Coolerator Build

[TripleHopped]

This was the inspiration for this project.

I'm new to homebrewing so I was very excited.

I won this as a raffle project at the homebrewing club I joined. The club was going on a beer bus trip, so I started to think of ways to keep the keg cold. I had an idea but it would not be possible to complete until after the trip. I asked the guys at work to save me some old 5 gallon rubbermaid coolers to experiment with and they were finaly able to help me out.

I didn't want to cut up new ones in case this idea did not work.

I haven't tested it yet but here it is. The space between the keg and the sides are small, so I would recommend having the keg cold beforehand.

The front view

The side view

The backside

The cart is from Costco one of the folding ones rated to 150lb.

The cO2 tank is sitting on part of an old cutting board I made 28 years ago.

I have the word out to people I know in construction to save me a couple of 10 gallon Rubbermaid coolers to experiment with.

Thanks to all of the HBT people who post. I'm trying to soak up all of the knowledge here like a sponge.

Thanks to ollllllo for helping me test posting pictures. I hope this works.

 

[Loweface]

This was the inspiration for this project.

I'm new to homebrewing so I was very excited.

I won this as a raffle project at the homebrewing club I joined. The club was going on a beer bus trip, so I started to think of ways to keep the keg cold. I had an idea but it would not be possible to complete until after the trip. I asked the guys at work to save me some old 5 gallon rubbermaid coolers to experiment with and they were finaly able to help me out.

I didn't want to cut up new ones in case this idea did not work.

I haven't tested it yet but here it is. The space between the keg and the sides are small, so I would recommend having the keg cold beforehand.

The front view

The side view

The backside

The cart is from Costco one of the folding ones rated to 150lb.

The cO2 tank is sitting on part of an old cutting board I made 28 years ago.

I have the word out to people I know in construction to save me a couple of 10 gallon Rubbermaid coolers to experiment with.

Thanks to all of the HBT people who post. I'm trying to soak up all of the knowledge here like a sponge.

Thanks to ollllllo for helping me test posting pictures. I hope this works.

Looks good to me. how did you cut the top one?

 

[camiller]

Did you consider just turning the top cooler upside down, removing it's spigot and running the faucet out the spigot hole? That way you could have restored it later if you wanted.

 

[TripleHopped]

Looks good to me. how did you cut the top one?

I used a jig saw and cut the cooler so the inside liner was cut at the top of the spigot hole.

The outer shell was cut above the spigot where the shell goes all the way around. (This was done carefully as not to cut the inner liner).

Then I used a screwdriver to clean out some of the foam so that the top would set down over the threads of the bottom cooler.

You can see the color difference on the outer shell.

Nothing likes to adhere to polyproplene. So with the threads of the bottom cooler and the ridges of the upper cooler I thought putting liquid nails in there and letting it harden it might work.

This is how I placed them together.

There are a couple pieces of wood underneath standing on edge so the disc would stay at the right level I wanted.

Then for extra measure I added some weight to the top and let it dry.

Once that was done I used a clear kitchen silicone caulking and buttered that around the seam.

 

[TripleHopped]

Did you consider just turning the top cooler upside down, removing it's spigot and running the faucet out the spigot hole? That way you could have restored it later if you wanted.

I wasn't worried about that. I got these for free to experiment with.

Plus I wanted this to be water tight (except where the two hoses enter the top cooler).

When the ice melts I can drain the water out of the bottom spigot and add more ice.

 

[dantodd]

I would have picked up a couple extra lids if possible and hooked them together as a coupler. Then cut the center out so you can invert the top cooler and just screw them together.

 

[TripleHopped]

I would have picked up a couple extra lids if possible and hooked them together as a coupler. Then cut the center out so you can invert the top cooler and just screw them together.

I thought about something similar to that. I was going to cut a hole in the lid and a hole in the bottom of the top cooler. The problem with that IMHO is there would not be any way to make a good connection between them.

I also wanted to be able to access the top of the corney without the hoses spinning around.

 

[olllllo]

I saw this last night and it works as advertised. Good Job!

I used a jig saw and cut the cooler so the inside liner was cut at the top of the spigot hole.

The outer shell was cut above the spigot where the shell goes all the way around. (This was done carefully as not to cut the inner liner).

Then I used a screwdriver to clean out some of the foam so that the top would set down over the threads of the bottom cooler.

You can see the color difference on the outer shell.

Nothing likes to adhere to polyproplene. So with the threads of the bottom cooler and the ridges of the upper cooler I thought putting liquid nails in there and letting it harden it might work.

This is how I placed them together.

There are a couple pieces of wood underneath standing on edge so the disc would stay at the right level I wanted.

Then for extra measure I added some weight to the top and let it dry.

Once that was done I used a clear kitchen silicone caulking and buttered that around the seam.

 

[TripleHopped]

I saw this last night and it works as advertised. Good Job!

Thanks ollllllo, I"m glad that you could be there on it's maiden voyage. Thanks again for helping me with the pictures. See you at Octoberfest.

 

[oswegan]

This was the inspiration for this project.

I'm new to homebrewing so I was very excited.

I won this as a raffle project at the homebrewing club I joined. The club was going on a beer bus trip, so I started to think of ways to keep the keg cold. I had an idea but it would not be possible to complete until after the trip. I asked the guys at work to save me some old 5 gallon rubbermaid coolers to experiment with and they were finaly able to help me out.

I didn't want to cut up new ones in case this idea did not work.

I haven't tested it yet but here it is. The space between the keg and the sides are small, so I would recommend having the keg cold beforehand.

The front view

The side view

The backside

The cart is from Costco one of the folding ones rated to 150lb.

The cO2 tank is sitting on part of an old cutting board I made 28 years ago.

I have the word out to people I know in construction to save me a couple of 10 gallon Rubbermaid coolers to experiment with.

Thanks to all of the HBT people who post. I'm trying to soak up all of the knowledge here like a sponge.

Thanks to ollllllo for helping me test posting pictures. I hope this works.

Just two questions:

Where does the engine go and where do you sit?

 

[BargainFittings]

Aqua mend epoxy will adhere to polypropylene.

 

[TripleHopped]

Just two questions:

Where does the engine go and where do you sit?

It's not an engine it is more like a flux capacitor underneath the lid.

You stand on the back like a segway.

 

[thorongil]

I chose to go with the mini version...

 

[trefilov22]

Looks good to me. how did you cut the top one?

Genius!

 

[TripleHopped]

Thanks.