Kegerator Build Part 2

A couple weeks ago, I bought the mini fridge that I would use for the insides of my kegerator. While brewing one Saturday, I took some time and separated the internals from the useless (to me at least) outer shell.



It was a lot easier than I had anticipated, all that was required to take this apart were a screwdriver (or drill), a hammer, a clamp, and a couple blocks of wood.  The key was to do it slowly and work in small sections.  In order to make it a bit easier to work with, I removed the door from the fridge.



The next thing I did was remove the steel shell from the insulation and disconnect the compressor from the frame.



Next, I took out the freezer compartment that will distribute the cooled freon inside the kegerator.



After that, I took had to peel away some styrofoam to get the cooling lines out.  At that point, the guts of the fridge were completely removed.





The last thing I did was flatten out the freezer compartments with some clamps and blocks of wood so it will fit up against the wall for my build.



Like I said, if you're planning on doing this yourself, just take your time.  I was terrified that I would nick a freon line and my $50 purchase would be a lump of trash, but just checking what I was taking apart along the way really helped.  All in all, this took me about 45 minutes from start to finish.  While my single hop additional beer was boiling was a perfect time.

On deck: Hail Storm Hefe (3/11)
Primary: Kitchen Sink Ale
Secondary: Maibock, Dark American Lager, German Pilsner
Total for 2012: 25 Gallons

Kegerator Build Part 1

I am about to embark on the most extensive build that I have ever done.  As I had posted in a previous blog, my wife and I moved into an old farm house recently.  What I didn't mention is that we are expecting our first child in the beginning of May.  Everything I have heard says that a stockpile needs to be made in preparation since my free time will be limited for a while.  So, like any homebrewer, I decided to build a kegerator to help save me the time of bottling.  I was surprised that it really didn't take much convincing.  Marygrace was 100% on board, we just had different ideas of what the kegerator would be/look like.  We have a small pantry, and I wanted to put a fridge in the basement and run the lines through the walls and hook up the taps in there, but I was vetoed on that suggestion and what I ended up with was a gutted fridge from the 1940's (maybe) that we found on craigslist.





As I said, this project is going to be massive, and so is the fridge.  Its large enough to fit four kegs and underneath in the small cabinet, I will be able to stash a couple tools and the CO2 tank.  One of the biggest challenges is going to be taking apart a mini fridge and somehow getting the internals into the fridge.  It sounds like it will be hard, but we shall see...

Someone had previously gutted this fridge and turned it into a tool chest, so one of my first orders of business was to take out all of the shelves and door compartments.  Below are the before and after pictures.










There are still a couple things that I need to get done, the most challenging perhaps, is to buy a mini fridge, disassemble it and transfer the parts into the kegerator.  The next step after that will be to insulate the kegerator and pipe in the taps, but that is a lot further down the line.

We're still not 100% sure on what we want to do with the colors, but we are thinking a robin's egg blue with white/cream doors and chrome accents.  This definitely wont be something that happens over night, so I look forward to constantly updating this blog on my progress with it.

On Deck: Maibock
Primary: German Pilsner, Dark American Lager
Secondary: Light American Lager, Vienna Lager
Total for 2012: 10 Gallons

Portable Kegerator/Jockey Box Round 2

As I had left it in the last post, I had just finished assembling the top.  My original plan was to just use some 2"x4"s and build a basic structure underneath, but I was convinced by Marygrace to just go the fancier route (and easier) and buy four pre-made table legs with mounting brackets.  It really wasn't anything more difficult than screwing on a few brackets and then screwing in the table legs.



I was a bit worried about having enough room underneath to maneuver the kegs and have room for all of my attachments, but I ended up having about 5" which was plenty of room.



Here's a picture of it fully assembled.



Here it is after some staining and varnishing.



I got a fancy four valved manifold for the CO₂ line.  This way, if one of the kegs got kicked I could shut off the gas so it wouldn't drain the keg if someone pulled the tap.



And here is is fully assembled.





Marygrace's mother had made me a skirt to go around the bottom of the kegerator, blue and white checkered.  Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any photos of it while it was set up.  So next time I use it, I will post some pictures up here.  I also designed this kegerator to be able to fit into the back hatch of my car, so if I ever have to transport it, I'll have to post those photos too.

