so I went with the chest freezer....

[batkins]

So I went with the chest freezer, and now I need to plumb it. Anyone have any tips for getting a whole in the side? How do you tell where the "stuff" is in the walls? I guess I could go through the lid...but then don't you need some type of "tower?" more $$$?
Any help appreciated.
Bill Atkins

[Beer Nazi]

Hey Bill....

I have a reach-in beer box with three taps coming out of the front. My suggestion would be to supply the manufacturer with make, model and serial number of your freezer and tell them what you plan on doing and ask where you can drill holes as to avoid any refrigerant coils and electrical wiring. Most manufacturers have a web site with a "contact us" click-on.

Most of the time all of the wiring and refrigerant lines are in the back of the unit, but don't count on that as being true for your freezer.

A hole saw with a good pilot bit works great for drilling through. Just get one that fits snuggly over your faucet shank.

You can follow these links to see the early stages of my box (I have three taps on the front now and one party tap inside the box)

http://home.earthlink.net/~txsflood/beerbox_0001.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~txsflood/beerbox_0002.jpg

[toneyc]

With a chest freezer, I would not go through the side unless you do as Beer Nazi suggests and contact the manufacturer. You can get a two tap tower for anywhere from $50 to as much as you wanna pay. For example, the chrome plated Ibis three tap tower goes for about $460.

On the other hand, I'm lazy and don't like cleaning the danged things so I just use picnic taps. Those are easy to detach and throw into a bucket of hot water.

If you go with the tower solution, think about where you want the tower. I have found with mine that the center of the lid was not a good location as the taps hit the wall everytime I open the lid. Give some thought, as well, to strengthening the lid where you mount the tower. The lid is kind of flimsy and could use some stabilizing.

:) Toney.

[beerinator]

Originally posted by Beer Nazi

http://home.earthlink.net/~txsflood/beerbox_0001.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~txsflood/beerbox_0002.jpg

Nice!

[danno]

My chest freezer had a coolant line map in the inside of the access cover. The coolant lines wrapped completely around all the vertical walls, I would be extremely hesitant to drill throught he side of a chest freezer. You're probably fine drilling through the lid, otherwise build a collar out of a 2x6 and drill your taps through that.....

[batkins]

I had read somthing else about a collar being built. I think the idea is lost on me though. I don't get the concept. Any diagrams or pictures anywhere? Does this avoid putting a hole in the freezer all together?
Thanks a lot,
Bill

[batkins]

I had read somthing else about a collar being built. I think the idea is lost on me though. I don't get the concept. Any diagrams or pictures anywhere? Does this avoid putting a hole in the freezer all together?
Thanks a lot,
Bill

[CaptHook]

If you run the unit with the lid open, you will see condensate
along the walls following the gas lines. So Bill, you have to ask yourself,Am I feeling brave?
My unit is new 7 cu ft. The top is1 1/2" thick. I poped out the liner and fiber glass. that leaves only sheet metal. Cut 1 1/2"x 1 1/2"
lengths of pine to completely frame the outside. Drill and screw from the inside to secure the frame. Now decide where the tower will go. I have a 6 tap tee tower, brass with all the shanks but no
fausets you can have for the cost of frt. if you would like it.
Back to work, I cut a 3' x 4' 3/4" plywood b/c for the top and screwed it to the perimetor frame. That is covered with cherry w/brass inlay. The raised edge is stained darker than the flat area. The three foot edge is to the wall, allowing the top to
open away fron it. I put in a brass 4 tap. If you need more detail let me know.
Chuck

[batkins]

So, does the collar set up leave the lid open?

[batkins]

OK, so I found this http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/freezer/freezer.html
Is this the idea?

[danno]

That one has waaay more into it than mine does, but mine sites in the garage, so elegance wasn't needed. I used a 2 x 6, plus some rigid 1" insulation on the inside, serves a dual purpose, a little bit of insulation, obviously, but it hangs down 4" or so to keep the collar from sliding around...

[toneyc]

No, the freezer lid needs to be shut for the freezer to work properly. The collar is to strengthen the lid and provide a (In CaptHook's case *much*) nicer place to dispense your beer from. The lid on the chest freezer is quite flimsy and mounting a foot tall tower on it without some sort of support results in a very wobbly affair.

Oops, I just looked at the link you posted, Batkins. OK, I was working it from the viewpoint of drilling the hole in the lid and mounting a tower to it, I had not considered actually raising the lid with a wooden collar and running the taps out the side. In my defense, I'm tall.

