Keg Fridge

[townsendia]

Hello everyone as you can see I am new to this forum and I have a couple questions. I am in college and at our house we have a couple of regular size fridges in the garage (27.5cuft) and some empty keg shells. The problem is it becomes a constant hastle to take the kegs in and out of the fridge to tap them. So what i am looking to do is drill holes threw the wall so it can be tapped from outside. Here is where my questions begin. Can i do this without having a C02 tank? In other words is there any way to have the pump outside the fridge so you can pump it and then tap it with the door closed threw the wall. My next question is if i were to go with the C02 tank setup how many kegs will a 5 or 10lb C02 tank last? How much does it cost to fill up the C02 tank? Where do i fill the C02 tank at? And to save more money is there anyone I can buy an old working scuba tank and use that as the C02 tank. I noticed the regular C02 tanks have CGB 320 valves but im not sure what scuba tanks have. Lastly the keg tapping kits are quite expensive anywhere from 150-300 dollers. Is there any way i can just buy the parts i need seperatly and buy everything else at Homedepot? Buy the pressure guage, C02 tank, tap, and then get the hoses, rings, and the shank at homedepot. Is this saving me any money?

I would really appreciate the help.

 

[cnapierala]

C02 is the way to go. You will want some lines from somewhere that specializes in beer supplies otherwise you can get funny tasting beer (at least thats what i hear).

 

[townsendia]

Thank You cnapierala

Can Anyone else help me or do i just get no attention since i am a new member?

 

[pain++]

Are you talking corny kegs, or standard commercial kegs like you'd get at the liquor store? Most people here use the corny kegs, so you may not get as many replies as you'd like if you're talking commercial beer kegs.

 

[67coupe390]

I think thats justa lot of questions in one shot. Go with CO2 It is way gooder!!! Look on ebay for the parts you need. Or go to the local home brew store, My guy sells me what ever I need at the time. And I would agree, Buy only food grade stuff. its piece of mind at any rate! scuba stuff I have know idea on I think most gases have to be in there respective tanks ie...CO2 in CO2 tank oxygen in oxygen tanks but I could be wrong.

 

[dantodd]

To turn your fridge into a "kegerator" you'll need the following.

A beer faucet which is what dispenses the beer into your cup.
A faucet shank. This piece mounts your faucet to the fridge door.
A tail piece. This attaches the shank to the beer line.
Beer line. This is the hose that carries beer from the keg to the tail piece/faucet
The "Tap" which is the part that attaches to the keg. There are inputs for the beer line and the air line
Air line. The air line carries CO2 into the keg providing pressure to push the beer out to the faucet.
Regulator. This reduces the pressure from the CO2 tank down to the correct pressure for pushing the beer.
Tank. You will need a CO2 tank. You may be able to rent one. Get the 20 lb. tank so you can push 8 kegs or so before refilling.

You can get kits with everything you need for around $200.

Here is one example: http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16179

 

[gnef]

i'm pretty sure you're talking about a sanke keg. in which case, you need a coupler for the specific type of keg, most likely the american 'D' tap coupler, i believe. you will need a co2 tank, look on craigslist if you can, or rent one from a welding supply shop if they allow that.

also, if you don't want to refrigerate, you will at least need a cold plate. a cold plate in a fridge won't be very efficient. at least this is from my understanding of your question. you want to keep the kegs outside of the fridge? the best is to have the kegs inside of the fridge and your faucets coming out through the door.

 

[townsendia]

Thank you

They are in fact commercial kegs.

Where do I get a c02 tank filled up and how much does it cost and how many kegs is it good for?

 

[dantodd]

it all depends on your local market. Typically they do exchanges like propane tanks.

Call your local welding supply shops. Airgas is a pretty big chain. You can also look under this category on yp.yahoo.com
Top > Business to Business > Manufacturing and Industrial Supplies > Chemicals and Allied Products > Gases


good luck.

 

[fiddup_is_a_middup]

a 5 lb tank pushed 5 sankes at a huge bash of mine one time, I believe it still had some CO2 left. I usually paid about $12 to fill it up.