Building a kegerator in my basement bar, from scratch

[lspr_mtu]

Just wondering if anyone has heard of or thought of building a kegerator from scratch (wood + insulation + heat mover + a couple fans = kegerator).

I'm going to start finishing my basement over the next year and I want to put a nice bar down there. So space isn't really all that much of a concern - but I'd like to end up with something that looks custom and can fit lots of kegs.

Right now I've got a kegerator converted from a rusty refridgerator that is older than my grandparents. Since my basement isn't finished, it's not a big deal. But when I finish the basement, I don't want to have to hide the kegerator in a closet like some red-headed stepchild. I'll still keep it out of site, but I'd like to use it for lagering, not serving.

I went to a local brewing even recently where someone had purchased a gigantic commercial-grade used chest freezer and converted it into a 12-tap kegerator (yes, 12 taps!). It got me thinking that I'd really like to have something with somewhere between 6-10 taps, but I didn't want a piece of commercial equipment sitting in my bar - I'd want it integrated into my bar/countertop. Although I may only have 3-5 of my own beers on tap at any given time - many of my friends also homebrew and it'd be sweet to have the ability to tap their kegs when they bring them over for brew-days, football games, etc.

So why don't I just build a large, hollow bar top, insulate and seal the inside, and install a heat pump to cool it? Plus, since I'm doing the basement anyway, it is the perfect time to route drains, water, electricity, vents, and anything else I need inside the walls and cieling. It seems like a great idea on paper - I just don't know what kind of problems I'd run into while building it. I'm fairly handy doing regular house and car maintenance, but I've never tackled anything like this before - it'd be nice if I had a primer or writeup of someone else's experiences.

On another note, a bit off-topic, but if anyone would like to share their general bar setups or nifty ideas for that as well, I'd love to hear them. I'm stuck on whether I want to try to install water and a drain to make it an actual wet bar. The only gravity outlet I have available is a floor drain that runs into my front yard about 75 feet from the house (I live on a hill) - anything else would have to be pumped up to the septic inlet line running to my backyard (which the thought of a pump or valve failure causing a backup scares the hell out of me). Don't ask me why they put the septic tank/field in my back yard which is higher than my front yard - I have no idea.

 

[pjj2ba]

I'll be doing just that very soon. My main use will be as a fermentation/lagering chamber that will also be used for dispensing beer at our annual pig roast. Right now it is powered by ice. I've bought a 3 cu. ft minifridge that I am going to cannibalize and add it to my existing cart shown below. I just need to find the time for this project. I'm going to line the inside, at this point with some 1/4 plywood, or maybe masonite to protect the sytrofoam. I'll also probably coat whatever I use with a thick coat of polyurethane to seal it up and make the inevitable spills easier to clean up.
This plan seems to me a great way for anyone handy to not have to worry about which mini fridge to buy that will hold several cornies. Just buy a cheap 3 cu. ft one and install it in a custom box.

 

[MrNate]

I'll be doing exactly that once I get around to building my bar. I have an old dorm fridge that I've gutted for the cooling bits. That was actually a lot easier than people seem to think it is. Anyway, once I get the bar built I'll build in an insulated cabinet and stick the cooling bits in it.

 

[mmb]

I missed this thread the first time around and love to show pictures of my basement bar.

I didn't tear the mini freezer apart but instead just took the door off and backed it up to the cold box.

I only have six faucets now but I'm looking at picking up another tower to put between these two for a stout faucet pushed by beer gas.

I didn't install water to the draft bar, but the back bar is a wet bar. I used a laundry tub lift system to pump the waste water up to the drain line. Made the plumbing much easier.

Happy to answer questions if you have any.

 

[Loweface]

Re-doing an entire basement heh?

Need some inspiration?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-latest-project-walk-cooler-11440/

Edit: Not "my" walk-in cooler.... Just the title of the thread...

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Would taking the door off a little dorm fridge and attaching the fridge to a foam box work for a kegerator?

That seems a popular method to make fermentation coolers, but are there enough BTU's for a kegerator, I wonder?

I keep missing the free and very cheap full sized refrigerators on CL. With the current economy, they go quick.

 

[mmb]

Would taking the door off a little dorm fridge and attaching the fridge to a foam box work for a kegerator?

That seems a popular method to make fermentation coolers, but are there enough BTU's for a kegerator, I wonder?

I keep missing the free and very cheap full sized refrigerators on CL. With the current economy, they go quick.

