Emerson Kegerator

Finally got the kegerator up and running tonight. It has taken me a few weeks to get it done since I have only been able to work on it when I have a free hour or two. Ill post up some pics of everything I did, in case someone else finds one of these on craigslist.

I did spring for the Perlick Faucets, the 575ss along with the stainless elbow shanks and the bev seal beverage line from birdman. Figured if I was going to go through all the trouble I might as well eliminate future problems and use quality stuff.

First, here is the thread that mentioned using this fridge in the first place. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/emerson-4-6-kegerator-189961/

I picked up that same model used of craigslist. Two ball lock kegs will and do fit along with a 5lb co2 tank. Mine is aluminum, dont know if the steel tanks would fit or not.. It is very tight though.

Here it is, posted up in the living room. The wife is at work tonight, and with the keg in there it will be too heavy for her to move. As long as I keep it full I think I will be able to keep it where its at.


And the inside. I will hook up the dispensing line once the cider is carbed.


Like all the fridges, the door panel must come off if you want to fit two kegs. Pretty straightforward, a bunch of little screws behind the door seal and it slides right off.


And the door reassembled. You can see the white boarder, which is what is left of the plastic that used to be the shelving, ext. inside the fridge. I kept this because I did not want to mess with drilling new holes or possibly not having it seal up. Keeping the plastic there gave the door seal something to hold onto, and kept the spacing exactly the same.

What I did instead was leave a small lip, and then I slipped a dry erase board in between. I tried to glue the dry erase board in place, but the glue I used ran all over the place and looked terrible, so I pulled it out, sanded it down and painted it with chalkboard paint. No harm no foul.


After that the ridges for the shelving has to come out along with the thermostat and light. Make sure to label the wires. I forgot to and spent a half hour trying to remember where they went. I also notched the top on either side. The kegs might have fit without the top notches, but notching it seemed to allow them to fit easier, for me.

 

Once that was done I sanded down both of the sides to get rid of any of the sharp edges left from the razor blade I used. I used my dremel with a cutoff wheel for one side, but my dremel is old and tired and it did not make it all the way through. Using a quality razorblade worked fine though.

Instead of just leaving the holes from the shelves or covering with duct tape, I decided to fill them with fiberglass bondo.
First coat


Second after sanding


It took 3 coats and 3 rounds of sanding on each side to get it filled in. If you decide to do this, be warned, it takes a while and the fiberglass bondo smells absolutely terrible. Use 50 or 80 grit sandpaper to knock the heavy stuff down and follow up with 120-180 ish in between coats. If you take your time it will come out good. More and thin coats is easier to work with than one or two thick ones.

Here is the inside painted and happy. I used a krylon for plastic spray paint can and it was terrible. I thought I could cheat and not prime the body filler and that is what killed me. That stuff soaks up spray paint and does not cover at all. Make sure you prime the filler before you hit it with the rattle can of your choice. I ended up painting a coat or two then lightly sanding so there was something for the next layer to stick to. It took 2 full cans to paint the inside. With primer, it would take much less.


And a few test fits along the way.

 

For the tower I purchased a 2.5" used off ebay and figured I would add a second tap. I drilled the holes using a step bit, but I screwed up and put them too far apart. I basically had two taps going out either side, instead of being just a few inches apart.

Instead, I used the toilet flange pvc pipe for a cheap alternative. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/diy-draft-tower-124622/ I painted mine black with appliance epoxy spray paint. It went on nicely over the pvc, and the finish is pretty hard.

With this fridge there are coolant lines in the top of the fridge. I tried calling the manufacturer and asking for a manual or something that would show exactly where they were but they were not any help. Instead I just decided to put the tower offset to the front of the fridge instead of the back or middle. After mounting mine, you would be able to mount the tower anywhere on top, as long as you start very small and slow. The coils are spaced far enough apart that you should be able to make any location work.

My nervously made test hole. Just peel the aluminum back.



Towards the back you can see the very edge of one of the coils. That metal lip by the blue sharpie mark is a coolant line.


Hole from the top along with holes for the bolts. I did not drill it all the way through because I would have barely hit the edge of the coolant line.


And the tower mounted with lines running inside. I ended up using the expanding spray foam to fill the tower. Nasty stuff but I think it will work well. I taped off the bottom so the foam would not expand into the fridge. This gave me a nice, clean line. I sprayed slowly and the foam ends just below the elbow shanks inside the pvc pipe. Basically air can flow up the copper pipe with the beverage lines in it. I used some leftover attic insulation around the top of the tower to cover the shanks after the copper pipe ends. If anyone wants a picture of this I can take one.

Hopefully this will keep the tower cool enough. If not, Ill run something to push cool air straight into the copper pipe.

I did add a small fan to circulate some air inside. I just used a small screw to hold the fan in place a few inches from the back. The inside is so small and stuffed full of stuff, so I dont think it really matters what direction the fan points. As long as air is moving it will do its just.


And the hole in the back of the fridge I cut to run the power out. I filled this back up with spray foam after the cord was through.


Month long transformation from this

to this

 

nice job! the inside looks great.

 

Thanks. Just need to pick up a drip tray for it now. It was fun to make. Next round will most likely be a keezer build for the garage. It would be nice to have a little more space to work with.