Silver King Kegerator Build Thread

I'm not actually brewing at home just yet, but I've been using a local U-Brew service instead (West Coast U-Brew)... Kinda nice to have someone else to clean up after you!

Anyhow, I've gotten sick and tired of having bottles all over the place. The whole spend-hours-bleaching-your-bottles-out thing has gotten pretty old so the next natural progression is a home draft system!

I started looking around online and found that pretty much all the cheap units are just that - cheap. I figured if I was going to end up replacing taps, regulators, lines, temperature controls and everything else anyhow I might as well just build my own! I decided I'd be happy with something that could handle 2 1/4 barrels and the search was on...

Well, this popped up on Craigslist at exactly the right time:



It's a Silver King commercial under-counter fridge. It's zero-clearance on the top, back and sides so it can be completely sealed in to a countertop or something in the future and it's BEEFY - this thing will survive just about anything.

I've got all my lines/draft tower/drip tray/taps/etc on order, but in the meantime I decided to keep my cans cold:



You know, gotta make sure the fridge is working properly!! Nice thing with this Silver King is the stock temperature controls seem to be able to take care of getting the liquid temp down where I want it. I haven't done anything to it yet and it's holding quite happily at about 36-38 degrees F. Perfect!!

Picked up a hole saw that should be able to handle the stainless so that's been sitting here eagerly waiting. A friend (who owns a bar) gave me this stout tap and the handle too! :rockin:



This thing will hold a regular half barrel, 2 1/4 barrels or 3 cornies no problem along with a 10 lb gas cylinder. Had to get low profile Sankey couplers (my U-brew place can deal with Sankey just fine and has everything there to clean them properly), also got a dual regulator and dual tap tower.

I'll update the thread as I get the rest of my bits and get my build done, but this is what I've got so far!

 

Looks pretty slick- gonna do a tower? Multiple taps I'd assume if you're interested in nitro.

Edit- op says tower. Gotcha.

 

Yup, dual tap. For the time being it's going to run straight CO2 with dual pressure regulators - I change up my beer habits and like to fiddle too much to be happy with a single pressure reg.

I've got an IPA coming up, but I gotta find myself a 1/4 barrel or two first. There's a local brewery or two that has 'em, just gotta choose what to christen the kegerator with! Right now I'm looking in the general direction of Russel brewing's Cream Ale or something similar. If we were in to the tail end of September or later I'd snap up their porter in a minute, just too warm right now!

Trying to decide what to do to try and clean up the stainless on the Silver King. It's a bit ragged - so far I've opened up the back of the fridge and cleaned out the mouse house (it was in a barn when I got it - no sense burning out the compressor!)

Cleaning the condensor out actually dropped my power usage by about 10% so far too... Serious bonus! I already did the evaporator when I first opened it up. I've got one of those plug in power meters - I always like to know how much I'm adding to the bill when I get something new.

 

so you're going to keg in quarter barrels? not a corny fan?

 

Yeah, I thought about doing cornies and even found a bunch at Princess Auto but a requirement I set for myself was the ability to hook up commercial kegs. My U-brew place transfers to Sankey kegs after filtration too so the ability to pick up my batch and just bring it home with no transfer is a huge plus. Usually though I put 50% in to cans for taking out of the house, so a quarter barrel is the perfect size.

In the end I figured it's no big deal to convert later on... The fridge will take 3 cornies plus a 10lb CO2 cylinder quite nicely (or at least it does when I draw everything up!).

 

OK, so I'm still waiting for my taps/tower and things, but in the meantime I figured I might as well try and clean this thing up a bit!



After a whole lot of reading I settled on wet sanding this sucker... I got myself a few different bits and pieces to try and clean it up but the wet/dry sandpaper really seemed to do the trick the best.

Here's a "before" pic:



...and after!



Coming along great!

 

That thing is SICK! Stainless always looks so good.

 

Thanks! I'm really happy with how well that worked... I used an automotive scotch-brite pad in some of the "hard to reach" areas like behind the handle and things too, it worked OK but definitely not as well as the sandpaper. There were a LOT of deep scratches everywhere though...

 

looking good!

 

Couldn't help but notice the "PowerFist" brand from PA!!!!

 

You betcha... After getting the fridge loaded in to the truck my next stop was Princess Auto for a set of hole saws and a hand cart - the fridge weighs about 165 lbs!! Figured the hand truck would be useful for moving kegs around too...

