I wanted to share my recent build as there’s not much on here of late on managing kegerator builds in more modern household refrigerators. This is not a super detailed build thread, it’s a pragmatic build using as much hardware on hand as possible. Goal was to get the brewery back up and running so i can share homebrew with friends/neighbors.
First, this is NOT the best model to choose, as the curved doors are a challenge, but the build came out perfectly fine. We recently moved and the fridge icemaker was broken along w/ a defrost issue (i think it was just too full), so sellers gave us $$ for a new one. The 2nd hand fridge, which costs $0 and is already in the house, is the right fridge to convert, plain and simple. The Home Depot guys were happy to move it into my garage rather than on their truck. I wanted 4 taps, but space for 5 in 1 door ideally, as there are controls in the left door.
1. Rip out the drawers and shelves,, unscrew The drawer slides. As this thing fills up with kegs, I’ll need to move the door shelves as well.
2. Find a random old ikea metal shelf, or a piece of painted plywood to reinforce the bottom (kegs are heavy)
2. Remove door handle on the tap side - maybe not required, but if you want to squeeze in 5 taps, youll need the real estate. It’s no issue opening a french door fridge with 1 handle, just need to open left door first.
3. Plan the shank holes and drip tray. without making a massive mess cutting foam/plastic in the door, there is about 13” of space on the inside of the door to stay within the compartment. To get 5 taps, one need to collapse to 2.75” spacing on center between taps, not ideal, but glad i did it for the 5th tap. BUY YOUR SHANKS AND MAKE A TEMPLATE ON GRAPH PAPER. Drilling into pretty stainless doors is high stakes poker. Measurements for me ended up as follows:
- Top of door to tap centerline - 17“. (Go 2 “ lower so to have a chance of NOT hitting a wire…more on that later)
- centerline to centerline span 5 taps - 11”, 2.75” spacing
- bottom of taps to top of drip tray - 9”
- Drip tray width - 14”. (Brewhardware sells a perfect one for this build)
4. Hardware list: (All from Brewhardware, of course)
- 5 QD gas assemblys- brewhardware sells these, it’s 5X8 mm tubing+ john guest/flare connection on one end, duotight QD gas on the other end.
- dual gauge Komos regulator
-5 lb CO2 tank.
- 4 X 8 mm OD tubing- female flare push fit connectors - allows me to reuse my existing manifolds. Need 4 to attach Each manifold to the regulator outputs
- 3 ft gas tubing 5 mm X 8mm to connect regulators to distribution manifolds.
- Co2 manifolds (reused)
- Faucets - 3 SS perlicks (reused) , 1 Intertap nukatap with Nitro/stout attachment, and I’ll add a 5th tap shortly, probably Flow control for my seltzer.
- Shanks - 3 x 5” and 2 X 4”. note the door gets thicker towards the center of fridge. Now that build is done, could have gotten away with 3 or 4 4”, but the 5th tap on the center edge of the door definitely needs 5”. 3” not enough for any of the holes, i could not repurpose old ones.
- Beernut/shank connection - i opted for the pushfit/john guest beernut connection that Bobby sells. Easy.
- Beerline 5 X 5.5’ 4 mm x 8 mm EVA barrier semiridgid
- 5 X Duotight liquid QD’s (get the ones that fit 8 mm OD tubing)
- 14” drip tray (brewhardware)
First, this is NOT the best model to choose, as the curved doors are a challenge, but the build came out perfectly fine. We recently moved and the fridge icemaker was broken along w/ a defrost issue (i think it was just too full), so sellers gave us $$ for a new one. The 2nd hand fridge, which costs $0 and is already in the house, is the right fridge to convert, plain and simple. The Home Depot guys were happy to move it into my garage rather than on their truck. I wanted 4 taps, but space for 5 in 1 door ideally, as there are controls in the left door.
1. Rip out the drawers and shelves,, unscrew The drawer slides. As this thing fills up with kegs, I’ll need to move the door shelves as well.
2. Find a random old ikea metal shelf, or a piece of painted plywood to reinforce the bottom (kegs are heavy)
2. Remove door handle on the tap side - maybe not required, but if you want to squeeze in 5 taps, youll need the real estate. It’s no issue opening a french door fridge with 1 handle, just need to open left door first.
3. Plan the shank holes and drip tray. without making a massive mess cutting foam/plastic in the door, there is about 13” of space on the inside of the door to stay within the compartment. To get 5 taps, one need to collapse to 2.75” spacing on center between taps, not ideal, but glad i did it for the 5th tap. BUY YOUR SHANKS AND MAKE A TEMPLATE ON GRAPH PAPER. Drilling into pretty stainless doors is high stakes poker. Measurements for me ended up as follows:
- Top of door to tap centerline - 17“. (Go 2 “ lower so to have a chance of NOT hitting a wire…more on that later)
- centerline to centerline span 5 taps - 11”, 2.75” spacing
- bottom of taps to top of drip tray - 9”
- Drip tray width - 14”. (Brewhardware sells a perfect one for this build)
4. Hardware list: (All from Brewhardware, of course)
- 5 QD gas assemblys- brewhardware sells these, it’s 5X8 mm tubing+ john guest/flare connection on one end, duotight QD gas on the other end.
- dual gauge Komos regulator
-5 lb CO2 tank.
- 4 X 8 mm OD tubing- female flare push fit connectors - allows me to reuse my existing manifolds. Need 4 to attach Each manifold to the regulator outputs
- 3 ft gas tubing 5 mm X 8mm to connect regulators to distribution manifolds.
- Co2 manifolds (reused)
- Faucets - 3 SS perlicks (reused) , 1 Intertap nukatap with Nitro/stout attachment, and I’ll add a 5th tap shortly, probably Flow control for my seltzer.
- Shanks - 3 x 5” and 2 X 4”. note the door gets thicker towards the center of fridge. Now that build is done, could have gotten away with 3 or 4 4”, but the 5th tap on the center edge of the door definitely needs 5”. 3” not enough for any of the holes, i could not repurpose old ones.
- Beernut/shank connection - i opted for the pushfit/john guest beernut connection that Bobby sells. Easy.
- Beerline 5 X 5.5’ 4 mm x 8 mm EVA barrier semiridgid
- 5 X Duotight liquid QD’s (get the ones that fit 8 mm OD tubing)
- 14” drip tray (brewhardware)
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