Kegerator conversion

strider

Recently acquired a full size fridge that I'd like to convert into a kegerator. Pretty much know how I want to do it, single tap through the door and a domestic style keg coupler, at least to start. Anybody have any recommendations for places to buy conversion kits or parts online?

Msabot1

I made one out of an old Frigedare....the old model with the little freezer in the top...it was easy on that model..just had to remove the shelves and make provision for the lines...tap..ect...had a lot of fun with that unit if I can recall...

WagnerRC

I purchase from kegworks.com so far so good

xjghost

I'd go out the side. Be a pain opening the door with a tap I would think.

falconcry72

Did this in college. We bought a $30 fridge from a thrift store and used tap parts from my friend's dad. Worked great, and we even hooked up a nitrogen tank for Guiness a couple times. Lotta kegs went through that place... don't remember much, but I know we had some good times... and the women! Whew...

heartystatue

I've had a kegerator of some sort for several years. Kegworks is the hot ticket. Don't forget to buy their beer line cleaning kit. Part number is EDCK-33. I do mine once a month. Believe me makes a difference in the taste. Have fun!

unc2701

falconcry72 wrote: »

Did this in college. We bought a $30 fridge from a thrift store and used tap parts from my friend's dad. Worked great, and we even hooked up a nitrogen tank for Guiness a couple times. Lotta kegs went through that place... don't remember much, but I know we had some good times... and the women! Whew...

Ha, sounds like my experience, but we tried to rationalize it: If we bought by the keg, think how much money we would save! 3 hours and one dry keg later, we realized that we'd all be broke by the end of the semester.

mrbiron

Kegworks or beverage factory to get the conversion kit. If I were to actually do a conversion versus my Summit kegerator, I'd do a dual tap out the front. Having a choice would be awesome and two Cornelius kegs would easily fit. Besides, having more beer in the fridge doesn't put as much strain The motor. Filler-up!!

WagnerRC

heartystatue wrote: »

I've had a kegerator of some sort for several years. Kegworks is the hot ticket. Don't forget to buy their beer line cleaning kit. Part number is EDCK-33. I do mine once a month. Believe me makes a difference in the taste. Have fun!

I agree 100% line cleaning on a regular basis is key.

Malbec

I'm partial to this company.

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/kegerator-conversion-kits-pid-RCK-LC-S.html

Make sure you get a regulator with two gauges and buy your CO2 bottle from a welding supply store, you'll be a repeat customer when getting your tank refilled.

j1mmy

Do you plan to buy full kegs or pony kegs? Depends on how much beer you drink vs. how much variety you want. Curious.

strider

mrbiron wrote: »

Kegworks or beverage factory to get the conversion kit. If I were to actually do a conversion versus my Summit kegerator, I'd do a dual tap out the front. Having a choice would be awesome and two Cornelius kegs would easily fit. Besides, having more beer in the fridge doesn't put as much strain The motor. Filler-up!!

I like the way you think.

strider

The first time I had a kegerator was in college. I was living at the beach and working as a helper on a keg delivery truck in the summer. It was an old Kenmore fridge, the kind with door that was the entire front of it and had the freezer inside of that. It was a bright orange, reminded me of a VW Bus. The guy I bought it off of was a bartender at one of the better bars on the boardwalk. I can't imagine how much beer went through that thing.

I was pretty dead set on a single tap, but a double tap might be nice. I know I could fit 2 sixtels in there easily, probably 2 tall 1/4 kegs for that matter. One thing that caught my eye looking at the various sites is that a lot of them show pictures with the CO2 tank inside the fridge. Anybody else do that?

mrbiron

^^^^ So don't I!

The price difference is peanuts between the single and dual. Get smiles from your guy friends with a single......have them offer up their wives for duals. NUFF SAID!

strider

xjghost wrote: »

I'd go out the side. Be a pain opening the door with a tap I would think.

At first I thought the same thing, but if I can live with the hoses running to the door it'll be much easier to fit in the house. Out the side means I'll need to keep the front AND a side free all the time.

mrbiron

On a side note....it's just a Coors carton. I don't actually drink that crap! :-P

strider

heartystatue wrote: »

I've had a kegerator of some sort for several years. Kegworks is the hot ticket. Don't forget to buy their beer line cleaning kit. Part number is EDCK-33. I do mine once a month. Believe me makes a difference in the taste. Have fun!

WagnerRC wrote: »

I agree 100% line cleaning on a regular basis is key.

Absolutely. Not much worse then spending good money on good beer and having it taste like the algae in a fish tank. I think i still have my line cleaning set up from when I had my last kegerator 15 years ago.

Vette C6.r

Wow.....Strider I was actually gonna start a thread on the same topic this week, extremely spooky.. I have no experience in these but with recent upgrades to my basement I really want to attempt this.

Since me live so close please keep me updated on what you decide to do. I have a lot of questions on these and it seems like buying any converting a compact fridge is the way to go but I have lots of questions.

PM Ben I would give you my cell....I am really interested in what you decide.

Tony

Inspector 24

I bought a kit of Ebayazon.

Very similar to the one already posted:

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/kegerator-conversion-kits-pid-RCK-LC-S.html

VCoak

I bought mine from Home Depot if you can believe it. They slash there prices around X-Mas time and only paid 250.00.

As for supplies by accident I met a vendor Mark Stein in a parking lot and he sold a commercial grade cleaning kit for 50.00. It looks like a very small keg. Well worth the money. Cleaning your lines is a must. Spend the time do so or your beer will taste bad.

Aluminum CO2 tanks are the best. Add a 2 gauge system to dial in pressure for the keg and to tell how much CO2 you have left. Nothing is worse than running out of CO2 during a get together.

