's a grill built in somewhere as well!

 

mmb -- how expensive was that thing to make? Sounds like a coldbox is the way to go-- how'd you build yours?

 

yeah, that's just what I was imagining. That'd be wicked setup.

In other news, I've really got to start toying around with Sketchup--looks like a neat program.

 

barplans.com check that site out I've seen them there. I built one of them but with out the taps

 

My bar measures 11 feet long, 42" top with 10" overhang and 44" tall to the counter. I used oak plywood with oak dimensional lumber (1x2, 1x4, and 1x6) pieces for trim and step.

The cold box is a structural part of the bar and provides support for the middle of the bar top. Everything was framed out with 2x4 lumber and then the skin of oak plywood was attached. In the cold box area, I have 3" of pink foam for an R15 value then I glued fiberglass pebbled showerboard on every inside surface of the coldbox. On the floor, on top of the foam, I used 1/2" exterior sheathing covered by the showerboard to prevent the foam from being crushed by the weight of the kegs. A1/2bbl is 160+ pounds, all on the keg skirt. The showerboard is caulked with silicone bathroom caulk on the inside edges and waterproof insulating tape on the outside edges to seal.

I also went through three cans of Great Stuff closed cell spray foam to fill in any gaps and voids that I found to prevent air leaks. I probably wasted about a can total from cutting the excess that squeezed out of the spaces.

The cold box is around 40" long x 26" wide x 30" tall and I can shoe horn a 1/2 bbl and 6 cornies fairly easy. I recommend having some sort of fan in the freezer to help circulate cool air and have the temperature probe in one of those freezer gel packs for a bit of thermal mass. Otherwise your freezer fires up every time you open the door. Once you start filling it up, the beer and the kegs help keep the device cold. Freezer works less when there is more mass at temp already.

My budget was the $1500 tax stimulus/rebate/refund/loan check that were sent out this year (2008) and I came out over budget. I didn't keep very good notes and I forgot to take pictures when building for a build thread but in my defense that was because I was pushing to get it done within a two week window for a bachelor party I was throwing.

Looking at invoices, I spend $423 on the two three faucet towers, two sanke taps, and 24" SS drip tray w/ drain. I spent $170 a mini fridge for the bar and $120 for the freezer for the cold box. I think there was somewhere in the range of $600 for all the lumber, foam and showerboard. The stain and poly I had from a previous project (the back bar) as well as all fasteners, tools and other items.

Beverage lines and gas lines, manifold, regulators, ball lock disconnects, Oetiker clamps, Oetiker tool and other kegging misc came out to $242.17. Add to that $109 for my 20 lb CO2 tank and $30 fill and that should ball park the price a bit. Stools didn't count for this budget, but I picked those up at a place called "Bare Wood Furniture" for $49 a piece. I've yet to put the finish one those.

All the draft hardware was new, so if you shopped for used draft equipment you could save a bit of money. I went with furniture grade 1/2" oak ply at $50 a sheet and I used pretty much 5 full sheets along with the oak trim lumber so there is money to be saved there as well.

If I was doing it again, I'd build from the cold box out instead of doing the bar structure and building the cold box in it just to save some headaches along the way. Also, I'd would build a hot wire foam knife from the start instead of starting to cut foam it with a razor knife at the start. Much easier.

Edit: Just re-read that. Lots of rambling = slow day at the office.

 

I bought a set of plans from then 3 or 4 years ago when I decided I wanted a bar in the basement. The plans were a good start to help me design a bar but I didn't follow those at all. Maybe they have improved over the years, but at the time they were pretty lean on information.

 

I'd love to build it myself-- and ya'lls look fantastic-- i just have very minimal woodworking experience. My dad has an entire woodworking shop, but not much experience with it either. So I guess what I'm getting at is...can someone w/ minimal experience still make a great bar? How much experience did ya'll have?

So when you make this cold box, are you using a fridge or freezer unit to get the cold air in? I'm figuring I'd get small fans to blow the cold air up the towers as well.

Thanks for all the help mmb-- this is a great help.

 

mmb-- How did you use the freezer to make the cold box. I plan on doing one in the next few months but I was planning on just using a mini-fridge at either end. Thanks

 

Can you do that? Just take the door off the fridge, turn it sideways under the counter and then just extend it using the insulation and showerboard-- then recycle the door on the facade of the cabinetry?

