Upgraded my drinking to the next level

[AdequateEatin]

I FINALLY FINISHED IT!
Back in November my original kegerator died on me while I was on vacation and I ended up losing a lot of good beer.

RIP. Version 1 of my kegerator (seen below)



I wanted to repair the sweet baby, but my wife was sick of looking at the "ugly black freezer" in our house. Thus, I set out on a project that I am damn proud of, one that I just wanted to show off. So here take a look at what I made.

Behold! Version 2



No, that is not too good to be true, that is a 8.7 cubic foot chest freezer wrapped in a wood shaker style frame (to match the rest of our cabinets), but still giving the freezer plenty of room to breath inside. This beauty has three taps, a built in drip dray with glass rinser (seen below) to get any impurities out of your glass before a nice smooth pour.



You better believe that this baby is wired to have its own thermostat to keep it between a nice crisp 38 and a refreshing 41 degrees.



Thanks for taking the time to let me show off to you. I will leave you with one last look. Cheers!




A few more pictures for jfmorris

Don't judge my hose management too harshly yet, I have yet to fill her up and see how the hoses will lay best when full.

[holehogg]

Thanks for sharing. Hold your head up high it looks great. Excellently finished Sir. Cheers to the new kegerator.

[FireMan]

I hope yer open fer binness, cuz I think everbody is goin to want one. Excellent!

[RonB]

Very nicely done.

[jfmorris]

That looks great, and I can't say I ever saw a keezer (freezer->kegerator conversion) built quite that fancy around here. Beautiful work!

Most I see are like your old one at best. Is all of that wood top with the taps mounted directly to the lid and hinged to swing up, for changing kegs and CO2?

Those STC-1000 style aquarium temperature controllers are the bomb for temperature controllers. I use two of them for fermentation controllers.

Anyway, I have two 2 tap kegerators in my garage made from black Danby 4.4 cubic foot minifridges, with beer towers on top, which look pretty commercial, but SWMBO would never let me have them in the house. I had one in my office for a while and moved it back to the garage as it was too tempting to fill my coffee cup with beer instead of coffee while working... it was closer than walking back to the house and getting something else to drink!

[AdequateEatin]

Yes that is exactly it. the wood is bolted to the top with the CO2 regulator in there. I have added a few more pictures up top to show you. what it looks like with the lid up. I haven't had time to fill her though.

My wife also wanted it out so this was the compromise we made. We are a big social household so it is easier to have the guests just walk over to the dining area for a top off rather then go into our garage.

Everyone is guilty of a breakfast beer every now and again.

[Santamarina]

AdequateEatin A breakfast beer has always been a possibility since I got my first kegerator 15+ years ago!

[au4stree]

That is quite impressive, you should be proud of that. Nice work!👍🏼👍🏼

[DaveD]

That is a FANTASTIC job! Beautiful work, you should be proud as punch. Makes me wistful for my old homebrewing days...

[58limited]

Beautiful

[HawkerXP]

Very nice!

[HawkerXP]

would like to see the innards.

[AdequateEatin]

I just put a few more pictures up top.

[bardsleyque]

Great job! you should be proud!

[texastweeter]

Holy cow!

[bbqLuv]

"Upgraded my drinking to the next level" When I read the title, I thought it was an upgrade to PBR!

Very Nice, Kegerator, a portmanteau of keg and refrigerator.

You Done Good

[AdequateEatin]

Hahaha. PBR is alright, but I work in the beer/hops industry I need to be seen drinking something a little more hop forward in order to represent.

[bbqLuv]

The beer industry, are they hiring?

[AdequateEatin]

Always!

[Stuey1515]

Beautiful work!! What time time does the bar open?

[jfmorris]

AdequateEatin thanks for the added pictures - its a lot bigger than the freezer looking at the lid. Does that give you room for the CO2 tank outside the freezer? I have two kegerators running from one 20 pound tank here, and run the CO2 in through the back of each fridge.

We were more social before COVID. These days the only folks drinking my beer are our 3 kids and their spouses, plus me. We've got a good "summer" setup with the pool and lots of outdoor seating and grills, so I hope we get to do a little more entertaining this year than the last couple.

I've got 4 taps, and blew the last keg last night trying to pull a pint. I brewed a porter last week, so hopefully will get all taps pouring again over the next couple of months.

[jfmorris]

AdequateEatin Hmmm. I've never used coffee in a porter, or chocolate, but some folks get notes of both coffee and chocolate from the darker roasted malts used to give a porter or stout its dark color.
I had a 5 pound tank as well as the 20 pound, but gave the 5 pounder to my son in law along with a CO2 regulator, 2 5 gallon corny kegs, and some picnic taps, so that he could turn an old fridge into a kegerator.

[Santamarina]

Traditionally a Porter doesn’t have the roasty flavors a stout has, but I’ve had many stouts that were mislabeled as porters. Still, most darker malts give something closer to "coffee" than lighter malts do. Stouts, coffee, and dark chocolate go together for a reason!

[AdequateEatin]

Yeah the darker malts give hints of coffee to me every time I try one. Any of the darker beers like porters, stouts or brown ales I have tried I get the taste of coffee and I am not a fan, but I still keep trying them hoping one day I will learn to like them.

[smokin fool]

Great work, if I had that in my man cave my marriage would be....over....
....well, I hope not....