Forum member "Dude" used a mini fridge for his bar and apparently hasn't had any problems keeping temp.

Insulating and making sure that the box is air tight so you don't have any drafts is the key. Keeping stuff cold isn't as difficult as getting it cold. All that liquid in the kegs has a lot of thermal mass and helps keep temp. Just like a fridge keeps temp better when it's full than when it is empty.

 

[pen25]

i have my 3cuft mini dorm fridge and have used a 17" deep 1.5" foam box to allow putting 2 corneys in the foam box and one in the fridge. keeps temp around 47* depending on external temp. and this isnt a well sealed box. just a quick throw together. i do have a much bigger box i built i have been meaning to add back into the mix and when i do ill take some pics. this isnt in a bar or anything just a quick kegerator using picnic taps

 

[Loweface]

I wouldn't be watching for a fridge. I'd be watching for a freezer that can have a thermometer overriden. They are usually the right shape for under a counter and would hold a lot more cornies...

 

[lspr_mtu]

Thanks all, those are really good ideas. I especially like the idea of stripping the door off and securing a small fridge/freezer to the homebuilt cold box. That seems much more doable than building one from scratch - probably a lot cheaper too.

I'm also thinking about going the way of Billhev's design (Home Brew Talk - Billhev, in his photo gallery). He's got beer lines coming from a chest freezer, through the wall, to taps mounted on the opposite side of the wall. Both of the possible locations I've got picked out for my bar are on interior walls, and so would allow access for installing taps in the walls coming from a chest freezer behind the scenes. Billhev has a few inches of exposed beer line that he insulates with foam pipe insulation - I wonder how that is working for him. I'd like to avoid a setup that requires me to flush a few ounces of beer before every glass, so I'd like to keep the whole line cold. I also like his idea because it can easily be broken down and moved, and the wall restored to normal. I don't know how long I'll be in this house - but it definitely isn't someplace I'll be for the rest of my life.

 

[camiller]

...Both of the possible locations I've got picked out for my bar are on interior walls, and so would allow access for installing taps in the walls coming from a chest freezer behind the scenes. ...

You could make the space on the other side of the wall be a walk in cooler.

 

[Chriso]

You left out the other relevant photo - showing the cornies and sankeys all fitting fine inside!!

Speaking of, whenever I wander up to Mich next, do you mind if I camp out in the cooler?

 

[mmb]

You left out the other relevant photo - showing the cornies and sankeys all fitting fine inside!!

Speaking of, whenever I wander up to Mich next, do you mind if I camp out in the cooler? ]

I only had sankey kegs in it when I took these pictures, I'll have to update with the latest. ^_^

And you don't need to stay in the cooler, you can crash on the futon in the theater room. We've got RockBand2 hooked up.

 

[Chriso]

Wicked cool

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

Very cool photos guys, nice to see some nerd engineering going on.


Building something like this wouldn't be too hard, or that expensive. If you can do the HVAC stuff yourself you'll save some coin too. Could probably build and fill the compression loop for $150 or so.

Could be as cheap as a big insulated box with a fan in it, drop in your evap and call it a day.

 

[cabot]

I'm not trying to advertise here, but I got an 8ft straight 'kegger' bar plans off of a website and it details exactly how to build a keg box out of a dorm fridge. It's what I plan to do in my basement, all I need now is the wood It can hold temps with kegs in it below 30 degrees! (you'd never do that, but it can). PM me and I can point you to the website if you want.

also mmb, is that a panny ae900u? I just got one and am setting up a theater in my basement, in front of where my bar is going to be. Nice work man

 

[mmb]

I'm not trying to advertise here, but I got an 8ft straight 'kegger' bar plans off of a website and it details exactly how to build a keg box out of a dorm fridge. It's what I plan to do in my basement, all I need now is the wood It can hold temps with kegs in it below 30 degrees! (you'd never do that, but it can). PM me and I can point you to the website if you want.

also mmb, is that a panny ae900u? I just got one and am setting up a theater in my basement, in front of where my bar is going to be. Nice work man

Bar plans Dot Com

I bought a set of those plans about 5 years ago and, while a good start for planning, didn't work at all for what I wanted to do.

Wish it was a ae900u. It's an ancient Infocus X1 I bought in Dec 02 and I've yet to swap out the first bulb. It spent close to 5 years in storage until I could hang it again.

I wish it would die so I can get a new projector.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I wish it would die so I can get a new projector.

