If you’d like a chilly glass of beer on the finish of the day, you may need seemed into kegerators. Nonetheless, these keg and refrigeration unit hybrids can get dear. However concern not! You’ll be able to simply make one out of an outdated mini fridge.
A home made kegerator is cheaper and extra sturdy than a store-bought one. Whereas you’ll need some primary tool-handling abilities to get the job completed, virtually anybody can do it.
Prepared? Let’s flip a mini fridge right into a kegerator.
What You’ll Want
To make a kegerator, you’ll need these supplies:
- Mini fridge
- Keg coupler
- Keg
- Strain-adjusting air regulator
- 7 ft 3/16” beer line
- 5 ft 5/16” fuel line
- 5-pound CO2 tank
- Liquid line connector package
- Beer faucet
- Faucet deal with
- Rubber grommet
- Silicone sealant
- Drip tray
- Draft tower
- Shank
- Hex nut
- Airline
- Disconnect
- Plywood
- Energy drill
- Steel putty knife
- PVC pipe
- Pliers
- ⅛” drill bit
- 1” and three” gap noticed bits
- Screwdrivers
- Aluminum foil
- Rubber caulking
- Faucet wrench
- Wheel board (non-obligatory)
- Wooden varnish (non-obligatory)
If you’ll find a kegerator conversion package, it’ll embrace many of those supplies. The three forms of kegerator kits embrace door, tower, and Keezer. Assuming your mini fridge doesn’t have a freezer, you possibly can deal with the door and tower choices.
A few of these instruments will range based mostly on the dimensions of the supplies you purchase and your particular kegerator package. Regardless, it helps to have all of them helpful in case you want them through the course of.
Step 1: Modify the Mini Fridge
Clear It
Earlier than you begin drilling, it is advisable to open up the fridge. Start by cleansing and sanitizing the fridge utilizing applicable merchandise.
Make Room For the Keg
Subsequent, you can begin eradicating the door and shelving. If there may be the {hardware} on the sidewalls, make sure to get a smaller keg that matches.
For cumbersome {hardware} that takes up an excessive amount of house, attempt to take away it and canopy the areas with an insulating materials that won’t transmit chilly.
Additionally, massive mini-fridges may need sufficient room to slip the keg in with out eradicating the door. If that is so for you, you possibly can skip that step.
Both approach, you continue to have to do away with the cabinets.
In case your fridge has uneven flooring, make an elevated flat ground from plywood.
Find the Cooling Traces
On the highest of your fridge is a metallic or plastic seam. It normally has a niche of metallic on all sides. Take away this seam with the metallic putty knife by wedging beneath it little by little till you possibly can pull it out.
Beneath the seam are foam and cooling strains. You’ll be able to spot these strains extra simply by mixing rubbing alcohol and cornstarch. Rub this combination on the fridge and plug it in for a couple of minutes. The alcohol ought to evaporate and depart the cornstarch behind the place the strains run.
Make a document of the place the cooling strains are earlier than continuing. For those who rupture the cooling strains, you’ll want a brand new fridge. You will want to carry out this step if you happen to plan on putting in a draft tower on prime of the fridge.
For door-mounted taps, you don’t want to be as cautious.
Step 2: Drill the Mini Fridge
For those who purchased a kegerator package, the offered directions will let you know the right way to full the conversion. In any other case, we have now you coated.
First, determine what number of faucets you need and the place you need the handles to be. Additionally, determine the place you intend on conserving the CO2 tank and the place you’ll run the strains within the mini-fridge.
For a door- or side-wall-mounted faucet, you’ll drill a gap proper within the spot the place your faucet will go.
In case your mini fridge is massive sufficient, you possibly can preserve the fuel tank and its strains inside. In any other case, you’ll need to drill holes on the other facet and seal them with a rubber grommet or silicone sealant.
Draft tower designs require a gap drilled on the highest to run the strains by way of the unit.
Be certain to keep away from drilling by way of any cooling strains or coils. For those who can, pull up some fridge schematics to point out you the place the coils lie.
For those who like ice-cold beer, drill the outlet between the cooling strains in order that the beer pipes contact them for additional chilling.