 

This guy lives near where I am:

Beautiful bar w/ taps

 

Thats basicly what I was planning on doing.... except i didnt think about reusing the door.

 

mmb where did you find a compact upright freezer, and at that price? Used I am guessing... but what brand is it?

 

Here is a link to the setup a local brewer (well local as in my hometown) built, take a look at the slideshow for all the pictures.

http://given2flybrewing.weebly.com/bar.html

 

I'm really glad I made this thread-- I'm definitely doing this. If you guys have more thoughts/links/advice, I'm more than happy to take it!

 

My wood working experience is limited to staining unfinished cabinets and making usable 45 degree cuts on trim work . I drive a desk all day and work on *nix computer systems. If you can use a tape measure and manage not to cut yourself in a miter saw, you're all set. I did, however, finish my own basement and did all the work except I hired out hanging drywall and the carpet.

For examples
http://www.biermanns.org/Basement_20Project/index.html

I'm using a freezer unit to cool the cold box. I use a fridge to hold misc bottles and "things" for mixed drinks.

I just have a hold in one side of the cold box and the freezer is connected to the side of that. Closed cell foam window weather stripping seals it from leaks.

You can't turn a freezer or fridge sideways, that would ruin the compressor. Mine is a mini upright freezer. I didn't reuse the door on my cold box, I made one out of ply and pink foam.

I bought it new at a chain called Menards, but it was on sale. It's a Haier upright. Haier doesn't show it on their website anymore, but it is about 4.5 cf.

Here's my flickr photo stream for some other pictures of my bar. Thanks for the questions. Feel free to ask more or for more clarification.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmbpics/sets/72157606313359194/

 

Ahhh.... I see now. I had thought you were using a chest freezer and couldnt figure that out.

How did you do the door on it?

 

There are a few pics in my gallery...

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=12197&cat=all&ppuser=20497

I went with a walk-in cooler on the other side of my basement and ran the lines through insulated PVC pipes behind a wall, up under the bar and then up into the tap box.

There's a 3" PVC pipe that carries six lines to the bar and a 2" that carries air back to the cooler. The two pipes and the tap box I built are a sealed loop and a tiny fan in the cooler circulates air through, keeping the lines chilled.

 

The nice thing about the walk-in is now I have a ton of space behind the bar. I have a small fridge for bottles, an oven, dishwasher, trash can, recycling can and a pull out shelf that has a cooler on it that I fill with ice for arties (mixed drinks)

 

Currently there is a foam plug that I put in the opening, then close the 1/2" ply door with cabinet closures on the inside. The opening is lined with closed cell foam weather striping to prevent air leaks.

 

I love the floors in your place, especially around the pool table. Gives a great feel of age to the bar.

 

thanks... beleive it or not, that's the compliment I get the most and I love hearing it.

It's ledger board... basically the cheapest, crappiest wood you can buy at Home Depot. It comes in 16 foot lengths and is used for bracing during construction jobs. They hold up walls with it until they can secure the wall and then they rip the ledger board down and throw it away. It's pine with all sorts of knots, saw marks... dings.. I thought it was perfect for the look I wanted and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

The best compliment I get on my bar is someone will go down there, look at the floor and say, "Wow... the floor looks like it's been there 100 years".

The pics i have are crap too... I gotta get some better ones of the whole room

 

I wanted to reclaim some old barn wood and use that for the floors, but I was voted down by the budget officer at our house.

Not that it would have cost more. She didn't want "buggy wood" on the floor down there.

Your place looks awesome.

 

thx... it was a SH!!!!!!!TLOAD of work... It was bare concrete when I started, no walls, no electricity, no plumbing...

if she doesn't want buggy wood, ledger board is an option like I did it. Let me know if you're ever actually considering it though... there are definitely some tricks I learned.

 

I hear that. My before and after, after framing the basement of course..

 

Beautiful set up!!!

That's not buggy wood!!

 

Thanks, we enjoy it.

It's not wood at all. Laminate stuff. Looks nice but a pain in the *** to install and work with.

 

Hey did you guys have to get a permit to do all that>? they both look hella nice!!

 

Basic wood-butchery skills here. It helps to have some decent tools, but other than that, just pay attention to details and don't rush (and be safe!)

 

Really? I did Pergo laminate and it practically installed itself. The only hassle in working with it was that it ate my saw blade over the course of the project.

 

thx... nah... don't think I really needed one and if I did, not too worried about it.