Refigerators for a kegerator

[tommymac]

I go tht egreen light from the mrs to get a kegerator, and with a kid on the way I will be spending more time at home so I can hopefully start brewing again.

I am looking to build a system with 2 taps and would just be using corny kegs or regular quarters if I buy kegs of beer to have. I need to look into all th etubing, fittings and a CO2 tank, but I figured its best to start with the fridge an dgo from there. From what I saw its best to go without a freezerand wan tot get something around 4.6 cu ft. I figured if I knew some speciffic models/numbers it iwl be easier shopping for them. Will go either new or used at this point.

TIA for the help.

 

[hmmmbeer]

What I'm doing (also just pulling the trigger on the kegerator project) is just buying a used fridge off of Craigslist. You can find "ugly" ones on there all day long for around $50. As for the Co2 tank, I would also go on Craigslist.org and look for those too, find them cheaper than the local shop has them. Tubing is cheap at the local Home Depot (half the price of the brew mags/local brew shop. I've read 5' of ID 3/16" is best for foam-free pouring. The shanks/faucets I found for super cheap on Ebay. I bought the shank 4 1/4" (W/1/4" welded nipple), faucet and faucet handle for $30.95 shipped. Price them anywhere and your spending more than that. The dual regulator gauge I got off of ebay brand new for $35 shipped. Just shop and you will find great deals all over in the right places.

As for the kegs, I got my Corny kegs from a local soda bottling warehouse (Coca-Cola) for $10 each and they are in great shape. FYI they call them "pre-filled soda kegs".

Hope this helps you save some bucks and keep/gets you brewing!

 

[ChshreCat]

and with a kid on the way I will be spending more time at home so I can hopefully start brewing again.

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!
*pounds floor*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
*sigh*
*catches breath*
*ahem* Sorry, as a parent I just had to let that out.

 

[tommymac]

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!
*pounds floor*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
*sigh*
*catches breath*
*ahem* Sorry, as a parent I just had to let that out.

I know I know, I anticipate loosing tons of my time. thing is my other hobby is motorcycles so I am out riding or at the track quite a bit so thats going to have to be cut down because I will need to be home more so i am trying to focus on more at home projects

 

[DrawTap88]

One of the things that I recommend looking for is a fridge with a flat floor (not a shelve). I can only fit my CO2 tank and 2 kegs in mine since it has a hump in the back, and it's a really tight fit.

I'm pretty sure most of the small fridges have flat floors since the shelves are located on the top of the cooling chamber, but wanted to pass along my experience incase anyone else got the green light from SWMBO.

 

[hmmmbeer]

One of the things that I recommend looking for is a fridge with a flat floor (not a shelve). I can only fit my CO2 tank and 2 kegs in mine since it has a hump in the back, and it's a really tight fit.

I would assume that you have plenty of room above the kegs/Co2 tank, so with that said, wouldn't it work better for you if you built a wood floor to bring the whole bottom to the same hight? Thats what I planned on doing if I had the hump in the back...

Just a thought.

 

[HenryHill]

If you're are doing this on a budget, go with an older frig. You can start out just using picnic taps that stay inside the compartment, or you can buy faucets that go thru the door, but you will want to buy perlicks (forward sealing taps) as they don't stick. They are many stories of people that bought regular chrome faucets and then kicked themselves in the azz for not just getting perlicks to begin with.

Space will be at a premium with a fridge, and really, building a kegerator out of a chest freezer is far more preferable, as you can likely get more kegs in storage, more space for more taps if you build a wooden collar to add height to the chest depth dimension, but you would need to buy a temp controller to use a freezer, which again, adds cost to your project. Still, this is the best number-of-serving-keg-per-buck option, and you need not add collar or perlick faucets to your project at first.

If you want a pretty 2 tap kegerator for the house, a Sanyo model 4912 is still available online, and idiot proof directions to build it are rampant here and elsewhere on the 'net. But as this is a pricey way to go for getting two taps, you must identify your locations and type of use now, and come up with an honest budget to decide what route to take.

Your first task is to define a budget that you can spend, and go from there-this has been done probably millions of times, and if you can accurately decide now what you can spend on this project, we can tell you exactly how to go about it.

 

[DrawTap88]

I would assume that you have plenty of room above the kegs/Co2 tank, so with that said, wouldn't it work better for you if you built a wood floor to bring the whole bottom to the same hight? Thats what I planned on doing if I had the hump in the back...

Just a thought.

My hump is too big. LOL. If I were to do that, it would put the tops of my kegs and CO2 regulator (20lbs) too close [or through] the top of the cooling compartment.