help with basement bar build

[fun4stuff]

I'll be moving and remodeling my new basement bar in a couple months. The bar is along side the basement stairs which actually is *almost* perfect because there is a small room under the stairs (the back wall of the bar). So, I would like to put a couple kegerators or a keezer back there so that I could have ~4 taps running through the wall to the bar.

The problem is that the opening to the door under the stairs is only 19" wide. It seems to be near impossible to find a chest freezer that size that could hold 4 kegs. There are minifridges that size, but you're luck to fit 1 keg in those.

Does anyone have a good solution other than making the door wider? Could I extend the size of a minifridge similar to how people do for fermentation chambers (build an insulation box around the fridge big enough to hold 3-4 kegs and add fans at one end)?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Just insulate it and put a window ac unit on the area Under the stairs.

 

[fun4stuff]

I could get the temp down to serving temps?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Oh yeah. Lots of people build cold rooms with them. You'll need an external thermostat. something like a stc 1000 will do.

 

[badandy519]

Any particular reason you'd prefer not to make the door wider? My 7.2 cf is exactly 20" wide not counting the hinges (you'd be able to walk them around a barely wider doorway). If you took the trim off your doorway, you should be able to fit something like that and hide the results reasonably well.

 

[fun4stuff]

Any particular reason you'd prefer not to make the door wider? My 7.2 cf is exactly 20" wide not counting the hinges (you'd be able to walk them around a barely wider doorway). If you took the trim off your doorway, you should be able to fit something like that and hide the results reasonably well.

What kind of fridge do you have? How many kegs can it fit?

I just wanted an easier solution. If I could get 20" by just taking trim off, that might be worth it. But the door itself is in a tight spot (in a bathroom between a wall and a sink). Not much room to make it bigger and I don't really feel like taking a sawsall to it.

I kinda want to get 4 taps though so what would probably require 2 minifridges.... might as well just build a cold box with one smaller minifridge that I can fit through my doorway.

 

[badandy519]

I may have mis-read your first post. I thought you had a 19" doorway with enough depth to slide a freezer in there long-ways. I have an Igloo that I just picked up from Bestbuy for $180 - I've seen many other people fit four 1/6 barrels in the same size freezer, but I'm skeptical on that for mine. It should fit three EASY though. If it can handle four, I'll probably just keep one on reserve.

 

[fun4stuff]

The space under the stairs should be big enough to fit a chest freezer, but the doorway is only 19" wide. Is there a chest freezer that's 19" depth that would hold 3 or 4 five gallon kegs? That would be perfect. When I looked, they all seemed to big to fit through 19".