Build Your Own Kegerator!

With the 4th of July just past and one of the worst hangovers of the summer, I thought I would post something exciting for all you party animals. The kegerator, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest inventions this country has every seen. Arguably better than Alexander Bell's stolen idea for the telephone, the kegerator combines convenience, practicality, and beauty.

In order to build your own kegerator, you are going to need a lot of supplies. When listing these supplies I'm going to give you two options, one for the poor college students I know most of you are, and one for the ballers out there that don't care how much they spend and just want to make something awesome.



Materials:

1. Fridge.

• Now there are several ways you can go about making a kegerator. The way you choose is largely dependent upon the type of refrigeration you decide to use.
  
  College: Basically any refrigerator you can find that stays cold and can fit a keg. A full keg (or a half keg) is approximately 23.5 inches tall (about 2 feet) and about 16 inches in diameter. When picking out your refrigerator, make sure that you can fit these dimensions with at least a few inches to spare horizontally, and about 5 inches vertically. Otherwise, you could do a lot of work to find out that your keg coupler wont fit inside the fridge.
  Cost: $0-$100
  
  Ballers: Now, for the ballers, this is largely dependent on how balling you want to be. I would recommend the chest freezer conversion. Though this is slightly more complicated as it involves changing the thermostat inside the freezer to allow it to refrigerate, it is worth it. Changing the thermostat is fairly straight forward. All a thermostat does is short two connection wires together when it needs to cool. You could do this two ways, taking a thermostat out of a refrigerator to replace it or buying an external thermostat ($50). With this set up, you could have two full kegs on tap and the possibility of another 1-2 soda kegs if that tickles your fancy.
  Cost: $300-$700 (thermostat included)

2. Hardware.

• Once again there are a couple of ways to go about purchasing the hardware for your kegerator. The easy way is to buy a kit that includes everything you need. The other way is to go on down to the hardware store and pick it out yourself.
  
  College:
  
  Tubes: You'll need about 5-6 feet of thin clear tubing (3/16"); if you can spare the extra $0.50 per foot on the food grade stuff, do it. It will make your beer foam significantly less, but don't ask me why.
  Cost: $5-10
  
  CO2 Tank: Buy the 10lb tank. This will last you about 10 full kegs.
  Cost: $60-80 (refills $5-10)
  
  Regulator: Yes you need a regulator unless you want your kegerator to explode, foam indefinitely or just suck in general. The dual gauge regulator will tell you the pressure (PSI) in the keg as well as how full the CO2 canister is.
  Cost:$50-70
  
  Keg Coupler: This is used to connect the line from the CO2 tank to the keg. The coupler allows CO2 into the keg and beer out. Buy one with a pressure relief valve. It helps when initially tapping and trying to get the right pressure. More importantly, it is safer; it allows excess gas out of the keg if the pressure exceeds a certain threshold (about 50 PSI). Lets be honest here, you have no idea what your doing, so safety precautions are always good.
  Cost:$30-50
  
  Shank: This is the piece that actually goes through the door. Buy a decent one with a nipple hose to prevent leaking. This piece connects the actual beer hose from the keg to the faucet.
  Cost: $10-20
  
  Faucet: This is what is actually dispensing the heavenly liquid into your cup. Stainless steel is always good and a ball washer allows for smooth, repeated operation.
  Cost: $20-30
  
  
  Ballers:
  
  The set up for a more sophisticated kegerator is almost identical in schematics. The Ballers will still need everything listed above however there is some leeway in the quality of products they can purchase. Below i will list some materials that will go nicely with the chest freezer conversion kegerator.
  
  Beer Draft Tower: A Draft Tower will allow you to dispense both of your kegs from parallel taps.
  Cost:$100-200
  CO2 Mounting Bracket: This will enable you to neatly mount your CO2 tank(s) to the back or sides of your kegerator.
  Cost:$20-60
  
  Dip Tray and Drain: This will drain out all the excess beer that doesn't quite make it to your mug.
  Cost: $30 for tray; $50 for drainage
  
  The Dual keg, chest conversion will also require 2 CO2 Tanks (trust me its easier this way), 2 regulators, 2 keg couplers, and twice the amount of tubing. (duh...)
  
  
  
  The rest isn't as complicated as you might think. Ill try to make it as straight forward as possible.
  
  1. Drill a hole in the front of the fridge where you want your faucet to go. This hole should be just large enough for the shank to fit. Be Careful! Use caulk or some other sealant to prevent cold air from leaking out if necessary
  2. Connect about 2-3 feet of tubing to the keg coupler.
  3. Connect the regulator to the CO2 tank, tightly!
  4. Connect the naked end of the tubing to the nozzle of the regulator. Tighten.
  
  • If you have enough room, you can simply leave the CO2 tank in the fridge with the keg.
  5. Connect another 2 feet of tubing to the out terminal of the keg coupler. Tighten well, leakage is bad!
  6. Connect the out tube from the keg coupler to the shank.
  7. Assemble and connect your faucet.
  8. And voila, Tap your keg!
  
  Notes:
  
• Make sure everything (fridge door, keg coupler, CO2 Regulator, etc.) is sealed very tightly. Wasting energy on the fridge is expensive and same with the CO2.
• Set the regulator on about 12 PSI. Feel free to mess with this to get your optimal flow rate. The pressure at the faucet will depend on how much beer is in the keg, what PSI is in the keg and how much tubing is used. Mess with the regulator until you find a good flow rate and leave it at that.
  
  
  A great resource for everything Beer
  
  Kegerators.com
  
  Anatomy of a Kegerator