If you like I can snap a few pics. BTW Stone IPA is on tap.

exalted512

Sooooo want to do this...one day!

strider

Vette C6.r wrote: »

Wow.....Strider I was actually gonna start a thread on the same topic this week, extremely spooky.. I have no experience in these but with recent upgrades to my basement I really want to attempt this.

Since me live so close please keep me updated on what you decide to do. I have a lot of questions on these and it seems like buying any converting a compact fridge is the way to go but I have lots of questions.

PM Ben I would give you my cell....I am really interested in what you decide.

Tony

Great minds think alike!

Will definitely keep you in the loop and post what I end up ordering. It's an easy conversion if you have the right fridge. The only hole you'd need to drill is for the faucet shank, which is typically 1/2". If you go with a mini fridge you need to make sure that you have about 30" clearance vertically and 17" side to side for your typical 1/2 keg.

I also saw that you can convert a chest style freezer to work with beer by adding a different style thermostat.

Malbec

Having the CO2 tank on the outside vs the inside makes no practical difference in terms of delivery. Just more free space with the tank on the outside.

The chest style freezers I've considered are not tall enough for sixtel/corny kegs. You need to build a riser and elevate the door

The commercial kegerator I bought has an external bracket on the back of the unit for the CO2 tank.

Vette C6.r

strider wrote: »

Great minds think alike!

Will definitely keep you in the loop and post what I end up ordering. It's an easy conversion if you have the right fridge. The only hole you'd need to drill is for the faucet shank, which is typically 1/2". If you go with a mini fridge you need to make sure that you have about 30" clearance vertically and 17" side to side for your typical 1/2 keg.

I also saw that you can convert a chest style freezer to work with beer by adding a different style thermostat.

I figured the hardware would be hard. Just don't know where to buy the kegs, refill the CO2 and how many would with in a mini fridge..ive been doing some looking...

Keep me posted Ben...love to come see it when you're done.

Vette C6.r

I ordered mine today Ben.


Should be in by the end of the week. I got the double faucet style. Oddly enough I am finding it hard to find 1/6 kegs that I like.

Any update on yours Strider?

mrbiron

Excellent choice on the dual tap. I'd convert mine over but am having too much fun with singles.

All of the kegs I order are 1/6th barrels. What are you ordering that youre having a hard time finding in a 1/6th??

Vette C6.r

I haven't actually gone to the store yet but just looking at the net it seems hard.

My ideal pair would be Miller Lite and Stella. Haven't found either in 1/6 mrbiron. Do you have any experience with making the taps remote. I want to mount them about 10 ft from the kegerator. Since the cool air cools the dual mount tower I would imagine that there would be some coolant loss. I would insulate the tubes but im not sure if that is enough.

mrbiron

Insulation probably won't be enough is right. Doing it that way will most likely force you to draft off the tube contents and throw away that amount as there is no guarantee on temp/taste. I personally have never routed beer outside of a tapped keg door or a tower so i don't actually know how to preserve the lines in that situation. There are a couple beer forums around that surprisingly, I've never actually been a part of but they do exist.

On a side note, I think you are correct in that I don't think Miller kegs that small. The only real way to.find out is to head to your local **** and look through their Sears Xmas catalog of kegs. Good luck!

strider

Vette C6.r wrote: »

I haven't actually gone to the store yet but just looking at the net it seems hard.

My ideal pair would be Miller Lite and Stella. Haven't found either in 1/6 mrbiron. Do you have any experience with making the taps remote. I want to mount them about 10 ft from the kegerator. Since the cool air cools the dual mount tower I would imagine that there would be some coolant loss. I would insulate the tubes but im not sure if that is enough.

Haven't ordered yet but I'm pretty certain I'm going with the standard dual tap through the door kit at Micromatic.

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/kegerator-conversion-kits-pid-RCK-S-2.html

Micromatic's site also has a ton of information on it about kegerator conversions and draft beer in general.

The problem you're going to run into with mounting the taps remotely is, like mrbiron said, that you're going to waste the beer in the line outside the kegerator when you pour. If you can't keep the beer between 36-38 degrees F you're going to end up with foam. Commercial systems with long runs from keg to tap are cooled with glycol I believe. If my math is correct you're looking at a bit over 55 ounces of beer in the line which you'd have to clear to get to the beer at proper temp.

In terms of buying kegs, my buddy swears by Wine Source in Hampden. They have a good selection in stock and can and will special order something for you. I'd stay away from Harford Beverage if I were you. If they have what you want in stock it's not a big deal but you'd be lucky to actually get something that you special ordered from them. Beltway Liquors and Honeygo Liquors are two others that I'd trust in our area. In my limited experience it's hard to find 1/6 kegs in anything but craft beer. May be able to find tall quarter kegs of Miller Lite, but I'd be surprised if you could find Stella in anything but a half keg. Be aware that Stella takes a different keg coupler then most domestic beers.

strider

I ended up going with this kit from Beverage Factory:

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/kits/psck-nt.shtml

It's all stainless components with the exception of the beer line, the faucet is a Perlick, and the regulator looks a bit nicer then the one included in the similar kits from Micromatic and Kegworks. The kit, a 5lb CO2 tank, and some cleaning supplies ended up being less then $250.00 shipped.

I changed my mind and went with a single tap set up. The main selling point on the thing was being more economical about drinking decent beer, and from the prices I've been seeing the increase in cost per beer is appreciable when going from a half barrel to a sixtel.

mrbiron

Of course if you buy in bulk, you save. What you need to ask yourself is how much of the same beer do you want to drink in 3 month intervals as you probably Already know, the recommended keg lifespan is that timeframe. My personal problem is getting handcuffed with one beer when there are so many others to choose from. 1/6ths really help with this.