Show us your Kegerator

[DirtyD]

I used a box I picked up at Hobby Lobby. The box was $20 and the hardware was around $180. Not bad for a $200 4 tap tower.

That my friend is cool...I really like that box, great idea!

 

[SwedishChef]

This is the kegerator I bought off Craigslist

This is my Simpson's themed kegerator

 

[arturo7]

Duff O Rator


sweet

 

[JNye]

that duff o rater is beat to hell, love it.

 

[electrichead]

Finally finished

 

[kicknbrew]

Here's mine. It's a cheapo 3/4 sized fridge from craigslist and a package from kegconnection. I've got the second tap/keg set on order. Currently there's a Brewer's Best Irish Stout in there, and a really simple Saaz hop pale ale is going in Keg 2 when it arrives.

I love this toy!

And, electrichead..... NICE tap handles!

 

[kicknbrew]

@ electrichead... okay, after further examination, your tap handles are like icing on a really REALLY awesome cake... holy cow, man!

 

[joety]

Love the little card holders. Where did you get those?

 

[elproducto]

Here is my quick throw together kegerator. My plan is to build a much nicer keezer this summer, and run at least 4 taps. I'm not going to spend anymore time working on my current build.

 

[electrichead]

@ electrichead... okay, after further examination, your tap handles are like icing on a really REALLY awesome cake... holy cow, man!

Love the little card holders. Where did you get those?

Thanks. The tap handles were definitely a labor of love, so to speak. They ended up taking longer than I thought. Around 3 to 4 hours each. I want to turn the next 4 on a lathe.

The card holders are from Bar Products, same place as the drip tray. They are glued to the wood base which has a few of those business cad magnets on the bottom so it all stays on the lid when open. Eventually the plan is to laminate the markers so they stand straight and are washable/reusable.

 

[GusWatab]

Well here is my setup at the "Atwood Speakeasy". Not sure if you'd really consider it a kegerator so to speak but it is my means of dispensing. I have always ran commercial kegs through these but I have just found some vacant cornies in which I will start kegging the homebrew and serving that on tap. I am pretty pumped.

I have an old fridge in the storage room in which I drilled three holes in the side to push the lines through. Then I insulated the lines all the way up to the back of the 1/4 barrel hanging above the sink at the bar. Works out pretty slick for when I pump sanitizer through the lines. I just hook a hose up to the faucet and it drains into the sink or into a bucket if I want to reuse the sanitizer. The tap handle on the left is just a chunk of oak firewood in which I just shaved the bark off and sanded it down to the hardwood. Turned out pretty sweet and I have a few more in the process of being made. The 1/4 barrel picked up at the Barrel Mill in Avon MN and stained it. I then have some back lighting behind the barrel for effect. Next is to get rid of the pink bar top and put it granite. Oh the projects....

Here is the keg fridge. As you can see I have a very short run of lines through the wall into the bar area. I have insulated the lines and the shanks and am still trying to figure out a way to keep the lines cool for the entire run. Also you see the stacks of bottles that I reuse to bottle the brew.

Here is the bar area, "The Atwood Speakeasy" as I like to call it. You can see the door on the left goes to the storage room and the keg fridge is directly behind the taps. You can also see my "Vested Fermenter" on the back bar...you gotta love brewing in the MN Winters. You will also notice the "Beer Bank" which can sometimes help fund the next batch. If you're sitting at the bar enjoying a homebrew, toss a few bucks in the bank so we can keep the Epic Nectar flowing on a regular...

And lastly, a close up of the 1/4 barrel and taps.

I hope you like it...I sure do!!

 

[Jaysus]

I love the barrel!

 

[DanPoch]

Finally finished

Dude, love these tap handles. Totally going to steal this idea

<innocent> By the way, what kind of rope did you use on those handles? </innocent>

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

Very Sweet Gus, Nice work

 

[stanghead]

this is my Kegarator! it is currently setup for both stouts and ales (CO2/nitro and CO2)

its small, I can fit 4 - 5 gallon kegs in it and not much else - but i think it came out great.

the inside - I can configure 2 stouts and 2 Ales or 3 Ales and 1 stout. quick disconnects for easy access.

 

[joety]

Gus, that is utterly fantastic. Where did you learn how to build the bar itself? I am struggling finding much good information on the internet.

 

[electrichead]

Dude, love these tap handles. Totally going to steal this idea

<innocent> By the way, what kind of rope did you use on those handles? </innocent>

It is paracord. I get it from supplycaptain.com. Good prices, great selection of colors, and fast shipping. The black is a 5 bight 16 lead turks head, and the two color is a 4 bight 19 lead turks head.

 

[GusWatab]

Gus, that is utterly fantastic. Where did you learn how to build the bar itself? I am struggling finding much good information on the internet.

Thanks a lot Joety! I'm glad you like it. I didn't actually build the bar itself as it was here when we moved in 5-6 years ago (big bonus and the deal maker for me!) The barrel however was not. I certainly saw the opportunity to have tap beer in the basement with the wet bar/sink being right there and a big storage room on the other side of the wall. I always really liked the barrel with taps look and that is what I wanted to do so I started searching out a barrell in which I could cut the end off and hang it. Eventually I came across The Barrel Mill in Avon and picked that up for I think like $50-$60 or something. Then we had to figure out a way to get it to hang off of the wall so I could get some backlighting back there. After scratching a bald spot in my head I had a friend of mine with some creative construction backround brainstorm with me and we came up with this....