My draft tower / taps / etc should show up on the 20th - sucks to have to wait that long but I'm actually away in Atlanta this week anyhow. I'll more or less come home to a bunch of shiny new toys waiting for me!

 

I have a kegerator!!

Bits and pieces:


Looks like a fun time!

Got myself a new drill - need something a little bit more than my little cordless to drive a 2 1/2" hole saw through metal. Got a $10 off cupon at Sears too! Nice 1/2" drill anyhow. The Princess Auto hole saw worked GREAT! Here's the first layer through...



Walk in to the light!



Test fitting my tower and figuring out where the holes should go for the retaining bolts - I used a whiteboard marker for all my markings btw- easy to get off again if you change your mind!



Mounted up...



Nice thing with this fridge is it's metal all around, so no need to worry about any extra stuff to retain the tower. I was originally going to use your run of the mill bar fridge but figured the plastic top would just suck for holding things steady. This is MUCH better!!

I likey!!



Regulators all hooked up and ready to go - I decided to go for a dual regulator rather than just a splitter valve. Difference in cost was way less than the price of another regulator later on. Figured I'd rather spend a little bit more now than decide later that I needed another one and have to spend 3x that to get it.



I wasn't initially happy with the airflow up in to the tower. I made this out of a paper towel tube. Yeah, a little hokey but it works REALLY well. I could probably do the same thing with some large flexible vinyl tubing or something, but I'll wait for this to die first. Getting some sweat on the outside of my tower where the factory insulation doesn't cover it - might have to sort something out.



Finished product:





Won't have anything to put in it till probably Friday. I'm jumping on a plane again on Tuesday and I'd rather be around after the first keg goes in. Things like making sure it doesn't freeze, unexpected leaks, etc that I'd rather not rely on the wife to discover...

 

Kegerator looks great dude...

Couple questions for ya...

Where did you get your parts for your Kegerator?

I'm curious to what you think of the beer at West Coast U Brew?

I live out in Cloverdale and got my Kegerator parts from Simgo in Surrey. I want to do good beer for cheap, but don't have time to start brewing my own. Starting with one of the brewhouse kits from Spagnols. Most of the U-brews around here cater to Budweiser types. Just wondering if you think West Coast is worth a trip in to the city?

Thanks for any insight.

 

Thanks! I'm really stoked with how it came out. It's taking an incredible amount of restraint not to go and get beer right this second!

I ordered my stuff through kegworks.com - everything showed up pretty quickly and the prices were OK but I'll probably be checking out Simgo for some of the other bits and pieces I want. I didn't find out about them till after I'd ordered everything.

West Coast ROCKS. They really really really know their beer. No beer kits or anything, Mike makes it all from scratch. They've actually even gone so far as to start growing some of their own hops (well, they have a contract for a local field anyhow)... Their beer is in my opinion superior to just about anything you can pick up at the local liquor store.

Mike's also open to tweaking and tuning for you - I've had him make up some custom stuff for me a few times. His regular recipes are all quite good as well.

So yeah, can't say enough good about them. It's a fun atmosphere in there too - I always have a good time just hanging out.

 

Thanks for the heads up on West Coast. I'll definitely give them a try thanks to your recommendation. Do you go in and brew it yourself or do you just call an order in?

What are some of your favorite beers that they brew?

 

I usually order my next batch when I'm in bottling the previous one... That way I've always got one on the go.

My favorites:

Mike's IPA - Great IPA flavour with a real good kick, awesome hot weather beer
Soft Porter - Just what the name says - a nice smooth porter
Grizzly Beer - Bit more mild than the Soft Porter

They've got monthly specials too, sometimes I just grab whatever's on special if it fits my palate... Last couple of months have been some different pale ales - there was a Lord Stanley Pale Ale earlier in the summer that was awesome, but it isn't on the usual menu.

 

I have beer flowing!!!!

I picked up a pair of 30L kegs from Russel Brewing - got their Cream Ale and their IPA to get me started. There is a possibility that the kegs won't get returned *cough* and might get filled up again elsewhere... Repeatedly...

I'll post a beauty shot later - too busy enjoying my beer right now.

