| If you like the idea of enjoying cold draft beer in the | | | | Now that you have everything you need for your |
| comfort of your own home, but buying a new | | | | home made kegerator, it's time to get to work. |
| kegerator is not in your budget, don't despair. For a | | | | Remove all of the shelves from the refrigerator and |
| fraction of the cost of a new kegerator, you can | | | | thoroughly clean the inside. Check the floor of the |
| build your own. Building your own kegerator can be | | | | refrigerator for level. If it is not, you need to build up |
| accomplished some with basic household tools, and | | | | the floor to make it flat and level. This can easily be |
| just a minor amount of do-it-yourself skills. On a | | | | done with some plywood, 2x2s, and a few shims. |
| do-it-yourself difficulty scale of 1 to 10, this job is | | | | Drilling a hole for the tap |
| about a 2. Your homemade kegerator can easily be | | | | If you are building a mini fridge style of kegerator, |
| completed in about an hour. | | | | you need to decide if you're going to have a top |
| The first thing you need to do is get a refrigerator. | | | | mounted, tower style tap, or are you going to mount |
| Used refrigerators can often be found for little or no | | | | the tap in the door. If you're building a top mounted |
| cost. Depending upon how much room you have for | | | | tap, you should remove the interior plastic top panel |
| your kegerator, and how much beer you'd like it to | | | | to expose all of the coolant lines. You need to be |
| hold, you could either go with an upright (kitchen | | | | very careful not to damage to refrigerator's coolant |
| style) refrigerator, or a mini fridge. Obviously, an | | | | lines, or you will have to start over with a new fridge. |
| upright will provide you more space for beer, other | | | | If you are building an upright style of kegerator, the |
| drinks, mixers, food, and ice. The benefits of the mini | | | | tap will be drilled through the door, which has no |
| fridge style are space savings and energy savings. If | | | | coolant lines, so this is not a concern. |
| you choose to go with a mini fridge, measure the | | | | If you're building an upright kegerator conversion, |
| interior dimensions of the unit to make sure it is big | | | | mark a point (or points) on the outside of the door |
| enough to hold a keg with a coupler on top of it, and | | | | where you would like to place the tap(s). Make sure |
| a 5 or 10lb CO2 bottle with pressure regulator. Some | | | | that the spigots will be elevated enough to clear the |
| mini fridges are too small to be used as kegerators. | | | | keg and coupler, and that they are centered. Drill a 1 |
| Below are the dimensions of commonly used kegs: | | | | 8" pilot hole for the shank holes. Make sure that this |
| - Beverage, or Cornelius Keg: (popular among home | | | | hole goes all the way through the door. Once you |
| brewers) 25" tall, 8.5" diameter - holds 53 12oz | | | | have your pilot hole, drill a 1" shank hole in the outside |
| servings of beer | | | | of the door for the faucet, using your drill and the 1" |
| - 1/6 Barrel: 23.3" tall, 9.25" diameter - holds 55 | | | | hole saw. Drill a larger 2" or 3" hole on the inside of |
| servings | | | | the door, using one of the larger-bore hole saws. Fit |
| - 1/4 Barrel, or pony keg: (comes in two sizes) Short | | | | your shank into the door with the flange against the |
| measures 14.8" tall by 17" diameter. Slim measures | | | | outside, and the nut tightened onto the inside of the |
| 23.3" tall by 11". - Both hold 82 beers. | | | | outer panel of the door. (The larger hole on the inside |
| - 1/2 Barrel: 23.3" tall, 17" diameter - serves 165 12oz | | | | allows access so you can tighten the shank nut.) If |
| beers. | | | | you're building a mini fridge kegerator, do the same |
| Once you've selected the appropriate refrigerator, | | | | thing to the top of the unit, being very careful not to |
| you'll need to choose your kegerator kit. All of the | | | | damage the coolant lines. |
| parts included in these kits can be purchased | | | | Assembly |
| separately, but we highly recommend using a | | | | Installing a drip tray in either kegerator style is simple. |
| kegerator kit, rather than buying individual parts. First | | | | For a regular size kegerator, use the drip-tray |
| of all, the kits generally save you a few dollars, and | | | | mounting bracket to mark out the mounting holes |
| secondly you'll have everything you need, and it will all | | | | and drill them in the door. For a tower style |
| be compatible. As an extra bonus, most kits come | | | | mini-fridge, we recommend a self-contained spill tray |
| with detailed instructions specific to building a | | | | that is manually emptied. |
| kegerator using the parts enclosed, as well as any | | | | We recommend that you buy a beer line cleaning kit, |
| necessary specialty tools. When choosing your | | | | and thoroughly clean all the beer lines before hooking |
| kegerator kit, you'll need to decide how many taps | | | | them up. Then hook up the beer and gas lines, flush |
| you want (i.e. how many different types of beer you | | | | them and sanitize them again. Prior to pressurizing the |
| want to serve at once) and if you want a basic kit, | | | | system, make sure that all hose clamps are |
| or one with more bells and whistles. | | | | tightened, that the CO2 tank is secured, and the |
| Next, assemble the tools necessary to build your | | | | temperature in your kegerator is between 33 and 38 |
| kegerator. Even though the kegerator kits typically | | | | degrees. After you have hooked up your keg and |
| include any specialty tools that are needed, you will | | | | pressurized the system, start out at 13psi as a |
| need a few basic household tools. You'll need the | | | | pressure setting, and adjust from there to achieve |
| following tools to complete the job: | | | | proper carbonation level for your beer. If the beer |
| - Electric Drill | | | | pours with too much head, lower the pressure. If it |
| - 1/8" drill bit | | | | comes out of the tap slowly, or appears flat, raise |
| - 1", 2" and 3" hole saws | | | | the pressure. |
| - Flat and Philips head screwdrivers | | | | The final step is to relax with a fresh draft beer, and |
| - Needle nose pliers | | | | think about all the money you saved by building your |
| - Adjustable wrench | | | | own kegerator. |
| - Level | | | | |
