Kegerator on speed......Home made kegerator

[brenmurph]

Just made the long awaited kegerator today.
I bought the insulating panels 2 months ago and they were sitting in the shed. I got my as into gear today and hey presto, some cosmetic finishing left to do but it is built using an old cheap fridge two 8x 4 insulating panels and several tubes of builders caulk.

Size: roughly 2 foot x 4 foot
Cost 80 euros + an old cheap fridge
Extras needed: a socket to plug it in to

Benefits  ( for me anyway with my volume of brewing):

Takes 6 corny kegs.
3 compartments 1, under the ice box for lagering thermostat keeps at 2celcius two kegs capacity.
compartment 2 for serving storing lager  8celcius
compartment 3 for serving ales kept at about 10-12 celcius.

Efficiency:  room temp to frozen in 5 minutes,
Capacity about -20

Havnt tested room tem kegs yet to see how long to chill but the blast chill compartment goes really quickly to -10c so I suspect itll b efficient.

How it works and how it was built.

8x 4 insulating boards 4 inch thick and 2 inch thick and made what is actually a box with an open top. The pic of the lid does not really show that I made a lid with a smaller section which slots into the top opening and then over as well ( double insulation on top and a door draft strip as well)
Old fridge carcass had to be removed from the working parts witout breaking the workings.
As you see in the pics the workings are all still as they were in the old fridge (the fridge is completly gone) the pic shows the fridge workings installed in the insulated box.
I made dividers which can seperate the kegerator in three as mentioned above to get three temps in one fridge.
Ok I panel off the section with the quick remove panel and it holds most of the cold in the icebox end of the kegerator for lagering, this is set by thermostat to 2celcius and will stay at that unless set otherwise. A v is removed from the panel to allow some cold to flow to the next compartment and again to the third. trail and error determined the size.

If only using two kegs I will use the first compartment only so the rest of the kegerator is not sused but willl be quite cool, great to store a few dozen bottles!

I will demonstrate it in detail at the next kildare brewday.

In summary this is a million times better that a fridge, extremly powerful and extremly good insulation cost of ESB is expected to be minimal
main benefit is perfect cold storage and versatility and threee temps in one kegerator.

Another option which I use in my old kegerator is to use PC fans and thermostat to acheive perfect cold temp control to con

any queries send them on and remember its not quite finished yet only build it today.

[brenmurph]

sorry cant upload pics it says can only upload 500kb..... and max 20 pics...and total 500kb.....we need to upgrade that situation!

[brenmurph]

ah too much hassel...I can upload a basigaabyte to my server!
Ill stickem on my web in one lump if anyone is interested personaltraining.ie/keg

[brenmurph]

If photos are more than 500kb apiece they'll be too big to fit on screen anyway, so you'll need to reduce their size. I use this as you can just right click on an image and pick your resolution.
http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/

1024 x 768 is plenty for online viewing.

500kb per post... just do multiple posts!

Theyre only 350ish and it wont upload, tried twice, but if it is really 500kb max wel den wont upload anyway. Catch yis tomora at 2pm..

[Snuff]

Had a look at the pics on your site, still looks like an in-progress project. Is it all working for you now?

[brenmurph]

Ye ive been planning it a while back with a focus on making a kegerator  with incredible insulation properties. My old kegerator was effective but driving all day last summer trying to keep up.

Technically it will be exceptionally and the three varying temp compartments will  be its USP.

Havnt got the thermostats finished yet then theres the edges to cover and so on. Its designed to go in the shed but my next one is going to be one disguised into my bar with T&G cladding aand so on.

People say why dont i buy just buy and old chest freezer because effectively that what it looks like, well its because a freezer has an inch of insulation and  my Kegerator has 4 inches. The other is that I can use the full floor space which takes 6 cornies 2 notmal corneys and 4 of the taller 23 ltr ones and also the compartment dividers. As well as being to serve ale and lager at different temps while lagering two kegs of say a lager and an altbier (or any other beer u wanna leave on ice)

Plan is to have it completed on next Kildare brewday

[Padraic]

I really like your sectioning idea! How can you get different temps in each compartment using just one hacked fridge?

4" insulation! The best kind of overkill!

[johnrm]

Hi bren,

Email me one of the pics and I'll see what the problem is.
I'll PM my email address.

John

[brenmurph]

I really like your sectioning idea! How can you get different temps in each compartment using just one hacked fridge?

4" insulation! The best kind of overkill!

cos the coldest part is at the evaporator (cold mechanism) or is that bit called the condensor?

