kegerator

[illdoit]

i used to live in a house that had and old crab cooler in the back yard. at one time it had a drip system installed in it but it was long gone by the time i was there. it was 4 inches thick fully insulated. i did a changeout from an r12 to r22 condensor and evap. took home the old r-12 stuff and hooked it up in the box. ran a tap right out the side of the box. it worked great.

[haji7]

I have 2 kegerators one I made out of a refrigerator I bought the setup from The Beverage Factor.com for about 180.00 with a 5 lb tank. had to replace the tstat to get it colder, and then my nieghbor was throwing his tower sytle out so I grabed it. I only use that one for our parties now. I use the tower one all the time a 1/2 keg of coors light cost me 83.00 and last about a month it's the best tasting beer in my town I like the beer about 34 degrees I clean my lines every 2nd keg they can get really dirty. The local pubs never clean their lines and when we go there I buy bottle beer, I get the worst headaches from their draft beer. Hey good luck with your machine I love mine.

[Random Guy]

Before you cut the freezer off of the top of the fridge, I think that most residential refrigerators put the cold air from the evaporator in the freezer, and there is a damper between the fridge and the freezer to cool the fridge.

[numbawunfela]

A friend of mine brews his own beer (as do I) and instead of bottling it, he puts it into the syrup containers the soda machine guys use, allong with the last bit of sugar that, when fully fermented, gives it it's carbonation. then he stores the full and pressurized containers in a regular old fridge (fits 5 of these inside) and he drilled taps into the door. these are not the same size as kegs, they are taller and skinnier. so they stand up.

I like my beer close to room temperature, like they do in europe, so I have no interest in a beer cooler. hope it works for you though.

[Litchmo]

Here is my bear taper. Im hoping to build an outdoor kitchen this summer so i can brew my own beer and put it on tap, I need to change my tower to put in two taps. Can't wait

[mattm]

That is one cool tiki bar right there !!

[Litchmo]

thanks I do enjoy it and so does everyone else.

[xgfreon]

Nice

[TurdL]

this may be a yeah I know duh.... but make sure you're utilizing CO2.

[Catpower]

Nice looking set Litchmo.

I bought a used Beer Meister awhile back, kinda checked it over, plugged it in, it ran, could hear ref going through the cap tube, so I figured I was good to go, took it home got a keg, then found out the valves were bad in the comp, would keep the beer kinda cool, so I was in a dilema, I had to drink the beer before it went bad, but I somehow toughed it out, drank it in 4 days, replaced the compressor, and it ran good til I got divorced and the ex B(*&h stole the damn thing.

Supierior Products sells a kit to put a keg in a reefer, got one of those,worked great, but the only down side is the beer was half priced, but you ended up drinking about 5 times as much, and it is surprising for fast 4-5 of your buddies can drain a keg

[OOC]

Is your neighbor's house for sale by any chance?

[logdoc_rob]

I worked for a local Budweiser distributor for 23 years. You can make a cheap one out of a fridge with a kit from Ebay like this http://cgi.ebay.com/Kegerator-Keg-Ta...QQcmdZViewItem.

You also want to make a drip pan with a drain so your floors stay dry. (Don't ask me how I know). I wouldn't cut the top off though, you need that extra insulation.

Someone mentioned a VERY important subject, cleaning. Your beer lines should be cleaned every two weeks to prevent yeast buildup.......even if you don't drink a lot. If the lines have beer in them, they need cleaning. Most major beer makers provide a free service of cleaning the taps for the bar owners. I know AB requires that ALL of their taps are cleaned and documented every two weeks.

The reason the draft beer tastes like crap in a bar is probably out of date, slow moving products.

Beer freshness: most kegs are only fresh for 45 days after packaging, not the sale date. Sometimes you may get a keg from the store that has been sitting there for a few weeks. That's not bad if you drink like a fish, but it is a good idea for that keg to be empty before 45 days are up. If you can't drink 7.5 cases of beer(the capacity of a keg), or your wife won't ALLOW you to drink that much, buy a pony keg.

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

I've had kegs last 5 months in my kegerator!

I bought a Haier from Best Buy 3 years ago.

I recently found that I have a problem with my thermostat.
I had the thing shut down for the past 6 months and decided to fire it up for football season.
I did a good cleaning and fired it off loading a fresh keg of Miller lite before leaving for the weekend.
I always thought the beer was better after setting a day or 2 because the foam would settle.
When i got back, the beer would hardly pour. It was frozen!

I think I ran a dozen kegs through it before shutting it down last time.
Maybe the tstat had ice on it or something that melted? Anyway I just ate a $95 keg...