Mini Kegerator - Beck's Barrel - 3 gallon

[bendavanza]

I was given this Becks mini fridge. It's a wooden barrel type exterior (actual wood) with a insulated fridge interior, with a regular fridge door type seal. It measures over 9" diameter inside including the door space so a 3g corny should be a nice fit. I'll make a tower for the top and probably just use a co2 charger thing to keep the serving pressure going, and a creamer faucet. It runs on 12v so it's perfect for mobile beer action. It has heating and cooling. My friend who gave it to me says it works but he could not find the power cable, easy enough I can find or make something for it, probably a 12v cigarette lighter socket and also an A/C converter. The switches feel hokey so I may upgrade those when I open it up to investigate. I will probably check out those epoxy mixer things from the "cure for your short hose troubles" thread to keep line length and balance down.
I might not get going on this project for a while but I figured post it now to get any valuable feedback. Here are preliminary pics:

 

[bendavanza]

placeholder for progress

 

[lamarguy]

Not trying to burst your bubble, but I doubt it will get very cold since it's a thermoelectric design. It should do well as a wine cooler but will likely fail as a beer cooler (unless you're serving real ale?).

In 95+ degree heat outside, I seriously doubt it will get to 60F. If you keep it inside, I'm sure it will do better, but I'll be shocked if it gets to 40F in a 75F ambient environment.

 

[bendavanza]

Good point, I was wondering about the capabilities of it's cooling. I'll do some testing before investing any $$ into it. It should, at least, be able to keep an already cold 3g corny cold for several hours since it is well insulated, esp. if I pack some gel packs around it. Real Ale is a possibility but my primary purpose would be racking some homebrew from the main kegerator into the 3g and taking it to an event.

 

[lamarguy]

Real Ale is a possibility but my primary purpose would be racking some homebrew from the main kegerator into the 3g and taking it to an event.

Ya, it certainly could work to help slow the rise in temperature for cold beer. Personally, I use Keglove ice packs which work well for ~3 hours in the shade.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Yeah, those thermoelectric fridges will at MOST drop the temp 40*F below ambient, and I don't think they will do that much.

I prefer ice chilling for my mobile serving:

 

[buzzkill]

but it looks cool as .... !