418Brewing
Well-Known Member
A bit of a long one, the short version is I want to build a 3-4 keg system and though I like a fair amount of DIY, I want to spend as little time faffing about with it as possible. I want a BOM or possibly a turn-key system.
Yes, I can (and have) read a ton of stuff and answer my own questions. However, I'm mainly getting more ideas rather than narrowing them down to one plan, so I'm asking for help.
The Moving Parts:
We have a wet bar with some under-counter shelves that could be removed to create a space 34.5 inches tall, 24 inches deep, and 43 inches wide. I've found 7.0 cu ft freezer that will fit that, but we're cutting it really close on airflow to the sides and back. Swapping kegs would require pulling it out, and having enough line slack to allow for that, so a fair amount of tubing that's not insulated. (This would involve a tower for the taps on top of the bar.)
The other option would be something not under the bar, like a keezer. The wife significantly prefers the kegerator/keezer-top tower to the collar location for taps, so that's what we're gonna do. (Wife approval is critical.) I think the "not under bar" option is probably the winner based on my own research, but I'm open to all advice on that. Under the bar would save a lot of space, but be more complicated to install. Wouldn't be opposed to straight-out building something into the bar permanently, but that's WAY more work and expense.
I found a couple pre-built kegerators that just barely fit 4 corny kegs and have a 4 faucet tower on top - way smaller than a chest freezer, but the reviews generally mention that it's "louder than most fridges". So that's not ideal, the wet bar is in the home theater so we don't need a loud compressor cycling while we're watching movies. (There's already a small wine fridge and full-size fridge in the bar area that don't bother us, though.)
I'm pretty handy, so building a collar or setting up a thermostat or any of those things aren't big deal. I can build just about anything I set my mind to, and have most if not all the tools I need to do it.
Oh, I don't generally stray far on beer styles, so I'd say I'd need at most one keg at a different pressure than the rest. And that's a simple add-on down the road.
I found this tower: Premium Stainless Draft Tower w/ Intertap Faucets, Duotight Fittings4 TAP
It looks pretty nice, I'd probably prefer Perlick faucets but the Intertaps have some nice features too. It's not clear from the pictures how that would get installed on the top of the counter/keezer. Again, I'm hoping to put together a complete BOM so I'm not ordering bits and bobs online or making runs to Home Depot for stuff while I have half the basement in workshop mode, annoying the wife.
I'd really like to get 4 kegs of capacity, but 3 is okay. Definitely not less than 3 kegs. If it's the kind of thing where it's like "and you can expand it later to 4 kegs" I'm just gonna start at 4. We're not quite "money is no object", but it's not the main concern. Not wrecking the house while I tinker with it over the course of several weekends is priority #1. I'll spend more to get more both in terms of quality and capacity, but particularly in simplicity for me to build it. "Take it out of the box and plug it in" is also a big plus. I love the pride of saying, "oh, that thing? Yeah, I built that," but I'm not opposed to just buying something that already works. (Just not one that's going to have the wife pointing out how loud it is for the next few years.)
So that's what I'm looking for: all the various kegerator/keezer expertise out there of what I need to do to simplify this whole process. Kegs to CO2 to faucets to cooling. Cleaning too.
Yes, I can (and have) read a ton of stuff and answer my own questions. However, I'm mainly getting more ideas rather than narrowing them down to one plan, so I'm asking for help.
The Moving Parts:
We have a wet bar with some under-counter shelves that could be removed to create a space 34.5 inches tall, 24 inches deep, and 43 inches wide. I've found 7.0 cu ft freezer that will fit that, but we're cutting it really close on airflow to the sides and back. Swapping kegs would require pulling it out, and having enough line slack to allow for that, so a fair amount of tubing that's not insulated. (This would involve a tower for the taps on top of the bar.)
The other option would be something not under the bar, like a keezer. The wife significantly prefers the kegerator/keezer-top tower to the collar location for taps, so that's what we're gonna do. (Wife approval is critical.) I think the "not under bar" option is probably the winner based on my own research, but I'm open to all advice on that. Under the bar would save a lot of space, but be more complicated to install. Wouldn't be opposed to straight-out building something into the bar permanently, but that's WAY more work and expense.
I found a couple pre-built kegerators that just barely fit 4 corny kegs and have a 4 faucet tower on top - way smaller than a chest freezer, but the reviews generally mention that it's "louder than most fridges". So that's not ideal, the wet bar is in the home theater so we don't need a loud compressor cycling while we're watching movies. (There's already a small wine fridge and full-size fridge in the bar area that don't bother us, though.)
I'm pretty handy, so building a collar or setting up a thermostat or any of those things aren't big deal. I can build just about anything I set my mind to, and have most if not all the tools I need to do it.
Oh, I don't generally stray far on beer styles, so I'd say I'd need at most one keg at a different pressure than the rest. And that's a simple add-on down the road.
I found this tower: Premium Stainless Draft Tower w/ Intertap Faucets, Duotight Fittings4 TAP
It looks pretty nice, I'd probably prefer Perlick faucets but the Intertaps have some nice features too. It's not clear from the pictures how that would get installed on the top of the counter/keezer. Again, I'm hoping to put together a complete BOM so I'm not ordering bits and bobs online or making runs to Home Depot for stuff while I have half the basement in workshop mode, annoying the wife.
I'd really like to get 4 kegs of capacity, but 3 is okay. Definitely not less than 3 kegs. If it's the kind of thing where it's like "and you can expand it later to 4 kegs" I'm just gonna start at 4. We're not quite "money is no object", but it's not the main concern. Not wrecking the house while I tinker with it over the course of several weekends is priority #1. I'll spend more to get more both in terms of quality and capacity, but particularly in simplicity for me to build it. "Take it out of the box and plug it in" is also a big plus. I love the pride of saying, "oh, that thing? Yeah, I built that," but I'm not opposed to just buying something that already works. (Just not one that's going to have the wife pointing out how loud it is for the next few years.)
So that's what I'm looking for: all the various kegerator/keezer expertise out there of what I need to do to simplify this whole process. Kegs to CO2 to faucets to cooling. Cleaning too.
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