:) Toney.

[mrhomebrew]

Some time's a dream just isn't worth it. I wanted to make more room in
my chest freezer for beer, so I was planning on putting the C02 tanks in
some previously dead space. I have recently added an access door to
this space right next to the chest freezer. Well day one I hit the
coolant line, not fun but it was a used chest freezer that didn't owe me
anything. So day two I acquired a brand new chest freezer and following
some advise let it run for a while to see where the coolant lines were,
did that... but hit the heat sink coolant line! Oh was I upset. So
those keeping score that two freezers in two days... oh what fun. So
given the third freezer I think I will give up on my dream of more space
and easy access to the shutoff values. Might just take the sawzall to
the freezer to see what I can gleam about its inner workings.

So either build a collar, find some x-ray equipment (wonder if a stud
finder might be helpful?), or just keep the tanks inside. Given that I
have been happier with the tanks inside than I have been all day with
nothing, I am going back to the original plan of keeping the tanks
(one's a nitro mix, the other is CO2) inside.

Sigh... at least I was getting in a work out moving the old chest
freezer over the bar, the new one into the bar, and then back out. I
practically threw it up the bulk head I was so angry. I am still quite
pissed, but its been several hours and I have had a big foot. Maybe its
the beer gods way of punishing me for having two commercial kegs on
draft (make that had, now nothing on draft).

Ah... the fun of it all.

[mbritojr]

I have never kegged so maybe I have no idea what I am talking about, but I am gonna rant like an old lady anyway: so the big problem is keeping the CO2 tanks in the freezer? It looks like everybody wants to drill crazy amounts of holes in their freezer for CO2 lines and a tap. Well, I have a mini fridge I keep store-bought kegs in and my tap runs right out the top (no coolant lines) and I keep my CO2 tank in the fridge. The way I manage CO2 in the fridge is an old paintballin' trick: I used to be on a semi-pro paintball team, and before I had the money for a nitro system we used to power our markers with CO2 all the time. When you rapidly decompress CO2 it gets really cold and tends to want to remain a liquid (like when you unload a bunch of paintballs really fast, or poor alot of beer really fast). The way we solved that in paintball land is to use a siphon tank. It is basically a CO2 tank with an angled tube inside, that draws gas from free parts of the tank rather than straight out of the cold, compressed liquid. So, I just use a really big paintballin' CO2 tank with an internal siphon and just toss it right in my fridge. But like I said, I have never kegged, or have I ever used a tank other than a siphon tank. Plus, I am on my 7th beer right now (a combo of Tetley's English Ale and Boddington's) so at 12:18 in the AM, I could be way outta my league. Think I'm joking? Not in the least my frind. God bless the DAUGHT CAN! YAY FOR THE FLOATING WIDGET!

[mbritojr]

Wow, I just read my own post and man, when I am wasted I REALLY have a hard time spelling...Sorry guys....

[paul84043]

It was actually quite humouous, we can actually see the transition from the third to the fifth beer in your text!

I also have a habit of posting while sipping on a few, it's always fun to get up the next day and see what you wrote the night before!

Where do you get your C02 and is it sanitary?

[london1o1]

I was wondering if anyone else has any pictures of their homebuilt kegerator setups. Any diagrams anyone may have found online somewhere would also be helpful. I'm 21, recently got into homebrewing, have been a big beer fan for a while (relative to my age), and am now looking to build a kegerator. Any advice would be much appreciated. It seems like everone is talking about using freezer chests. Is this just because that's the only string I was reading, or are they generally regarded as being a better idea for homebuilt kegerators?
Thanks for the help.

P.S. I'm also curious about hooking up homebrew to a kegerator. I've read about it being done, but haven't seen any of the logistics worked out. I'm too used to the bottle conditioning stage to really understand how it works without it. Also, do you have to get an empty keg to fill with the homebrew?

[toneyc]

There are a couple of reasons to use a chest freezer. Use one instead of a refrigerator because (I've heard, no proof) the compressor is a heavier duty model than a fridge and can better handle the on/off power cycling from the thermostatic controller. Use one instead of a stand-up freezer mostly for convenience. It is hard to find a stand-up freezer now that doesn't have the cooling coils in the shelves so you can't remove the shelves. And in both the fridge and the stand-up freezer, it is hard to arrange kegs. Example: My chest freezer can fit probably eight or nine kegs but I could only fit three in the stand-up freezer I was using before even though the cubic feet of space value was nearly the same. The kegs we're talking about here are the 5 gallon soda kegs, corneleus kegs, not the larger barrel type kegs that you would get if you went down to the beer barn and got a keg-o-beer. The empty "corny" kegs can be had for around $20 each, refurbished, cheaper as is. The initial startup set including a CO2 bottle, a regulator, and hoses is under $200. My kegerator is simply a chest freezer with about a two inch hole drilled in the top with a dual tap tower mounted on it. Some of the guys posting here have gotten pretty fancy with theirs, though!