We took a 2x8 and made two 8x8 squares. The squares were then stacked and screwed to the inside of the barrel. We then had to build a box that attached to the studs on the wall. The box's ID needed to be 8 inches so that the stacked squares that are screwed to the inside of the barrell would slide into the box itself and act as a "Cleat". Then it was just a matter of putting a few screws through the box and into the cleat. It worked brilliantly and fit like a glove.

I wouldn't think the bar itself would be too hard to build as it is a pretty basic set up. There is some shelving and a cabinet on one side but other than that, pretty basic. I will be however having the bro build me a granite top for it probably out of some remnants and try to salvage the arm rail and put that over the granite. I may end up just having to buy a slab of granite and I would use the cutout on the back bar. That will be the next project as soon as the SWMBO gives me the go ahead...fun stuff!!

 

[JNye]

Stanghead, I see you have a controller on your fridge, is there a freezer compartment, does it control the freezer too or did you bypass it? just wondering

 

[DanPoch]

It is paracord. I get it from supplycaptain.com. Good prices, great selection of colors, and fast shipping. The black is a 5 bight 16 lead turks head, and the two color is a 4 bight 19 lead turks head.

Thanks for the info. I've got to give it a try. It's been years since I've tied a turks head.

Okay, that didn't sound quite right did it?

 

[stanghead]

Stanghead, I see you have a controller on your fridge, is there a freezer compartment, does it control the freezer too or did you bypass it? just wondering

JNye - there is a freezer there but it's not two separate compartments, there is only one controller so i figured that the freezer temp controls the temp of the whole unit.

 

[doreilly]

 

[wood7588]

Finally finished

It is good to know that in a beer emergency your tap handles can provide you with 20 feet of emergency cord!

 

[Dashingmad]

OMG I did it! I looked at every page! It took me about a week and that was me primarily looking at the pictures!

I just picked up a sweet fridge for $50 that will hold 9 corny kegs if you put the tanks outside or 6-7 cornies with everything internal. It's an all stainless steel comercial grade fridge or freezer (often called Milk fridge) as it is typically found in a school. They run about $1500 new so the lord was looking out for me here!

My plans are to start with 4 taps (1 being Nitro), build a top tower, and use all high quality parts like Perlick 525, 575, and all the stainless steel I can get. Hopefully high quality and low maintenance and I will only have to build it once. Everything comes in Wednesday.

Now I don't see guys talking about how much they spent and probably for good reason as I spent much more than I wanted to. The breakdown for the keg blueprint and price (even compared to LHBS prices) can be emailed to you if you want just let me know via personal message. In the end I spent about $1000 for everything including shipping and gas. I managed to save about 30% or $480 for buying online (instead of my LHBS) and about 42% or $700-750 if you include having to go out and buy a freezer/fridge for around $250-300.

As much as I love buying locally, it&#8217;s pretty hard to justify spending almost $500 more. The LHBS gets all my beer supply business anyway which let me say adds up quick too.

I will post WIP pics next week and I agree HBT needs to hand out awards as some of these kegerators are works of art! Thanks for all the ideas guys!

 

[electrichead]

It is good to know that in a beer emergency your tap handles can provide you with 20 feet of emergency cord!

Hahaha more like 50!

 

[Blueblood]

Blueblood, How did you run the taps/lines through the lid? I'm getting a 14.8 cube Whilrpool and that looks like something I would like to do.

I'll have to take pics so you can see, there was a recess in the plastic backing on the lid and I just dremeled out a section and ran the lines to the back of the lid!

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[mullenite]

OMG I did it! I looked at every page! It took me about a week and that was me primarily looking at the pictures!

I just picked up a sweet fridge for $50 that will hold 9 corny kegs if you put the tanks outside or 6-7 cornies with everything internal. It's an all stainless steel comercial grade fridge or freezer (often called Milk fridge) as it is typically found in a school. They run about $1500 new so the lord was looking out for me here!

My plans are to start with 4 taps (1 being Nitro), build a top tower, and use all high quality parts like Perlick 525, 575, and all the stainless steel I can get. Hopefully high quality and low maintenance and I will only have to build it once. Everything comes in Wednesday.

Now I don't see guys talking about how much they spent and probably for good reason as I spent much more than I wanted to. The breakdown for the keg blueprint and price (even compared to LHBS prices) can be emailed to you if you want just let me know via personal message. In the end I spent about $1000 for everything including shipping and gas. I managed to save about 30% or $480 for buying online (instead of my LHBS) and about 42% or $700-750 if you include having to go out and buy a freezer/fridge for around $250-300.

As much as I love buying locally, it&rsquo;s pretty hard to justify spending almost $500 more. The LHBS gets all my beer supply business anyway which let me say adds up quick too.

I will post WIP pics next week and I agree HBT needs to hand out awards as some of these kegerators are works of art! Thanks for all the ideas guys!

This isn't universally true. I saved considerable money buying straight from my lhbs. It depends on your store so if you are looking to build, check around.

 

[leviticus]

First off:

I'm happy to see that my LHBS is starting to stock kegging parts. While they don't have everything I would have needed for my original conversion, a recent upgrade was cheaper through them than online+shipping.

And to redeem myself:

 

[Flomaster]

viiiwonder

we need more info on that temperature controller you have going on

-=jason=-

 

[ChaosBrew]

viiiwonder

we need more info on that temperature controller you have going on

-=jason=-

appears to be a YATC 2
http://screwdecaf.cx/fckit.html
You can buy it as a kit or pre built

It looks cool but the ebay aquarium temp controller is far cheaper