Take away any cracked plastic and foam. You’ll be able to expedite the method by slicing a gap within the foam to see the strains and cut back the waste.
Step 3: Fill It with CO2
Feed the CO2 strains by way of the designated holes and line them with the canisters. Then, run the beer strains by way of the canisters. Be certain to maintain the road ends clear.
Lower some plywood to the dimensions of the froth insulation to exchange the lacking materials. Drill a gap by way of the plywood for the strains.
If you hook up the fuel and beer strains, be sure to flush and sanitize them. You must set the regulator on the CO2 tank to 5-8 psi. If in case you have a liquid line connector package, observe the directions to assemble the system.
Step 4: Create a Conduit
Use PVC pipe to make a conduit that runs by way of the highest and connects to the underside. Aluminum foil paired with rubber caulking can function insulation for the PVC pipe. Mildew the supplies across the ends of the pipe when you’ve put in it.
Step 5: Safe the Prime and Faucet
Drill one other gap by way of the highest of the mini fridge that matches across the PVC. Safe the highest again on and seal any holes.
For those who opted for a wall or door faucet, set up the beer faucet and faucet handles of their positions as nicely. Run the shank by way of the door gap and tighten it with the hex nut. Then, join the strains and taps to the keg coupler from the shank. Set up the airline between the keg coupler and regulator.
For draft towers, mount the draft tower on prime of the fridge and run the strains inside. Use a plastic flange to carry down the tower, and safe it with hex nuts.
Then, join the beer line to the keg coupler from the tower shank elbow. Lastly, join the keg coupler to the regulator with an airline.
Once more, the precise directions rely in your supplies and whether or not you got a kegerator package. Those listed right here will present a basic overview of what you may anticipate from the method.
Step 6: Add Any Extras
Now could be the time to get fancy!
Add a drip tray beneath the taps to stop any spills. Go for one which incorporates the liquids and requires guide elimination to empty for the most effective outcomes.
For those who don’t just like the “fridge” look, you possibly can cowl up the plastic with plywood and stain it with wooden varnish to customise the looks.
Regularly Requested Questions
Listed below are some frequent questions regarding the right way to flip a mini fridge right into a kegerator.
What Kegs Slot in Mini Fridges?
There are round 5 keg sizes one can find. These embrace:
- Slim Quarter: 7.75-gallon capability, 23.3 inches tall, 11-inch diameter
- Sixth Barrel: 5.23-gallon capability, 23.3 inches tall, 9.5-inch diameter
- Half Barrel: 15.5-gallon capability, 23.3 inches tall, 17-inch diameter
- Pony Keg: 7.75-gallon capability, 14.8 inches tall, 17-inch diameter
- Homebrew/Corny: 5-gallon capability, 23.3 inches tall, 8.5-inch diameter
The keg dimension you select will rely on the dimensions of your fridge and the way a lot beer you want to retailer. Most mini fridges can accommodate the homebrew or corny keg.
How Large of a Mini Fridge Do I Want for a Kegerator?
When changing a mini fridge right into a kegerator, you’ll need to depart sufficient room for a keg and probably the CO2 tanks. You may get round not having the fuel tanks inside, but it surely does assist preserve the system extra compact.
Attempt to get a mini fridge with a peak larger than 25 inches. That can depart sufficient room for a lot of the keg varieties, with the distinction relying on the width of your fridge.
What Mini Fridge Is Finest for a Kegerator?
The perfect mini fridges for kegerators embrace:
Crucial factor is to decide on a fridge with a big sufficient capability in your keg. All of those will match the homebrew kind, however a bigger one can accommodate extra vital beer volumes.
How Do You Flip a Freezer Right into a Kegerator?
You’ll be able to create a Keezer by constructing a wooden collar between the highest and backside of the freezer. Right here, you possibly can drill loads of holes for the shanks and taps with out compromising the cooling strains. Plus, chest freezers can match many kegs without delay.
If you wish to use a freezer, you’ll need a temperature controller to keep away from freezing your beer. You’ll additionally have to search for a Keezer package fairly than a kegerator one.
