Upright Fridge Collar for Kegerator

[cardinalsfan]

Well the wife finally gave me permission to work on a kegging system!! So last night I bought a 20# co2 tank and that got her thinking. She wanted the system explained to her. So I told her the tank goes on the outside, I drill a hole in the fridge and then a couple more in the door for the shanks and taps. I don't know how she thought it was going to work but this clearly wasn't what she had in mind. She doesn't want holes in a perfectly good fridge I guess.

So here's the idea. I have a full size fridge that I'm going to use for the kegerator. Just a normal top freezer upright fridge. My idea is to build a collar on the fridge door out of 2x6 or 2x8 lumber and run my taps and co2 lines through that rather than through the door. Yes, this means I will be tapping from the side of the fridge and I'm fine with that.

We've all seen collars on chest freezers and collars on mini fridges to expand fermentation space but I haven't seen a collar on a full size fridge for taps. This is the closest I have found - link.

So, any tips or advice or problems anyone can think of? I'm open to anything at this point. I want to keg but I gotta keep her happy ya know? :rockin:

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

The only issue I can think of is keezer lids sit on top of the collar. You'd have to hang your door off of it and not sure how well it would hold the weight. That would be my only real concern.

Then depending on how many taps you could wind up with a pretty wide collar.

 

[cardinalsfan]

yeah, mounting the door to the collar is going to be a challenge. And I'm only going to have 2 taps so 6 or 8 inch wide wood should work well, prolly 6 in. 6" wide lumber is really 5.5" wide and i'll have 1.5" on the side of each tap giving me 2.5" between the two taps.

 

[Homercidal]

Why not run the faucets through the freezer door, thereby eliminating the freezer door from possibly hitting the handles? And you clean up the inside of the fridge area as well. Just have to reach up a bit farther to pull a beer. Just have to run a bit of beer line through the space between the freezer and the fridge.

 

[cardinalsfan]

we still use the freezer as extra freezer space so that is a no go. The freezer door hitting the handles isn't the issue, the issue is that she doesn't want holes in the fridge lol. I didn't really explain that the problem was the holes, sorry.

 

[mjohnson]

I'm not sure how much space this would take, but could you put an "inner door" inside the fridge with the taps hanging off that? Or find a non-invasive way to mount the taps on the door facing inward? Open the door to pull a pint.

 

[cardinalsfan]

I'm not sure how much space this would take, but could you put an "inner door" inside the fridge with the taps hanging off that? Or find a non-invasive way to mount the taps on the door facing inward? Open the door to pull a pint.

good idea but if i'm going to open the door to pull a pint, I'm going to go cheap and use cobra taps.

 

[mjohnson]

I wouldn't blame you. Check this out - it might be your solution:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/upright-keezer-rigid-mounted-picnic-taps-237711/

 

[cardinalsfan]

I wouldn't blame you. Check this out - it might be your solution:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/upright-keezer-rigid-mounted-picnic-taps-237711/

dude, nice find!! this may be perfect. No holes in the front, it's cheap and it works!!

 

[cardinalsfan]

does anyone have a link to an installation where someone installed shanks and taps inside the refrigerator? I'm thinking of building some shelving out of wood and making a front for it where I'll install the shanks and taps. If I do it right, I won't lose much room and there won't be any holes on the outside of the fridge.

 

[Durhamite]

You probably dont want to do this, but just throwing the idea out there.

Take the door completely off and build your own door out of 2x4's and a sheet of wood. Stain it so it looks nice and drill your holes for taps in it.

Then if you ever wanted to use the fridge as a normal fridge again, just switch the doors back.

 

[cardinalsfan]

another option durhamite. it's one of the more expensive options but it would work!