Here's a look at the kegerator I made some time ago. I chose a chest freezer as the foundation for the kegerator to keep things simple and compact. I learned that chest freezers maintain a more consistent temperature with the door open for any period of time, such as when I'm using my BeerGun to bottle from a keg. I chose the collar approach rather than a tower to keep things a little more simple. The tower can pose challenges in maintaining a consistent temperature to the faucet and affects ease of opening the lid and keeping it open. I'm opening the thing more than you might think... sometimes just to admire it!
I started with the Holiday 5.3 cu ft chest freezer from Lowes. I made the collar and rolling bottom tray from hardwood and painted them to compliment the freezer finish. No one can believe they are made from wood, they look like painted metal. The collar is mounted with a proprietary system I designed to make it easy to install and completely removable without any damage to the freezer. The freezer simply sits on the caster mounted bottom tray and lifts off if necessary.
I used pretty high quality components, including Vent-Matic faucets and stainless shanks with removable ends attached with wing nuts for easy removal for a thorough cleaning.
The CO2 distributor has an additional 4th port for other temporary uses even while there are three kegs attached. I also have a dual regulator setup, which allows me to push wine at a lower pressure through one of the faucets. It's all perfectly balanced with tubing lengths calculated to produce the perfect pour without an any excessive foaming.
A digital temp controller on the back and a nice big stainless drip tray on the front makes it all functional.
I'm curious if anyone thinks there a market for selling a collar and tray conversion kit comprised of what you see here without the freezer, CO2 bottle/regulator, kegs and drip tray? It would sure make putting a quality kegerator together a lot easier. Could make them to suit larger freezer models with more faucets as well. What do you all think?
Thanks.