Send it to my house, tell SWMBO it died. I'll never tell

 

[mmb]

Send it to my house, tell SWMBO it died. I'll never tell

You can buy the same one on ebay WITH a working bulb for less that the cost of a replacement bulb for the projector.

 

[Chriso]

I'll give you my Dell 5100mp for chump change if you're willing to feed its appetite for bulbs. It's a $3000 projector new FWIW.

We were using it as our only TV, so we were killing the bulb every 4 months. Couldn't afford to keep the addiction up.

1000 Lamp Hours is easy to hit when you watch 6 hrs of TV in an evening, and the roommate watches another 6 hours during the daytime but doesn't chip in towards the bulb.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

I have TWO commercial grade projectors in my closet, with good bulbs! I miss my 16 1/2 diagonal... I really need to get a house (or new apartment). Old screen was the whole living room wall at my old place, and at 16 1/2 diagonal, even smash brothers were almost life size!

I could go on but hijacking enough... Decide what to do for your bar?

 

[bulldogxray]

I buit a custom bar un my basement and I took a dorm fridge and took the door off and mounted it under my bar the opening is sealed into a cold box that I made out of wood and foam insulation. I can fit about 6 kegs in there. and my draft tower comes out the top. I took pc fans and put 2 on the back of the fridge to keep it cool and I put one inside on the cold plate to circulate the air. I can get it to about 30 degrees in there.

 

[lspr_mtu]

I love the ideas guys, thanks a bunch. The one hitch I have the a mini-fridge powered coldbox/bartop is that I'd have to build insulated doors and everything to be able to get to my kegs. I'm not afraid of a little handywork, but I'm not sure I could pull of an insulated bar top with doors and a draft tower that is functional and looks good. Additionally, I'd like the bar to be usable to the next person to own the house (who probably would rather have dry storage than an insulated home-brew setup.

I'm leaning more and more towards Billhev's concept - I think it is ideal for my situation and I can (more or less) take the setup with me if/when I ever move. The main challenge I'm trying to solve in my head right now before I commit is how to keep the exposed beer lines cold between the converted freezer and the wall-mounted taps. I've come up with two notional solutions and would appreciate your input. The first is just to basically build a draft-tower into the side of the freezer that will keep the lines cold all the way to the wall-mounted shanks, but would still let me pull the freezer away from the wall if I needed to do some work on the lines/shanks. The disadvantage is the freezer would need to be raised so the taps could be mounted at a comfortable height. Please excuse the powerpoint art.



The second is a liquid cooling line that has "fingers" running next to the beer lines and recirculates back to a cold water reservoir in the freezer.



This is my favorite idea so far. I think I could probably even get away with using plastic cooling lines vs copper - there won't really be all that much heat transfer taking place. That would make it easier to get away with the 180° bends I'll need to do for the "fingers". Let me know what you think.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

Holy coolant Batman! Looks like it would work well- My only comment, why not split the coolant line? Way you have it, it goes from one 'tower' to the next. Not that I think it will heat up incredibly, but depending on the coolant/reservoir, I could see the second tower being warmer. Just a little more work, but slight improvement in my book.

 

[mmb]

Holy coolant Batman! Looks like it would work well- My only comment, why not split the coolant line? Way you have it, it goes from one 'tower' to the next. Not that I think it will heat up incredibly, but depending on the coolant/reservoir, I could see the second tower being warmer. Just a little more work, but slight improvement in my book.

Agreed. A "T" on the supply and return lines to the pump/reservoir with individual supply/return lines to the taps would keep the second tap cooler.

A "liquid manifold" if you will.

Otherwise, looks very impressive.

 

[lspr_mtu]

Thanks guys. Just paper engineering at this point, so I wouldn't call it impressive yet. If I ever get it built, then I'll be taking any cookies you might have.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

Thanks guys. Just paper engineering at this point, so I wouldn't call it impressive yet. If I ever get it built, then I'll be taking any cookies you might have.

You can have my cookies- I'll just take/drink your beer!

 

[Hanr3]

I am in the final stages of a mini-fridge kegerator, basement remodel, wet bar project. I am putting my mini-fridge in the utility room and running the beer lines through the wall into a half barrel where the tappers will be mounted. I looked into the insulated box design, scratched it- too complicated and not practical. Looked into insulated flexible beer cooling system lines- again scratched that idea, too much cost and not worth the effort.

