The Kegerator

On one nice day I was just sitting outside on the porch enjoying a cigar and a pint just chillin and thinking about how to solve all the world's problems when it occured to me to build a kegerator. The first thing I had to get was a chest freezer. Now these things are pretty expensive, so I had to go to craigslist.com to see if there were any good used ones. I was able to snag a used 15 cubic footer for $75. Craigslist rules.

So lets get to work on this...

While we were having a garage sale (believe it or not, somebody actually took that zebra foot rest), I decided to bring it out and start working on it. First step was to put a coat of primer on the exterior.

Then had to clean the inside.

The wind kept knocking the damn lid over... thanks for the picture, Kyle.

Used some Bondo to get rid of some of the big dents.

The first of about fifty coats of paint. I used a paintbrush which was probably a bad idea. It left a very streaky look. I'm too lazy to backtrack, but should have used an appliance paint. A little more expensive, but it gives a nice gloss and smooth finish.

I bought some 1x1 squares of rubber matting from Home Depot to pad the floor from kegs, gas tanks, etc.

Now that it is all cleaned up, we decided to bring it inside. It's time to start ordering the parts for the draft system.

What better thing to buy first than an authentic Guinness stout faucet?

Now for the big guns... I ordered two italian Celli cobra style towers with three faucets each. I couldn't find these for under $1000 each anywhere but was able to get all this stuff on eBay shipped for $300.

This thermostat will turn the freezer into a refrigerator, keeping the temperatures just above freezing.

I cut holes through the lid using a 2" drill bit. I also bought some gasket rubber from Home Depot for a few bucks. That will keep the towers from scratching the paint.

The underside of the lid is very flimsy, so I took some MDF and used the same drill bit to cut holes in it. Now the attachment is a bit more sturdy. The attachment is pretty half-assed, but as long as this thing pours beer, I'm happy.

I cut the gaskets to the shape of the base to make it look a little nicer.

Most of the dirty work is done. I just need to get a drip tray and drill a hole in for the drain.

This is gonna be cool.

Found a bunch of 5-gallon soda kegs to hold the brew.

10lb CO2 tank and a 33CF Nitrogen tank (for Guinness type beers).

These regulators will control the amount of gas coming out of the tanks.

Since different beers need different amounts of pressure, I decided to create a manifold to connect from the gas tanks to each individual keg. The dual gauge will be for the nitrogen tank and the quad gauge will be for the CO2 tank.

Since chest freezers have cooling lines running through the walls, it is not a good idea to drill into them for risk of breaking the lines. I used a few pieces of 1x4 to hang on the walls on the inside.

Added some industrial strength Velco to the flanges to prevent any slipping.

It is time to hook the gas tanks up to the manifold. I attached these gauge cages to the dual guages. In case a tank falls over or what not, these cages will keep the gauges somewhat protected so they don't fall apart and turn one of my gas tanks into a missile.

Set the nitrogen tank up. This tank has a special mixture of 70% Nitrogen and 30% CO2 (aka Beer Gas). It is used for stouts (primarilly Guinness) and gives that wonderful cascade effect. Brilliant!

Now hooking up the CO2 tank. Note: It's damn near impossible to find someone who could fill up my new tanks tanks up on the same day around here, as most places just swap tanks out and fill them at a central plant. Had to say goodbye to the new aluminum tanks, but Airgas gave me filled tanks about twice the size. They liked the new tanks so much I didn't have to pay a deposit on the larger size (bada bing!).

I decided to install a drip tray with a drain. This would drain into a small bucket in the kegerator catching any spills. I measured the perfect spot for the drip tray with the tape and am drilling the hole for the drain.

Added the drain pipe to the lid. All it needs is a tube to run from the tip down to a bucket to catch any bandit beer.

Mounting the tray to the lid.

Adding the grate completes this step.

Attaching the shank to the manifold. This distributes the beer from the liquid line to the faucet. If you couldn't figure that out yourself, call me over and I'll hit you on the head with a tackhammer because you are a RETARD!

The fitting behind these shanks is an oddity called "john guest." It is a tension based connection where you insert the brass tube to the right into the grey hold in the manifold. The connection inside holds on tighter the more you try and pull it out. You have to be a true genius to figure out how to release the pressure. If you can't figure it out, call me over and I'll hit you on the head with a tack- oh forget it.

We will add these brass connections to the liquid lines.

And now we attach the manifold. Hold on, we'll be attaching the faucets in a sec. Jeez.

Showing some love to the 2nd tower. We are almost done.

And God said let there be beer. And it was good.

The tap handles are, if you are dying to know (from left to right):
1) Sweetwater Sweet Georgia Brown Ale (local Atlanta microbrewery)
2) Bare Knuckle Stout (can be found at your local Bennigans)
3) Yuengling Lager (the oldest brewery in America)
4) Little King's Cream Ale (in case you didn't know, Ryan is Gaelic for Little King)
5) Guinness (the standard of stouts... brilliant!)
6) Sweetwater 420 Pale Ale (makes me want to go fishing for some trout)