Home bar kegerator question

[TheJohnny]

Hey everyone,

I'm working on putting a man cave together for myself in my basement. The most important thing I want in there is a bar with a beer tap built in for ice cold draft beer.

I've done some researching on how to make this a reality, and I'm a little baffled. I've read in some places that you need a special type of "built in" kegerator if you're putting it under a bar counter (apparently it has something to do with ventilating?). Anyways, I've been looking at the prices of these "built in" kegerators and it's unbelievable. I've barely seen any under $1,000.

To the point, my question is:

Do you really need a "built in" kegerator if you're putting it under a bar and want the beer tap on top of your bar? Or will a normal kegerator work? If you do need a "built in" one, what is the cheapest way for me to obtain one that will hold as many varieties of beer as possible?

 

[beaksnbeer]

Just need to keep some free air space around the unit. Check out the Show us your kegerator/keezer thread. As to ICE COLD BEER you only need it that cold so it freezes the taste buds and you can't taste what your drinking real popular with the bmc crowd.....Most of us here drink in the 40's mine is set at 42* love how the taste changes as it warms towards room temp....my.02

 

[hoppymonkey]

+ 1 on johnny comments. How many taps are you wanting? would you be serving commerical or homebrew?

 

[TheJohnny]

Thanks for the replies.

Beaksnbeer - How much space exactly would I need around a regular unit?

Hoppymonkey - Just one tap for commercial beer

 

[BeerMe21]

I believe the only difference for the built-ins is that they have the condenser on the bottom (instead of on the back for freestanding) and a fan/vent to blow the air out. If you leave some space behind the kegerator and above the heat can naturally rise out (depending on how much space you leave, but still not as efficient) or the preferred method is to wire in some fans to accomplish the same effect as the built ins.

I know there is at least one person who used a non-built-in and wired fans for his bar but I don't have the link right now.

 

[hoppymonkey]

If that is the case you can just get one of those smaller single units from Craigslist ( usually around $250) and extend the hose and mount tap on the counter instead of the top of the kegerator.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Recommended is 3 inches on all 3 sides,open at the front of course. I see from replies only 1 keg/small fridge. Raise the fridge up to fit under bar to go through the top of bar and fridge..............my.02

 

[John Beere]

Check out how I turned a chest freezer into my kegerator here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/deep-six-brewery-back-action-164889/

Kegerator starts at around post 300..

 

[TheJohnny]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Sorry if these questions are stupid but I'm completely new to this.

So to make sure I'm getting this: I could just get a normal (non built in kegerator) and place it in an open cabinet under the bar I'm building as long as I give it 3 inches on all sides?

Also, if I need to give it 3 inches on top, then that would mean I would have to run the hose atleast 3 inches outside of the top of the kegerator, correct? I thought I read somewhere that you shouldn't have the hose outside of the fridge because the change in temperature can mess with the beer. Is this true or would it be ok to run the hose the small amount of space from the kegerator to the top of the counter?

 

[Slipgate]

I put this is almost 2 years ago and no problems at all. I had a stand-alone kegerator that I built. I simply took the tap off, lined up the hole with the top of my bar, drilled another hole in the bar, and filled in the gap with expanding foam sealant which you can see in the picture. Now if I ever had to service the frig, I'd have to cut out the sealant, but to date I have had no issues and it works 100%.

 

[beaksnbeer]

I don't think you would have a problem butting it tight to the top as long as tere is room for air to move around bottom and sides.

 

[jstofer]

I had a friend that made one utilizing a small dorm room fridge....he took the door off and then set fans in there on a switch. The opening was big enough to hold a 15 gallon keg. He left the condensor out the back and sealed it off so no heat would be in the "cooler compartment." It worked like a charm. He ran some pvc down to the cooler and ran the lines through it to keep them cool. Pretty good design and the beer stayed cold and tasted great!