Primary: Lite American Lager, Ginger Ale
Carbonating: Honey Dunkelweisen
Total for 2011: 60 Gallons

Portable Kegerator/Jockey Box

I always need a project, Marygrace will tell you that.  Typically its brewing a new beer, but since we're getting married and going on our honeymoon soon, I don't want to start a new brew since I wouldn't have time to tend to it.  So, my attention turned to the fact that we just happen to have four beers that we will be serving at our rehearsal dinner, and I just also happen to have a beer tower with four faucets sitting in the attic unused.  Interesting.

I didn't know exactly what I was doing to start.  I was just kind of winging it.  I found a spare Rubbermaid tote in the attic as well, 19" wide x 32" long, so it would fit all my kegs, ice and the CO2 tank.  I measured the kegs at 25" tall so that was enough for me to start with, I had my volume that I needed under the table.  Next, I sketched out a design for the table.  I wanted the overall height for pouring to be about chest height, so I decided to design it tiered.  I'll have some room on each side for cups and a sign displaying what's on tap.



I went to my local hardware store, purchased all of my wood, and I was ready to go.  I decided to go with pine because it was cheap, and I am using a dark cherry stain in hope that it will compliment the brass of the tower nicely.

More will be coming in a later update...

Primary: Honey Dunkelweisen

Secondary: Honey Toasted Oat Brown Ale, Wedding IPA

Total for 2011: 53 Gallons

Lake Effect T-Shirts Available

Try to contain yourselves.  I know its hard considering that you can now own your very own Lake Effect Brewing Company t-shirt.  The design that Nate had created for the bottles and the website was too good to not be displayed to everyone even if they weren't drinking my beer or visiting the blog.  I had to shove it in their face.



Nate and I started printing shirts over eight years ago with some breaks in between as well as some improvement in our process.  I am selling these for $10.00 each.  If you're interested, just let me know.  Right now, I only have a couple of larges and extra larges, but if there is enough interest I will be printing more.  Right now, they are light blue with white printing, but if I end up printing more, I will be able to print any color shirt requested, you would just need to let me know.

On Deck: Honey Dunkelweisen (5/29), Wedding IPA (5/30)
Primary: Hefeweisen 2, Honey Toasted Oat Brown Ale
Secondary: Hefeweisen (dry hopped with Sorachi Ace), Traditional Pilsner
Total for 2011: 46 Gallons

Glass Carboy Etching

This year for Christmas, I got two brand new three gallon glass carboys for brewing.  I was really excited about this since it will allow me to do some really fun and experimental beers without having to drink five gallons if it doesn't turn out great.  The only tough part is since I'm doing primary in the glass carboy instead of a brew pail or my conical, I don't know when the carboy is up to the two gallon mark.  I used sharpie on the carboy for a while, but it just doesn't have the pzazz that I'm looking for and it can easily be scraped off when cleaning.

I remembered back a few years ago when I was looking for some projects to do on Home Brew Talk.  Etching the glass would be a great permanent fix.  So, I decided to give it a shot.  For the test I should have done the numbers and level markings, but there was a large open space on each of the carboys, and I decided to go big instead of going home and etch the Lake Effect Brewing Logo into the carboys.  I taped off an area with masking tape to get started, then I printed out the logo in black and white and taped it onto the glass.





Next, I went at it full force with an Xacto knife.  I'm not gonna lie, this took a while, so I found a comfortable spot on the couch and a good show to watch since I ended up being there for a couple hours.  (If anyone is wondering, I watched Chopped one night, followed by the news the next.)  Here's the progress I made with it.





After that, it was pretty easy.  I picked up some glass etcher from the local craft store.  (I bought the 10 oz. jar, but I would suggest getting the smallest size you can.  With the amount I used, I could etch about 50 carboys at least.)  You just have to follow the instructions and you're good to go.  I only left it on for about 5 minutes, I probably could have gone longer, but here are the final results.

 





Once I get it filled with beer, I will try to get a couple more photos of it, and hopefully they will turn out a bit better.  The one problem I did have was that some of the etcher was able to seep in between where the masking tape overlapped.  I am hoping to remedy this on the next carboy by using contact paper or something of the sort that is a single surface.  Anyways, onto the next carboy, and what I was planning on doing originally, making level marks.  I do get sidetracked easily...

On Deck: Irish Red Ale (2/1)
Primary: Beef on Weck Ale
Secondary: Nothing
Carbonating: American Pale Ale
Drinking: Rye-rish Red Ale