> > >   http://www.yashy.com/keg/ 
>
> That's pretty sweet.  That would be perfect for my home brew. :)
> What's a setup like that run ya?  I'm thinking more on the lines of 2 x
> 20l. kegs because I make 20l. batches and usually run one stoute and one
> nut brown ale at the same time.  Change stoute to an India Pale Ale for 
> summer beer.  mmm...  Maybe I can find a pub doing renos. :)

This is how it worked out for me. I will post this to the above URL as well.

I saw a fridge for sale, so I contacted the owner to enquire about inside dimensions. I had always wanted to do a keg fridge project, the opportunity just never came. It turns out the seller (Alan McKay of www.bodensatz.com ) is a local brewmaster. He offered to give me the fridge for free, and would only charge me $20 for delivery (he lived out of town at the time). How could I say no? Thus the project began.

Alan also runs a local brewers mailing list, where I found a CO2 tank, regulator, pepsi keg and some tubing all for $100. I talked the fellow down to $80 and he even delivered it.

I then called "The Draft Shoppe" which is a local outfit that supplies parts to locals pubs. I had them come and install two brand new chrome taps ($90/each, could have got used for 1/2 the price) and the sankey keg punch ($60), and he drilled the holes for the taps, supplied and attached all the required tubing. I told them what I was doing, so I had them split the tubing into a Y, where one goes to the sankey, and the other goes to the pepsi keg input. The hardware and work cost me approx $300.

I had a handyman friend (Sab) friend come over with some scrap plywood, and we built a new floor inside the fridge. We did this for two reasons. The current floor had angles, as to fit a tray. This would mean I could fit less on the inside floor unless the entire bottom was even. It was also 3/4" thick in order to hold the weight of a full beer store (sankey) keg, a full pepsi (corny) keg, and the CO2 tank. The cost was nothing as we just used scraps, this was simply labour.

After that, it is was pretty much ready to go, all I needed was handles for the taps, and some beer in the kegs. After explaining my project over a couple beers at a local pub, the bartender gave me a couple unused handles for free.

I bought a keg from the beer store, and started a home brew (pilsner) with the help of Alan. After some light tinkering with my CO2 regulator I have discovered that 11p.s.i is perfect for my setup. It was a success!

Since then I have made a few adjustments. For my birthday this year I had a friend (Sab) give me a home built drip tray. I guess the yellow plastic bowl on the floor was a bit tacky. He built it with wood, and the drip tray portion is actually made from a floor air-vent cover with a perfectly fitting pencil tray underneath. The wood portion was exactly as wide as the fridge. This allows for two full draft glasses on each side when pouring. It looked really tacky though, so out came the spray paint. I bought 3 cans ($15) which was enough. I painted the entire fridge and drip tray a dark green. I also painted the keg shelf inside a dark green, just for some continuity. As I didn't properly cover everything, I also painted several hundred dollars worth of computer equipment as the paint flecks drifted throughout the not properly ventilated room.

At another local pub I was explaining my setup to a couple reps from Olands brewery who were advertising Hoegaarden. They loved my story so much they gave me two brand new Alexander Keiths handles, and a Keit's towel to cover my drip tray when not in use. This was perfect, as that is the beer I drink from the beer store kegs.

I sent the link with a few pictures to an address at keiths.ca. in hopes of scoring some free loot (nice sticker for the front or something). It appears it got passed around the office, as I had a rush of *labatt.com hits in the following days. They sent me an email to contact my local rep and explain the situation to him. He told me I could buy merchandise.

I picked up a backlit LCD car thermometer which I've attached to the face of the fridge as well. This tells me the temperature inside (0.4oC usually) and outside(18oC) the fridge.

For the future:

My next big addition, I'd like a way to be able to tell how much beer is left in each keg. A beer odometer if you will. I welcome all suggestions. I am willing to drill another hole through the fridge so the odomoter is on the outside. I now I have a touchscreen PC with 4 serial ports I could mount in the freezer door! So a serial port (rs232) solution looks the most promising.

Ideas thus far:

A weighscale underneath. The difference between full and empty could be used to calculate beer poured. Issue: Scale that fits a keg, can handle the constant weight, and is afforable.

A flow control meter. The best idea so far, just have to find an afforable one. Cheapest so far is $295USD.

I'd like a large sticker, or airbrush or something. It's rather plain. I'd also like some large stainless steel fridge handles. I see many that are perfect for the freezer on top, but none for the fridge yet, and I'd prefer matching, I think.

A beer fridge UPS. I'm not sure how much power this archaic fridge draws, but with the current status of hydro here in Ontario, Canada, I can see power outages in the near future. A natural energy solution would be ideal.

Cheers,
Yashy
Keg Fridge Pictures