Where the original fridge icebox is is thermostatically set to stay between 2 to 6c (avg 3) this is ideal for lagering, the scetioning allows a small amount of cold in through a v cut in the divider panel so the second section does not get as cold and if necessary I have a third section which can be even warmer.

Testing at present, with just the lagering end at 2c and a four keg compartment staying between 8-10c simply by using the insulated divider panel. Thermostat is fully adjustable I can leave the whole kegerator at whatever temp I want but as Ive built it for holding 6 kegs it allows lagering say a lager and an altbier, serving lager in the second section and serving ale in the last section.
Hopefully that all makes sense

[JimmyM]

my eyes wont read this as its all in imperial.
pity

[johnrm]

I thought all ye Tallaghfornians were Miles and Feet! 

[delzep]

my eyes wont read this as its all in imperial.
pity

you expecting the tempertures in Kelvin too?

[JimmyM]

Seriously though,
So you have one source of cold in the first compartment.
You cut holes in the partitions to the next 2 compartments, and the size of the holes determines how cold they get?


What happens when you have (relatively) warm or cold kegs in there - will the size of the hole still get you to the temp you want? (I suppose it will - eventually)

You must have the need to lager all the time then do ya?
Cos its not very efficient unless you are. i.e. if you just want to serve ales (the furthest compartment from your fridge) the fridge needs to work to keep the first (coldest) compartment at the correct temp so that cold can sufficiently leak out to the ales compartment.


I suppose in that case you might put your ales in the "lager" compartment and up the temp on the controller. But plumbing problems might not allow that in your system.

OR might a better model not be to have the freezer in the middle compartment and have a bigger or smaller hole to either side. That last one is me just thinking out loud - not sure if it is better or worse.

[johnrm]

How about doing it vertically?
Coldest at the top. Less Cold Middle. Least Cold bottom.
Once target temp is reached in your top chamber, a solenoid opens a 'gate' to let cold air cascade down to your middle chamber.
Once target Temp is reached in the middle chamber, a solenoid opens a 'gate' to let cold air cascade down to your bottom chamber.
Once target temp is reached at all levels, Gates close, COmpressor shuts off.

Horizontally...
Coldest at the Left, Less Cold Middle. Least Cold Right
Use 12v fans in your  chamber walls.
Once target temp is reached in your Left chamber, a fan at the base of the partition blows cold air into the middle chamber.
Once target Temp is reached in the middle chamber, a fan at the base of the partition blows cold air into the Right chamber.
Once target temp is reached in all chambers, fans off, Compressor shuts off.
(Might need solenoid controller sluice to isolate chambers, similar to )

Horizontal alternative...
Fan pushes cold, less dense air from base of current chamber UP a pipe so cold air enters the next chamber high up and sinks.
No need for Solenoid controlled sluice.

The Vee bit doesn't float my boat.

Another Horizontal Alternative...
Sluice only (No fan) between chambers.

/Madscientist over

[brenmurph]

Jazus lads, do ye think I have all day to comment on those essays.

Come and see it working.

In summary, The kegerator is made for 6 kegs as many people know I brew a lot and yes I have a need to lager all the time, it is unlikely the first compartment will be ever empty. I lager lagers and Altbiers specifically, I always ahve an altbier coming up. I currently have 13 beers/ batches on tap (8 full kegs and 5 in secondary)


the first compartment can be whatever temp I want down to keep it at. The v opening works perfect, running for 12 hours yesterday First compartment 3-6c the rest stayed at between 8-10c (air temp variation is due to compressor kicking in every hour or so) The kegs hold a constant average temp. The unit is so well insulated there will be no difference in performance in summer. The refrigeration unit is more than powerful enough to rapidly bring temp to the double figure minuses ( remember its a fridge not freezer unit)

This system is extremely simple, no gismos needed and no fans ( I have used fans and thermostats on my last Kegerator) by trial and error I discovered what size hole needs to transfer from one compartment to the other.

The whole kegerator can be kept at any temp I like and if only two or four kegs I have a full divider to seal unwanted space and save energy while increasing performance. Remember as well as lagering at low temps a quick chiller compartment is very useful for rapidly cooling say at a party when I run out of beer and have to slap in another couple kegs as the others run out. In addition guests bring their own drinks e.g. wine and no alcohol beer and the eegits that drink coors, if necessary they can be blasted in the coldest section whilI still have 4 kegs at serving temperature.

Hope this answers some of yor comments!