DIY Kegerator: Beer Fridge Furniture

I submitted the writeup for this build as an HBT article, but wanted to post some of the kegerator photos for those looking to do something similar. Feel free to ask questions and keep your eyes peeled for the article.

"This post is addressed to us brewers who are looking to fully integrate kegerators into our homes and move past the beer fridge / keezer aesthetic. I set out to convert a piece of furniture (any piece that struck my fancy) into a kegerator. A good looking final product was key to my significant other allowing it inside the house."

Started as:


Finished as:

 

How do you cool this? I am looking to do something similar, but not as nice looking for a fermenting chamber (I'm building a chamber unto a pre-bought shelf). I have been trying to figure out how to cool it for awhile, but cant come up with any ideas.

 

My garage and basement are full of antique furniture. I am so sick of antique furniture. Maybe I can cut it up and make some beer furniture!

 

@hedbutter -- Looks like in the pic where you can see the keg - a sacrificial mini fridge was carefully shoe-horned in.

 

I just saw this http://desmoines.craigslist.org/atq/3370485639.html and thought the same thing

That is really good, nice job.

 

Exactly right. I tore apart the cheapest mini-fridge I could find (1.8 cuft $15 unit) and fit the internals into place.

 

Who else looked at this thread and envisioned some guy in 50 years at the Antiques Roadshow asking how much it was worth?

Then getting told in its unmodified state: 50k, but since somebody turned it into a bar its worth 200 lol.

 

Unfortunately the antique washstand wasn't as antique as I was told. The dovetails were router cut, the screws were mass manufactured and the veneer was coming off in strips on the sides of the cabinet (not shown in the picture). Still better than anything that can be bought at IKEA.

Lesson #2: Try not to destroy rare antiques, but anything picked up cheap that brings you happiness is completely worth it.

Maybe this will fall into the "American Folk Art" category! But at least I get to have a nice looking kegerator in the dinning room.

 

Looks Great!

 

How cool does this stay? I conveniently have an extra 1.8 cu ft fridge

 

looks awesome man! I love that tower!!!

 

That looks great! Nice job. How well does it work?

 

Right now I keep it at cellar temp of about 55F since I'm working through ciders and will be transitioning to stouts. So I end up using the warmest refrigerator setting and still need to turn it off fairly frequently. Ideally I'll add a temp control to keep from doing this manually, but the fridge stays cold without much cycling of the compressor. And the tower has a large enough feed from the cold box + insulation to keep it cold.

 

There is a calibration screw on most fridge thermostats. If you fiddle around with it you can alter the temp range. I can run mine between 30 and 70 F just by adjusting the calibration screw. Disclaimer: you lose some control ie bigger temp swings before the compressor kicks on or off. I see 5-7 degree swing depending on setting.

 

So the article has been approved and is now posted on HBT Articles.

Check out more pics and details on how a piece of furniture can be made into a completely custom kegerator.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/entries/diy-kegerator.html

Again, feel free to ask any questions concerning the process and I'll check back often.

Cheers!

 

Absolutely fantastic...

 

Here is what I did. I ran it from my basement using a pre-manufactured trunk line up through the wall into my billiards room on the main floor. I have three taps contained in this wall cabinet for cleanliness and subtlety. Its a 25' line run with an 8 ft rise. I use a tub of glycol (RV antifreeze) and a lowes pond pump to circulate coolant through the long run. It works perfectly! I have about $650 in this all together and it works like a champ, and looks amazing (i may be biased!).

 

Subbed.

 

That is seriously cool.

 

Thanks guys...it's a reminder to us all to think outside the boxy kegerator. LOL Don't be afraid to tinker and experiment.