| This is the second kegerator I've built (
here's the first one).
The fridge is a 25 year old beast that I picked up second hand. It weighs a ton. My
biggest concern was how to get it down the stairs to the basement without crushing
anyone. Removing the doors made it just barely manageable. |
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The price was right and it was in great shape. It was extremely clean when I picked it up.
I was worried about fitting three kegs into it, since it has a very narrow amount of
usable space at the bottom due to the compressor. |
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I was able to build a platform to get the kegs up above the slope of the compressor area.
It just barely fits three coke kegs. I didn't even have to remove the plastic door racks to get
the door to close.
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The next job was to put a hole in it somewhere to run the gas line through. I was very worried
about hitting something like a coolant line embedded in the fridge wall. After unsuccessfully trying
to delicately drill a pin hole through the interior metal wall, I noticed some kind of shelf bracket
attached to the fridge with screws. Removing the bracket provided a nice size hole through the interior
wall. I was able to determine that there was only insulation between the interior and exterior walls by
poking a small screwdiver through the hole |
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| Once I had the interior hole, it was easy to drill from the inside through the
exterior wall. Drilling from the inside out meant that all of the metal burrs were exposed on the
outside of the fridge and easy to remove. Poking the gas line through the two holes was easy. |
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| I then figured out where I wanted to mount the first tap. Just low enough that
the tap handle would not get knocked about by the freezer door. A 1" hole saw attached to a drill
was able to chew through the exterior wall of the door (it took some time and effort). |
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| I let the hole saw's arbor drill through the plastic interior wall of the door, then drilled
the 1" hole in the plastic from the inside out. Unfortunately the shank that came with my faucet was too short
to reach all the way through the fridge door. |
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| I had to take the door apart so that I could attach the shank to the outer part of the
door only. They used 30 screws to attach the interior door to the exterior door. |
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| Once the door was apart, attaching the shank to the door was easy. |
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| The nipple and beer line was then attached to the shank, and the door was put back
together. |
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| The nut that holds the nipple to the shank ended up pretty much flush with the inside
of the door. |
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| It's a good idea to make sure the tap is turned off before attaching the beer line to
the keg. |
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| I removed my 20lb CO2 tank from the old kegerator and dragged it over to the new one. Hooking
up the gas line was quick. |
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| At this point the kegerator is ready to go. I'll add the second and third taps and
connectors as I scrounge them. |
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| I'm using an old plastic tray which I glued magnets to for a drip tray. It'll do until I can
build or buy something better. |
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| Proof that it works! |
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| Update! I cheaped out and went with plastic for the two remaining taps. They get the job done at a
fraction of the price. |
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| Here's the inside after all the plumbing was done. I used a manifold to split the
incoming gas line in the fridge into three lines, one for each keg. With this method the kegs all have to be at the same
pressure. It has been working okay so far. |
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| I also added a manifold on the outside of the fridge that connects to two extra disconnects,
one coke, the other pepsi. I use the coke one when priming and cleaning kegs. It's much easier than having
to disconnect one of the kegs inside the fridge just to get some CO2. I use the pepsi one to connect to a
Carbonator Cap. The cap is
a device with a pepsi disconnect on one end and a plastic bottle cap on the other. You can pour beer from a
tap into a two liter pop bottle, cool it to almost freezing, then attach the carbonator cap and fully carbonate
the bottle. The manifolds that I used were made from brass air hose fittings (you know, like the ones they
use at the garage to attach the compressor to the hose outside that you fill your tires with). They are made up
of a four way splitter. Each hole in the splitter has threads. The things you thread into the holes have barbs
on the other end. I also added a valve to the one outside the fridge, so that I could turn off the kegs in the
fridge when I need to crank up the pressure to force carbonate a keg outside the fridge. |
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