:) Toney.

[tallmikeG]

i have a semi on-topic question:

my chest freezer will be delivered later today, and i've decided to go with the tower coversion instead of making a collar. because this will serve homebrew i'll need a corny keg tap, but all of the conversion kits i've found online only include the sankey tap. does anyone know of a tower conversion kit that comes w/ the necessary equipment for a corny keg? ...or is it as simple as swaping the corny tap (whatever it's called) and the sankey tap whenever necessary?

thanks in advance, and if anyone can recommend a good place to purchase the kit it would be very helpful! :)

[paul84043]

Any particular reason that you have chosen to go with the tower instead of the collar?
If you intend to attach the tower to the lid of the freezer, they are notoriously unstable and wobbly. The collar gives you basically unlimited flexibility to get things into and out of your freezer, plus the added height allows for more flexibility in putting fermenters in the freezer...

Just a couple observations....

[tallmikeG]

i'll take your observations into consideration...i'm definitely at a point where i can cange my mind. i thought that the tower looked more classy (it'll be in the kitchen), and involved less work (i'm no carpenter, and not a big "build-it" guy).

i'm fairly sure that this doesn't change my question though...are the different keg taps easily interchanged?

[tallmikeG]

i actually found this link:
http://web.iwebcenters.com/brewersdiscount/item5057.ctlg

...pretty much solves my problem if i decide to do the collar, which i think i will. does this look like a good deal?

[toneyc]

The kegging kit that I got from http://www.stpats.com/kegsys.htm came with all corny keg fittings.

:) Toney.

[tallmikeG]

thanks toneyc...you just saved me a ton of cash! next step, the collar creation.

[london1o1]

I don't know if I should just start my own thread and stop posting here (somebody tell me, if I should), but rather than buying a fridge or chest freezer, I ended up finding a used 4 tap kegerator on ebay. It came out of a bar, and has everything included except for the CO2 tank and the regulator.
So now I have several new problems/questions.
(1) How to get the kegerator home. It is located in Kansas, and is 69"x37"x27" in size. I don't mind making the 930 mile drive, as I was going to be driving cross-country this summer anyway. However, my rough measurements of the inside of my Grand Cherokee with the back seats down and the spare tire removed yielded 59"x38"x30" of space. Something of a tight fit even if I left the gate open and let the kegerator hang out the back 10" or so. I looked into FedEX and renting a UHaul, which ended up being $435 and $200 respectively, both of which are more than I spent on the kegerator itself, and more than I want to spend on transportation. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
(2) What size CO2 tank to buy. How much am I actually going to save in the long run by having a larger CO2 tank? Is it worth the initial investment? I'm probably only going to go through 2 or 3 kegs a month.
(3) What kind of regulator to buy. I've seen what seems like a wide variety of different regulators available. Does quality here actually vary that much, and how important is it? In case it is not apparent yet, I am a college student with very little money available, and the costs are already adding up pretty fast. I'd like to cut corners whereever possible without cutting very deeply into the quality level of my beer consumption.
(4) Where to buy the CO2 tank and regulator. Can I get a used one for cheap somewhere? I look on ebay, and it's just a bunch of stores selling new ones through ebay. If I can't find one used, I'm looking at $65 for a 5 lb. CO2 tank or $99 for a 20 pounder, and somewhere between $46 and $63 for a dual gauge regulator (depending on quality), out of some place in San Diego.

I don't have any other problems yet, but I'm sure there will be more coming. Thanks a lot, guys.

[paul84043]

I don't know anything about kegging yet, so I really can't help you there, but as far as transporting the Kegerator.....I'd borrow someone's Pickup truck. That would really suck to get all the way there and not have it fit!!

I'd size your C02 bottle to a reasonable, and reasonably priced size, I don't think there's any reason that any C02 bottle wouldn't work. I wouldn't want to be using C02 that's sat around for several years. Not that I know if it goes bad or not, just doesn't seem like a good idea.

The taps fittings and what not seem to depend on what type of beer you are making. Well, probably not the taps if you're making your own, but the dispensers and such...