Keg-O-Vision

[The_Dog_42]

With all of the "my wife did this", "my wife did that", "my wife installed such-n-such", "my wife cut this" that I see in this thread, I think your wife is WAY cooler than you are.

There is no doubt about that...just giving props where props are due.

This last week she's been kicking @$$ on the kegerator and I've been a lazy @$$, so I felt I owed it to her.

 

[ikonis]

Subscribed.
Wish my wife would help out with beer related projects, instead of just bitching about them.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Super awesome! Can't wait to see the final product.

 

[Daybis]

Subscribed. This looks looks awesome so far.

 

[The_Dog_42]

Thanks for the kind words all. It helps keep the motivation up to know people are actually following along.

BTW, I showed Walker's comment to my wife and she said "That's about right." (sigh)

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

This kicks more ass than anything that has ever kicked ass before! Subscribed

 

[brandonhagen1]

love the idea

 

[mcaple1]

subscribed!

 

[Mrott]

Wish my wife would help out with beer related projects, instead of just bitching about them.

Yea that sounds about right... I'm slowly starting to acquire parts for a HERMS build and I think she figured I was up to something... granted I'm also collecting parts for a build similar to this, but I think I'm going to use my 250 gal oil tank sitting in the basement...and no there's no longer oil in it nor will there ever be.

...and parts in general...

Keg-o-vision is definitely a sweet build though!!

 

[509inc]

I cant wait to see the finished product.

 

[heferly]

awesome idea, good luck!

 

[HokieBrewer]

Out of control!

 

[jadoglio]

Cool project. when do we drink the beer?????

 

[The_Dog_42]

Hasn't been an update in awhile because the progress at this point is really slow. It takes a long time to cut and fit all the insulation and once the first layer is on, other layers just don't look different.

We did have one issue while insulating. It's difficult to see here, but the top of the insulation is being pushed out by the great foam expanding gap filler (black can stuff). So we had to remove this piece, cut back the great foam and reinstall...b i g PAIN.

InsulationIssue

Here I started to install the under layment (sp?) so we can finish the box. Took a long time to get everything level and plumb, but it was definitely worth the time it took. Hopefully the finish work will come out well.

UnderlayStarted

I finished the under layment , flush cut it with a router and sanded it flush. The wife sprayed in some great foam between the rough in work and the finish work, so the finish height is shown. We also took the stereo down because it was getting pretty hot in the garage while it was on. Anyone know how hot these get in a car? I'm not sure what a normal operating temp was.

UnderlayFinished

My wife mocked up a 3 gallon corny and we dry fit all the components into the box. Looks like we can add a third tap! Just need to invest in another tower, another perlick and a distribution manifold for the CO2 (as well as the small stuff like disconnects). So I'm trying to decide if we want to spend the money now or to set it up to add another tap later.

All in all, I feel like we got a lot done the last two weeks but it doesn't seem to show...

 

[Reno_eNVy]

 

[jadoglio]

Still looking good. How are you going to finish the outside and make it into a piece of furniture?

 

[The_Dog_42]

Still looking good. How are you going to finish the outside and make it into a piece of furniture?

We haven't looked into the details yet, but the current thought is to learn how to cut glass.

Mirror the sides, with a black granite tile on top and something for the front...but who knows what will actually happen.

 

[blawjr]

Great idea! Subscribed!

 

[The_Dog_42]

Have an update for the conversion, finally. I finalized the wiring and got everything tacked down.

FinalizedWiring

The wife's been working on the insulation like a fiend...it's a little tight for me. You can see the little black 2x4 with the figure 8 cut out of it for the mounting location of the temp sensors in white lab yeast vials, filled with freezer gel.

InsulationWSensors

Just today, I finalized the wood on the back that goes around the AC unit. The top piece will be removable to give easier access to the CO2 tank and manifold. It will also hopefully make it easier to finish up the insulation. Just one more layer of 1/2" and it's on to the FRP installation. The wood in the pic will eventually go black, but it's on the back so I'm not terribly worried about it right now.

ACInsulation

And just today, my kick a$$ wife came home with this custom built beauty (and, yes, she built it herself). As Walker said, she is clearly WAY cooler than I am.

DripTray

The bottom of the drip tray is machined plastic and the metal grates are actually parts harvested from the actual TV. The grates originally protected a couple of PCBs that were mounted vertically...I have no idea why but they were chrome plated. She cut them in half, machined the plastic and set them in the tray. They are removable so it can be washed if needed.

Finally a quick teaser pic. There will be 3 tap towers (I was only making measurements with the 2) because we like symmetry. Sorry for the dustiness, I kicked a little up while working. The stereo has been temporarily removed while I figure out how hot it can get and still operate safely and the back wall won't look like it does in the final product. It's all prepped for our finish material, but we still need to learn to cut glass for the mirrors that will go up. As you can see, I finished at just the right time...my vanilla porter homebrew had just been emptied.

