super ghetto cheap kegerator

[springer]

My son ripped apart a small water cooler and made a kegerator.

here is the compressor and the coils the little white thing is the cooler unit that gets submerged in the glycol.

this is the unit with the coolant lines straightened out and feed through the cutout that goes to the cabinet. Its installed in a portable bar the thermostat is in the upper right hand corner

Three gallon keg in a small wastepaper basket .Filled with RV anti freeze Foam top is missing

We put some spray foam on the outside since the pic was taken . Plan is to upgrade to a beverage type cooler as soon as he finds a used one. The whole setup cost him 10$ . I gave him the keg, lines ,fitting and the Perlick tap for his birthday.

and of course the tap

This works surprisingly well it runs for 6-10 minutes every two to three hours and maintains 40° with no mods to the thermostat. You do have to cool the keg before putting it into the cold glycol.

 

[Julohan]

I like it.

 

[whoneedsabeer]

I like it!

If you put a submersible aquarium pump in the glycol to move it around, you'd be able to put a warm keg in there and get it down to serving temps in no time. My local liquor store used to have a ~10gal bucket with a swirling glycol solution to put warm bottles of wine in. In only a minute or two, the wine would be serving temps.

 

[OntarioBeerKegs]

I like this very much, I am thinking of adapting the idea for glycol and a pump and use it to chill a line and not even bother making a enclosure for the keg. Thanks for sharing the project.

 

[springer]

I like it!

If you put a submersible aquarium pump in the glycol to move it around, you'd be able to put a warm keg in there and get it down to serving temps in no time. My local liquor store used to have a ~10gal bucket with a swirling glycol solution to put warm bottles of wine in. In only a minute or two, the wine would be serving temps.

problem is the cooling unit is designed to only cool a cup or two at a time . If you add 3 gallons of warm beer to the coolant it warms it up and the cooler runs constantly for a long period of time. Its like an RV fridge takes a long time to recover

 

[IrregularPulse]

So you're setting the keg down into antifreeze? Doesn't that make for a big mess when swapping out kegs?

 

[Brewmoor]

I like it too. I really like the Lager tap handle. I miss Yuengling.

 

[springer]

So you're setting the keg down into antifreeze? Doesn't that make for a big mess when swapping out kegs?

Not at all if your careful. Just a towel on the lift it out set down and wipe . Needed something that wouldn't go stagnant and I have a whole bunch I bought 3 15 gallon drums at an auction. I plan on making a 14 gallon glycol cooled conical

 

[OntarioBeerKegs]

Okay, thanks again Springer for sharing your project and ideas. Since the thread is relatively dead please do not take this as a hijack. I have adapted your idea and this a project I am currently working on. It is basically a old Shell Gas station pump I stripped down and one old water cooler designed for a 5 liter reservoir (pictured in the Styrofoam). I installed a new ballast for the light since I could not run the 347v ones installed (top of pump). One side of the panels are currently being primed and then painted with a metallic blue auto paint. Glycol is on order.

I am sure by now you have all figured out where this project is heading. I intend to make it glycol cool lines via fish pump with a new reservoir and keep the kegs external for ease of swapping. I will add a timer to start about an hour hour before my leisure time until completion for conservation purposes. I do indeed have the hoses for it but will be installing standard faucets and possibly a drip tray on the top portion instead.

Thoughts?

 

[OntarioBeerKegs]

Forgot to mention the sides and tops are stainless!

 

[OntarioBeerKegs]

Just keeping this is one thread. Here is the newest progress. Everything is set up except how I exactly want to finish my heat exchanger. I have two choices in mind.
1) A pump pushing glycol up copper tubing to the faucet with the beer line in the same conduit.

2) A stainless coil immersed in the glycol that the beer will pass through on the way to the faucet.

 

[RegionalChaos]

Submerged stainless might be more effective, dunno.. looks cool tho. Basically a temp controlled jockey box I guess