build a kegerator

Looks like the kegerator will hold four 5 gallon cornelius kegs.

I think I’m technically done with this, but it’s not /as/ done as I’d like it to be. What is the definition of a kegerator? Something that uses refrigeration from which you can dispense cold draft beer. Right now, I have that. Last friday, I kegged and force-carbonated an IPA that had been dry-hopping for over two months. I can go out into the garage right now and pour a glass of chilled ale. That’s great, but I want to be able to pull down a tap on the wet bar in my living room. Right now, I have to open the lid on the deep freeze and dispense from a picnic tap. I think I’m going to leave this marked as undone until I realize my final goal of making an air-chilled run from the kegerfreezerater through the wall and up into a two-tap tower on the wet bar.

Kegconnection.com had a “Cyber Monday Sale” where they were blowing out cornelius kegs for a really good price. I bought three of those and a kegging starter kit that included a 5# CO2 tank, regulator, hoses, and picnic tap. As soon as it arrives, I can keg my IPA that’s been dry-hopping for two months.

I ended up replacing the bad relay… didn’t want to take any chances with potentially starting fires. I’ve also rigged up an external temperature control, which seems to be doing a good job of keeping the temperature at 35F. Before I start using it as a kegerator (which means buying more stuff anyway), I’m going to use the temperature-controlled environment to brew a batch of lager.

This weekend, I acquired a free chest freezer that someone was giving away on craigslist. The compressor relay is bad, but it still gets cold when you wire the motor directly. I don’t know if I’m going to replace the relay or not. I can just wire it up and hook it up to an external temperature control like I was going to, anyway.

I’m sick of sanitizing and filling bottles. It’s time to start kegging my homebrew. I have the perfect setup in my living room, too. The wet bar is right against a wall that’s shared with the garage. I figure I can have a deep freeze on a controller, run the lines through the wall, then have the tower and faucets on the non-sink side of wet bar. If I’m feeling fancy, I might even add a glycol recirculation system to keep the lines cool (but I doubt they’ll need it).