I'm in the process of moving from a crappy college apartment to a pretty spacious house, and in figuring out new things I'll be able to do with all this space, the idea of a kegerator came to mind.


Why should YOU want a kegerator?

- It's cost-effective. Buying keg beer is cheaper than buying bottled beer, and WAY cheaper than going out. How do you blow lots of money? Going out to bars to drink draft bar. Put in a little bit up front, and you can enjoy that fresh-from-the-tap goodness in the comfort of your own rat-infested studio apartment.

- It's cool. Ignoring the lame pun, let's be honest... how many of your friends have draft beer at home? You could be the talk of the town, pouring fresh root beer for your three friends at your next D&D gathering.

- ...there must be more reasons, I'm sure of it. Maybe this list can be built up over time. Suggestions?


Has anybody built, bought, or used a kegerator before? One of you must have one these in a basement bar somewhere. Don't be shy, snap some pictures and share your experiences!

I'm just starting in on the research for what materials I need and what to look for in a potential fridge to tear apart, but hopefully as my research and progress, uhh, progresses, and you guys provide your input, we can turn this into a kegerator megathread of sorts.

So far this seems to be a pretty good newbie-friendly A-Z workup of how to make your own kegerator: http://www.realbeer.com/edu/kegerator/

At this point I think I want a 2-tap setup, with a fridge or freezer chest big enough to house two 1/4 kegs and one 5 lb. CO2 tank to feed both kegs.

This kit looks to include most everything I'd need (I'll secure a CO2 tank on my own), but I've yet to price out parts to see if it'd be cheaper to buy everything locally/individually: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...kits/skk2.shtml

In scouring craiglist I've found a number of freezers and refrigerators for under $150, some even less than $100 (and I haven't asked around among friends or relatives yet to see if anybody has anything extra just sitting around). So overall I'm hoping this entire project will come in easily under $300. I can justify that cost by pretending savings will be made up in buying keg beer instead of bottles, and ignoring the added energy costs.

Share your experiences here, and I'll happily keep this OP updated with helpful websites, your suggestions, and my personal progress (with pics of course).

Cheers!

I have picked up 20lb co2 tanks locally for ~20 bucks each on craigslist/newspaper. Most welding equip stores will swap bottles for a full one so you dont have to worry about hydro dates.

I have used them, but dont own one.....yet

glen palmer has something for you

http://www.palmer-pursuit.com/cart/...&products_id=51

I was going to turn our downstairs fridge into one, 'acquired' a tap and then went out and bought some other plumbing....

Unfortunately the roommates were all like "nooooo, we need to put food in there" (it would have had to have the shef removed to fit a 1/6 barrel or quarter because of height and the floor construction).

I 'found' the tap and keg attachment, and after that the rest of the hardware cost maybe $30.00.

The basic hardware for a kegerator is pretty basic, and covered pretty well on the web.

You need to make a kegerator with style, and not just punching some holes in a fridge.

Closed


Open

Here is my kegerator:




Extra energy costs? I know many people that have 2 fridges and/or freezers. You can use them to hold more than beer!

Have fun.
Check out this forum
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/vie....php?f=3&t=7118

Those look like Perlick seal forwards. My favorite tap.