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Fridge

Almost any fridge will do, just make sure it's big enough to fit a keg inside. Garage sales are a good place to pick up a used fridge. People will often give them away if you are willing to haul it. Space was an issue for me, so I was looking for a bar fridge big enough for one keg. I found a used one for $20 CAD. I have also heard of people using freezers, with the thermostat turned down (up?) or replaced with a fridge thermostat.

Kegs

You need at least one keg. More is better. The number you need depends on how fast you drain a keg, how well aged you like your beer and how many kegs you will have in the fridge at one time. If I had a bigger fridge and more taps, I could keep multiple brews on tap, but this would slow the rate that I finish any particular keg and increase the number that I would need. I currently have four kegs, with one in the fridge at a time. I find that at the rate I drink, I usually have two aged kegs ready to drink at a time.

People tend to use one of three different types of kegs: coke, pepsi or beer (there a few different types of beer kegs). The coke and pepsi are most popular for the home brewer. I used coke for two reasons. I was able to get them, and I think they are a little shorter than the pepsi kegs. Height is a concern for my small fridge. The coke and pepsi kegs are also known as cornelius kegs. There are many sizes of cornelius kegs, but by far the most readily available are the 19 litre size. Make sure you can fit your keg in your fridge! Mine are a very tight fit. You may notice the green block under the keg in the pictures. The block is needed to lean the keg back a fraction of an inch so that the door will close.

The usual price for a used reconditioned keg is $50 CAD. I got my kegs directly from a recycler in town. They were $60 CAD for 4. I had to clean them myself, and replace the rubber rings (about $7 CAD each).

Keg Disconnects

The cornelius kegs have two connectors on the top. One for gas to go in, and one for beer to come out. Coke and pepsi use different connectors. Coke uses a pin lock and pepsi uses a ball lock. So there are four different disconnects: pin in, pin out, ball in and ball out. You need one in and one out for your type of keg. They are usually about $12 to $15 CAD new. I found used ones at a beverage system repair company. They were $5 CAD each.

Regulator

You need a CO2 regulator. Most people use a dual gauge regulator. One gauge gives you tank pressure and the other gauge gives you keg pressure. You really only need the keg pressure, so a one gauge regulator is fine. The tank pressure is always constant at about 800psi, since the CO2 is liquid. The tank gauge will sit at 800 until the tank is almost empty, then it will plummet to zero. It does give you a little bit of a warning that the tank is almost empty. New regulators are about $100 CAD. I found a used one at the beverage system repair place for $20 CAD. Be careful buying used regulators (apparently they rarely work - I got lucky).

Tank

You need a CO2 tank. You can rent them or buy them from welding equipment supply places, or from fire extinguisher suppliers. You could also use beer gas instead of CO2, but more on that another time. I've got a 20 lb tank, which should last a LONG time. The first time I filled it, I used it for about  12 kegs, then I had a leak in my system and lost most of the gas (I now leave the tank turned off, and just turn it on occasionally to charge the keg). It cost about $35 CAD to fill. You can use any size tank, 5 lb is big enough. The bigger the tank, the less often your kegerator will be down while the tank is sitting at your refillers. Tanks are fairly expensive. I was able to pick up a used tank from a fire extinguisher recharge center, filled for about $100 CAD.

Hoses and Tap

You need hoses to connect the regulator to the keg disconnect, and to connect the tap to the other disconnect. You also need a tap to pour from. You can get an actual draft beer tap for about $35 CAD, or you can get a cheap plastic picnic tap for $7 CAD (I got mine from paddockwood). You can get suitable hoses from any home repair store for a couple of bucks.

Tower or shank

You need some way to get the beer out of the fridge. You can just connect your tap to the keg, and open the fridge when you need to pour. You can see this setup in my pictures. This was what I did before I built the white tower you see in the other pictures. It worked okay, but did not have the visual impact that a tower has. Real towers are expensive (at least $100 CAD). I built mine from an old piece of plastic vacuflow pipe. I drilled a hole in the top of the fridge to run the hose up through the vacuflow pipe and connect to the tap. Inside the tower I wrapped insulation around the hose (there is actually a very small amount of hose in the tower, and the hose is very small diameter, so I don't have problems with the beer in the tower cooling off). You can also mount your tap on the front or side of your fridge. You need a shank to go through the fridge, then just attach your tap. Cost has prevented me from going with a shank and real tap, or a tower and real tap. My home made tower and cheap tap works okay for now.

Spare Gauge

I also picked up a spare gauge and disconnect. After attaching them together with a small piece of hose, I have a gauge I can slap on a keg outside the fridge to monitor the keg pressure. I carbonate using corn sugar in the keg, so I like to watch the pressure gauge to make sure fermentation has kicked off again.

Price

So, here's the total for my system, including four kegs, the filled tank and the fridge.

• Fridge $20
• Kegs $60
• Keg Rings $28
• Disconnects $10
• Regulator $20
• Tank and first fill $100
• Hoses Tap and Tower $12

Total $250 CAD

Update

I finally sprang for a real faucet and shank. I built a tower using some scrap plywood from another project. The drip tray is just a heating vent with an ice cube tray under it. I've got a fan in the base of the tower that should be forcing cold air up into the tower, but it still needs some work. The faucet and shank came from paddockwood and cost around $58 CAD, the rest of the parts were lying around the house.

Update

The fan in the tower was only lowering the temp to about 17 degrees C. I took out the fan and replaced it with cooling rods ( six lengths of copper pipe, filled with water and capped on both ends). The rods extend from the top of the tower down through a hole in the top of the fridge, and rest on the freezer plate inside the fridge. The rods have dropped the temp at the top of the tower to 11 degrees C.

Update

I've retired this kegerator due to its limited size. One keg at a time is just not enough variety. Check out the new project. This old kegerator will soon be put into use as my lagering fridge.

Update

I've lagered a few batches in the fridge and it works well. The fridge can be adjusted from about 4C to 10C. I decided that I would also like to do my ales in the fridge since the temperature in the basement sometimes gets too high in the summer. I pulled the thermostat out of my old air conditioner and wired it up so that it controls the fridge. With the a/c thermostat, I can set the temperature anywhere between 15C and 21C. The thermostat is wired into a home made extension cord. If I plug the fridge into the extension cord, then the a/c thermostat controls when the fridge gets power. The thermostat has a wire probe that extends into the fridge through a hole in the top of the fridge.

Why kegged Beer?

I started kegging my home brew because I hate bottling. There are other benefits. It's really fun to pour a draft beer at home. I never have flat beer due to priming problems in the bottles. I never have bottles blow up (only happened once, but was kind of scary). I can adjust the carbonation level just by turning up the keg pressure. I have also found that kegged beer pours VERY clean. All of the gunk settles to the bottom of the keg over time. The picture of the beer sitting on top of the fridge was taken at the start of a keg. Toward the end of the keg, you can't tell it from filtered beer. Unfortunately there are some drawbacks. Variety is an issue. I only have room for one keg at a time. It is also difficult to take beer out of the house. I usually bottle a few beers when I fill a keg just for these reasons (also because the kegs hold 19l and I brew 23l batches.