Oh yeah, for those of you in the Greater Vancouver area who are looking for a place to get your CO2 cylinder filled... I bought a new cylinder at Simgo, but naturally it comes empty. I then discovered that it's REALLY hard to find a place that will fill 'em up for you!! West Coast Brewing can't do it, but West Coast Welding Supply can!! They're right by Kingsway and Imperial and have just about every size of cylinder available. Meritt street, just East of Imperial.

 

Oh yeah, and can't help but say DANG it's good to measure everything like 30 times and have it all just fit like a glove when you get the parts...

 

KMS Tools fills them on the spot as well.

 

That's great that you can fit 30L kegs! Super convenient. Most smallish kegerators I've seen can just barely fit 2 ball-lock cornies because of the compressor housing in the back, which creates that bothersome lump...

 

Yeah, that was one other nice thing with this fridge, the whole refrigeration system is self contained at the back - no compressor hump, no lines in the body of the fridge and the entire thing is rebuildable if anything ever kicks the bucket - try that on a Danby!

Here's the kegerator fully loaded with 2 1/4's and a 10lb CO2 tank:

 

Looking at this same fridge.I can only get first pic.Anyone know how this turned out?

 

It turned out fantastic! The only "gotcha" is you need low profile keg couplers. You really can't find a better fridge (well except maybe an actual keg fridge) in terms of cooling power - you can put a warm keg in 'er and she'll pull it down to about 4°C in not much more than an hour and a half or so.

Loaded - I keep the CO2 cylinder behind the kegs these days:



The finished result:



At our new place, my "reserve" fridge on the right, complete with Auber Instruments temperature controller (for the reserve fridge, still using the Silver King's original control on the kegerator)

 

Awsome thanks,
A few questions as Im buying this today.
I called silver king they said it was a bit loud.Im wondering how loud is loud?
does it use alot of juice,being its commercial.
Mine is made specificly for a wendys.Its 25" high.Will a 1/2 barrell with the low profile coupler work.Its cuttin it mighty close.
Do you happen to have the model # Mine is skttr 7fw.
Thanks again

 

Loud: Yep, it is noticeably louder than our regular kitchen fridge. I have it sitting on a thick rug which definitely helps - when I first got it we had it on the linoleum in the kitchen, waaay too much sound. It definitely isn't going to sit next to your TV if that's what you're thinking. I DO believe the condenser fan could be changed out for a quieter one - that's where 80% of the noise comes from. The compressor itself isn't particularly loud. I kinda started looking around for alternative condenser fans but it just hasn't been a big enough problem for me to bother as the kegerator lives in our "other" living room as opposed to the "family room" where we spend most of our time.

Power: It costs about $12/month to run. No brainer compared to the cost of buying beer! Absolute PEAK energy use (at startup) is about 8A, so be mindful of what else is plugged in to the circuit. IE don't share with your space heater, and for your computer's sake don't share with it either.

The height works fine, mine is 25" internally as well. The low profile couplers actually don't project past the top of the keg (the rim of the keg is taller than the coupler). Yep, it is tight but I think this is actually the application those low profile couplers were designed for. There are hundreds of thousands of these fridges out there (or their competitors) and the size is common across all of them. 25" high internally, 27" wide externally. I think Perlick saw that a lot of folks needed a solution to fitting a keg in a standard commercial kitchen fridge and designed the couplers accordingly.

Mine is a SKRB27 - similar, but mine is a front breather (meaning it can be completely enclosed, it pulls its fresh air in the front on the right side and exhausts hot air in the front on the left side). The one you are looking at has a rear condenser more like a "normal" fridge - if you ever build it in to a bar it will need to have ventilation in the back. I see it actually has a smaller condenser fan than mine does - yours is using the same fan for the condenser as mine uses for the evaporator inside. My evaporator fan isn't particularly loud, I mean there is a whine for sure, but it isn't anywhere near as loud as my condenser fan. Good chance that one will make less noise.

 

Awesome!!! Looks like Ill be getting it.Ive heard these fridges are bullet proof and will last forever.Interesting about the perlick low profile couplers. Every website says they need "at least"1" clearence over the keg rim.You say its flush,that was my main concern.

 

Actually just looking and it does project JUST SLIGHTLY. Not enough that it causes a problem though. Here's how mine look:





Kegs are standard height.

 

The most interesting thing to me about this thread is that you can get your beer canned! That's cool!