Smallest freezer for pony keg

[Vichy]

Hey folks,

Im a new beer enthusiast. Anyways, what is the absolutely smallest chest freezer or mini fridge to hold a pony barrel. I will never use it for a regular size keg, only pony barrel. Reason being is space is an issue. Every square foot saved helps a ton.

Im going to build a bar in my home and plan on hiding the freezer underneth the bar. I would like to use a chest freezer because I plan on taking off the top lid and making an insulated "shoe box" top lid for it with 2 drilled holes. One for the CO2 line and another for the beer line that will route up from the freezer to the tower tap mounted on the bar itself. I plan on using PVC piping from the freezer top to the tower and then insulating that with .25" thick fiberglass insulation to keep the beer line inside cool.

So again, having a 5+ sq ft freezer will overtake the entire bar underneath and will leave me no room for other stuff like wine rack, cabinets, etc. I saw a couple 3.6 sq ft chest freezer, that seem feasable, but was wondering if anyone knows of any successful solutions.

Thanks,

[brian92]

I'm not sure about anything smaller than a 5 sq ft freezer. You'll probably need to bring a tape measure to your local appliance retailer. You'll need about 17" in diameter, but I forget the height (prob around 20"). The problem usually lies in the compressor since the compressor usually takes up space inside creating awkward dimensions.

Also, you may want to get a small blower to chill the line to the tower. Insulation probably wont do the trick alone since hot air rises. You can run a 1" flex tubing up to the tower with the line and then encase it in a 3" PVC pipe that will serve as a return for the air, which will allow the air to return back to the freezer.

g/l and let us know how it turns out

[Vichy]

I found a Chest Freezer at the Target's website that is like 33"x25" by 34" tall for only $130. I figure the compressor step cant be more than 8" for small freezer, it sounds just right. Problem is, its web order only, so I cant go to the store and look at in person to make sure. Its some European made freezer (Haier).

[brian92]

Hmmm...I went through this whole process as well when I built my system. I needed a chest freezer just big enough for a full keg and my blower. If I remember correctly, the walls of the freezer are, on average, 2.5" thick. Therefore, subtract about 5" to get your inner dimensions. It sounds like the one on Target.com should work. But, you may want to get a manufacturers part number and then google it. The manufacturer might have specs for the internal dimentions, or a retailer might carry it. It would really suck to get the freezer only to find out that it was too small.