I am going to run the beer lines through the top of the fridge, through the wall and into the barrel tappers, about 2'-3' run outside the fridge. $6 for 1/2" pipe insulation from Lowes is all I am going to use. Sure the first half beer for the night might be "warm", however every beer after that will be cold, especially if I keep my fridge temp around 35 degrees. How warm does it get in your basement? Mine stays 68 degrees pretty much year round, even if my beer does warm up to room tempurature, its still a cool 68 degrees. Not like it will be hot beer. Besides it's beer and I'll drink it warm or cold. I might run teh beer lines through a piece of 4" flexible dryer duct or insulated felxible duct to insulate it a little more. One other thing to consider, when it comes to clean the lines, will you have to do it where they are, or will you be able to pull them out and clean them in your sink? I am going to clean mine in teh sink next to the tappers.

 

[mmb]

You'll find it annoying to have to remove your lines from the shank and haul them over to the sink. Use something like this to clean in place. Much easier.

Also, allowing your beer to warm up at all will knock the CO2 out of solution and you'll either have really foamy beer or no carbonation at all. Any heating up of the beer will have CO2 escape and make your pour problematic.

You could get some flexible copper tubing to run "coolant" water through from your fridge. One end connected to the output on a small pump and run the copper tubing with the beer lines, then have a return piece back to a reservoir of coolant water to circulate. That should keep your liquid runs cool to the taps.

Remember to keep your beer line accessible. It needs to be swapped out every so often to keep from getting funky.

 

[wild]

I keep a keg of BLC to clean my lines. Just hook up the tap lines from each keg and one of the CO2 lines.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

Hanr3, if you are considering a dryer duct or something to help add insulation, why not add a blower or suction fan? It would be easy to add I would imagine, and if it were sucking cold air from the bottom of the fridge it would help your lines stay a lot cooler (I still need to get around to doing this in my Sanyo 4912).

 

[lspr_mtu]

I am in the final stages of a mini-fridge kegerator, basement remodel, wet bar project. I am putting my mini-fridge in the utility room and running the beer lines through the wall into a half barrel where the tappers will be mounted. I looked into the insulated box design, scratched it- too complicated and not practical. Looked into insulated flexible beer cooling system lines- again scratched that idea, too much cost and not worth the effort.

I am going to run the beer lines through the top of the fridge, through the wall and into the barrel tappers, about 2'-3' run outside the fridge. $6 for 1/2" pipe insulation from Lowes is all I am going to use. Sure the first half beer for the night might be "warm", however every beer after that will be cold, especially if I keep my fridge temp around 35 degrees. How warm does it get in your basement? Mine stays 68 degrees pretty much year round, even if my beer does warm up to room tempurature, its still a cool 68 degrees. Not like it will be hot beer. Besides it's beer and I'll drink it warm or cold. I might run teh beer lines through a piece of 4" flexible dryer duct or insulated felxible duct to insulate it a little more. One other thing to consider, when it comes to clean the lines, will you have to do it where they are, or will you be able to pull them out and clean them in your sink? I am going to clean mine in teh sink next to the tappers.

I guess my drinking habits are somewhat dictating my design - I generally only have 1-2 beers a day, and I'll often skip several days either because I'm traveling or because I'm watching my girlish figure. So I don't want to have to dump half a beer each time - and I refuse to drink warm, flat beer. Although, the flexible ducting does offer another possible option. Again, the challenge would be to make sure there is adequate circulation of air within the duct. And I'd need at least 3 runs for 6 taps (assuming two lines for each duct allowing for spacing of the taps).

As far as cleaning, I haven't really even cleaned my setup yet - each keg is probably on its 2nd or 3rd batch now (I'm still fairly new at this) and I've heard every third batch is a good rule of thumb for cleaning the lines and taps. All I was planning to do was fill an empty keg with warm/hot cleaning solution (B-Bright or PBW) and let it run through each tap for a few minutes; then do the same with sanitizer (StarSan). Andy maybe use a flexible brush if there was any remaining grime visible in the lines. I don't see the need to get a hand-pump system when I've already got CO2 to do the job.

 

[madewithchicken]

I have had a lot of luck with my set up. I took a cold plate and shoved it in a mini-fridge. I have the cold plate daisy chained and currently I can pull 6 straight beers before the temp goes above 45 degrees.

Tonight I plan to submerge it in a bucket of water inside the fridge. This way it will take a lot more before it gets warm and I can use each coil instead of daisy chaining it. I would recommend this project to anyone. Just buy a big cold plate on ebay.

Mine is a 3 tap cold plate and I am hoping I can fit the bucket and 1 keg in the mini fridge. That will give me 4 taps. But you can get really large 7 tap cold plates.