Bar design with Kegerator

[Merkur]

I have looked at this thread but do not see a dedicated area for building bars. There are plenty of pictures of some sweet bars on Pinterest, but I am interested in what other home-brewers have found works and lessons learned.
I am looking to build a bar with six or so seats, a lower bar and a back bar against the wall with storage for glasses underneath. The thing that has me stuck is the kegerator and how to accommodate that. I am looking to have six kegs on tap at a time and it would be good to have space for another two kegs on deck so I think I'm looking at about an 11cu ft freezer. Has anyone successfully built-in a freezer under the bar with the top of the freezer being a lower bar work-surface/prep area? I am thinking of putting a work surface on the lid of the freezer to use behind the bar. Of course this would necessitate adding a prop-rod or hydraulic struts to hold the lid up while changing kegs.
Any other ideas? What are the pros and cons of this vs using multiple under bar beverage coolers/wine fridges. Will they accommodate corny kegs and if so, how many?

Is there a forum area others have found useful for bar design and homebrew dispensing?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[bkboiler]

Idea 1: vertical freezer behind the bar, pvc elbow out front of door near floor, run trunk line around to serving taps on bar side...easy to open and shut and load, no mechanism required. Cons:long lines.
Idea 2: lots of people build a small "sidecar" next to their freezer which is "coldspace" and thats where they build their serving taps on top of...
Idea 3: hang pulleys from ceiling and 4 cables to all 4 corners of your keezer lid...as long as the clearance between the top tap handle and the roof is shorter than a corney...
Youd just need to source a good winch and rig up the cabling just right and do some electrical. Are you up for it? It'd be one of a kind!
Google gantry if you arent sure what i mean...
Cosmetically not ideal...you could unhook the cables and get them out of the way when not using..

 

[Merkur]

Interesting ideas! Thanks. I hadn’t considered a vertical freezer and not sure it would look good. In addition with my previous builds the max number of corny keys I have managed into a vertical was five. And that was enough to collapse the frame and push the caster up into the body! Also the trunk line distance would be too long I fear without a glycol system.

I have no problem with a simple prop-rod for the freezer lid. its not worth the complexity and cosmetic downsides of a cable system.

Thanks for the ideas,

Paul

 

[bkboiler]

Haha, just wanted to see if you would bite on the cable system...
Agreed, a prop rod will be very simple, although you'll need to clean out the drip tray before opening if you want the taps top mounted.
There's a good build i recall on HBT where a guy got like 8 or 9 corneys in a vertical freezer...blew my mind...no glycol required...door mounted taps, but amazing tube management was required!

 

[Merkur]

Mmm- the drip tray. I forgot about that in the design. Thanks.

Paul

 

[bkboiler]

I mean...if you want, you can put your taps close to the edge and hang the drip tray on the collar...
Lots of people do custom black iron towers...you could make the tower relatively short but have a longer "overhang"...

 

[SCfb75]

I actually have and it has worked well for over 3 years. The major issue I have had to deal with is moisture due to not having the best seal since I removed the top of the freezer. Here are some pictures

 

[Merkur]

This is good. The bar itself is about the same size as I was planning and I’m also planning on a poured concrete surface. Is the main bar (the high part) also concrete? One piece? How easy is it to pull the freezer out to change a keg? How does the top of the freezer attach?

Any more pictures or dimensions?

 

[bkboiler]

That is a really cool concept! If you slope the freezer say 5 degrees or so, you could mount the lid under your bar so that the seal will still kiss the freezer just barely...
Dont want to slope it too much since thats bad for the compressor...

 

[SCfb75]

This is good. The bar itself is about the same size as I was planning and I’m also planning on a poured concrete surface. Is the main bar (the high part) also concrete? One piece? How easy is it to pull the freezer out to change a keg? How does the top of the freezer attach?

Any more pictures or dimensions?

It is actually plywood doubled up and anchored to the bar frame and the covered with about a 1/2 of concrete. Yes both counters are one piece poured in place. Approximate dimensions for the bar its about 11-12 feet wide, most people just stand around it so easily 8-10 people. its pulls out pretty easy I built a metal frame for the freezer to sit on and attached appliance rollers to it. If i do it again I would make the bar an inch or two taller to get some heavier duty casters to help when it is fully loaded. I took the top of the freezer off and insulated the airspace from the top of the freezer ti the bottom of the bar. I debated about just drilling holes through the top of the freezer but was concerned about the beer lines rubbing while pulling it in and out. I'm currently at work but can take some more pictures . The attached picture kind of shows how it seals to the top of the freezer.