build a kegerator

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).

I just added a kegerator to my basement bar

more pics of the beer tap and kegerator and how i did it here

so far, it is awesome.
nothing tastes better than a beer out of your own wall.

and once you get all the parts, it takes about an hour to put together.

well worth building one of these if you have alittle time and a keg ready you will never have to worry about stainding in lines just for that six pack again

How long will all of this building take me and how much are supplies??

This is a totally cool project – I just finished mine on Friday, got the keg that night, and… well, after that I don’t remember too much! Totally a budget way of having a party and drinking beer. Average cost is probably half of a can or bottle, even if you buy the cheap nasty beer (ahem Coors, Bud ahem). Steps:

1) Buy an old fridge – preferably something that won’t completely annihalate the ozone. I got mine at a yard sale.
2) Buy kit (Tor wrote out the components below – regulator, CO2 tank, lines, cleaning stuff, coupler, etc). I got mine online but I was told you can buy locally as well.
3) Make the kegerator – this is the only tricky part. There’s some decent instruction online, ie Wikipedia instructions or this kegerator instructional video
4) You’ll need some good tools – go to Home Depot etc and make sure you have a quality drill bit.
5) Enjoy the cold draft beer!! If you need help with your project just reply, I am the kegerator master now :) :)

(Pic is of my kegerator right after construction)

I designed one my freshman year at Western Illinois University and built it from parts bought online. Hidden in my dorm room closet on the 16th floor of Thompson Hall, she was later christened “Amber” by my floormates to avoid suspicion from the RA.

If I can make one in a dorm room using spare parts, an old fridge, and a Dremmel, believe me, you can too and it’s totally f###in’ worth it.

I got the needed supplies to finish the door, and finally got to a vice to crack the nuts on one of the regulators. They’ll soon be inline…

I’ll take pics of my ghetto kegerator that’s getting me by…

If you are going to build your own kegerator- which is possibly the most important thing a man-or woman- can do, and want help just e-mail me.
I built mine last year and have answers to all the questions you could dream up. I’ve put together an info sheet and have how-to photos. mflemming@comcast.net