 

[jadoglio]

The project is still looking good. If you are going to quote Douglas Adams at least give him credit for it....

 

[mdgagne]

Did you keep the mirror that was being used in the TV originally? It would be cool if you can mount it on the back - forgive me if you already have plans that I'm overlooking... This is an awesome project, I'm jealous!

 

[The_Dog_42]

Actually we did keep the mirror for just that purpose. We'll see if it is actually usable though, because it gets mounted a little low in a normal TV. We will definitely cut it up at the last resort for other pieces of the interior though.

 

[Justibone]

This is really excellent!

Your wife sounds wwwwaaaaaaaayyyy cool. I prefer my own SWMBO, of course... but if she could do custom machining that'd be too sweet for words.

{subbed}

 

[The_Dog_42]

This is really excellent!

Your wife sounds wwwwaaaaaaaayyyy cool. I prefer my own SWMBO, of course... but if she could do custom machining that'd be too sweet for words.

{subbed}

Thanks. I'm pretty sure anyone who comes over actually prefers the company of her and they just tolerate me, but at least they're good actors.

I've finally made a little headway recently. I was stuck for a long while trying to figure out how to install the AC, make it removable and get the FRP below it. Long story short, I didn't do that but at least I'm making progress. Hopefully by the end of next weekend, I'll have the interior totally finished.

 

[The_Dog_42]

I finally have something noteworthy to update on. Amidst the craziness that is the month of July, I was able to finish up all the insulation (on the doors and inside). So the project looks almost the same as the last update, but now actually maintains temperature. Without anything inside the box (so nearly no thermal mass), I ran a cooling test this weekend. The temp probe connected to the Love controller was inside a whitelabs vial, while another temp probe was registering ambient temp. The AC brought the interior of the box down from 85*F to 39*F in the whitelabs vial in about 15 minutes. From there, the AC was running 5 minutes on, 30 minutes off to maintain temps. Once I get 2-5 gal kegs, 1-3 gal keg and the 5lb CO2 tank in, I think it should push the off cycle a little more. Hysteresis on the temp controller is set for a mere 2.5*F, which can definitely be increased as well. Ambient temp during cooling was around -1*F, so I definitely have the cooling capacity.

We also did a little testing and started some materials selection. Cutting mirrors is a major PITA, which we expected. The hard part will be making a 90* corner in the mirror. The only way I know how to do this is to drill a hole in the mirror with a diamond cutting bit, then score from the hole to the edge in 2 directions.

The top is going to be black tile of some sort. Hopefully we can find some at a habitat re-store, but no luck so far. The front may be stainless tile, which is crazy expensive but would be pretty slick.

Next on the to-do list is to get the FRP cut and installed (which I'll take pics of because that won't just look like more pink s*** going up), then mirror the back and tile the top / front. Any ideas / comments, especially on the front, would be welcome.

 

[John Beere]

Sorry if I missed it if you've posted this already, but is this going in your house? That A/C is going to pull more condensation out of the box than you ever imagine..

 

[The_Dog_42]

Yeah it is going in the house...and I thought the same thing. I had a few ideas to combat the problem.
(1) Put a small pan / bucket under the drip spout and run a sump pump to a drain. Problem with this is there is no drain near where I'd like to put the kegerator, so out a window may be the only available option.

(2) Dump the pan / bucket when it's full. This would be a really tedious job, so if I went this route, I may stick some damp rid in there in the beginning.

Any other ideas would be welcome.

 

[Tinga]

it would be cool if you had a remote to pull a pint. or something like that.

 

[jadoglio]

As for the condenstion, do the eexperiment. You have it sealed and running plug it in and let it run for 6 hours and colllect the condensate. It is in your garage which is a lot more humid than your house will be becasue the house is A/C. So this test should be worst case. Then take the condensate in the house and let it evaporate for 6 hours. There are probably better experiments but this one would give you a ballpark.

As for the mirror maybe it's time to call in the professionals. Take the mirror to a glass shop tell them what you need and let them cut it. Overall still a great project.

 

[prrriiide]

As for the mirror maybe it's time to call in the professionals. Take the mirror to a glass shop tell them what you need and let them cut it.

+1 on the mirror pros.

I've cut both glass and mirrors in my checkered past, and it really only takes a slight error - a change in the cutter pressure, a wiggle in the score, etc. - to trash what is sure to be a fairly expensive piece of mirror. Plus you can ginsu yourself right into the ER very easily with a pane that size. When those things let loose, they don't always just crumble top the floor. Sometimes they literally explode and blow glass shards all over the place.

I've cut that stuff before...and I'd take it to a glass shop. I wouldn't do it myself, personally.