Kegerator 7.2 Frigidaire conversion

[Rotorhead]

I've been waiting until I was finished to post pics, felt better to post a complete thought. I did finish before the holidays and now just catching up on all the important things.

I have been brewing Festa Brew for a little while now and had accumulated somewhere around 150 Grolsch bottles, storage nightmare. My wife got sick of sterilizing with me so got me a gift card to assemble my Kegerator and spare all the trouble. I set out with a couple simple goals:

- Four tap affair to accomodate the events beer was designed for! (Only two installed so far, more to follow)
- Large enough to fit four kegs in a pinch as well as store CO2 tank,while minimizing footprint of the unit
- Look reasonable and not something I need to hide
- Easy to build as I am limited in time, skill and tools

For the design I simply cruised forums and Pinterest to find a design I liked then customized to suit my personal needs, here is where I finished, keep in mind the aforementioned lack of skill and tools.

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I built the collar with Pine as I'm cheap and figured what matter if I'm staining it anyways. After about three coats of stain and seal it was ready. The freezer I bought new for 329. I was thinking about getting a used one but by the time you get an old freezer and haggle on kijiji I felt that a new one would be more reliable, efficient and generally easier. It was however white so I bought some black appliance paint. I regrettable taped some parts of the freezer without really thinking it through so you still see white in strange places. I also used glue on the collar and didnt do a good job cleaning up the mess, so there are some blatant parts where the stain didn't take. It bothered me at first, but once it started pouring beer, I forgave the aesthetic problems. I will post a few follow ups with more info and pics to follow. I originally attached the taps incorrectly but have since corrected should you notice...

[Rotorhead]

The first step was a proof of concept:

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It is a tight squeeze, and no CO2 tank fits, but I can fit five kegs, exceeding the initial four. Four is still a squeeze but this worked perfectly for me. I only have the five kegs right now, four Sanke and one Corney. I got the Sanke's by accident but have embraced it and built the system around them. Opening them isn't that bad once you get the hang of it and Corney's seem pricey to come by so I rolled with it.

Next step was painting the freezer black. I unfortunately made a few taping errors and learnt the importance of distance while spraying but it worked out fairly well overall.

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[Rotorhead]

As mentioned the collar is pine, which is cheap, but you get what you pay for. I chose 1x10 to maximize the height of the collar but the first batch was warped and unusable so I tried wood from a different place and had much more success, at a higher price of course. I simply used a miter saw and cut all the pieces to fit. I then lined them up and used glue as well as a 2" brad nailer to assemble to collar. Afterwards I used brackets inside to increase the strength of the whole affair.

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Once that was done the staining and sealing began. I stained the outside and encountered the staining glue problem. Refusing to start again I accepted it and moved on.

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Once this was done I attached 1" pink styrofoam insulation all around the inside of the collar. This likely is the best insulated part of the whole fridge. Using construction adhesive and a box cutter this was done in no time. I also used some caulking to seal the affair around all the edges, more caulking to follow. I could have used thicker insulation in retrospect, probably would've saved me a good thirty cents a year too.

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[Rotorhead]

Finally the time came to attach the collar and put all the gear into place. I decided to attach the lid to the collar and lift the whole collar when opening. I read a lot of debate about which way was better I decided to try this. So far the hinges haven't complained. See how it does over time, full kegs are just so heavy. Once this was attached I simply attached the old hinges into the collar and was done.

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I then drilled two of the holes for the Perlick faucets. I only bought two as this whole thing was getting pricey for the holiday season, but have room and markings for the other two. I attached the faucets and mounted my manifolds. I went with a dual secondary regulator and a 2 way manifold. I am planning to put a second 2 way manifold once I get the next two faucets. This gives me a CO2 line I can crank up for carbonating, or keep one lower in the case I want a lighter carbonation. I then simply ran all the lines and started enjoying the fruits of my labor.

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If interested ask any specific questions and I would be happy to elaborate or discuss. I am very new to all of this so would love anyone's input on improvements or better ways forward.

[LeafMan66_67]

Nice build and great writeup.

[Bluefin 774]

Very nice build. It looks great. Always nice to build your own. A few months ago, I built a double tap kegerator with a 4.4 cu ft Danby fridge. I posted the videos on here in the DIY section, Enjoy your kegerator.

[chalmers]

Thanks for the great pictures and write-up! You've earned those pints!

[mr x]

Well done.

[RubberToe]

Great job. Are those sankes 30 litre?

[Keith]

Looks great

[Rotorhead]

Great job. Are those sankes 30 litre?

No they're 20L kegs. They just look much bigger because they're sitting on the hump in the freezer.

[mackay85]

This looks great! I have a two tap tower kegerator, but would like to go with 3-4 taps in the future. I like the idea of the keezer, and painting it black looks sharp! Great job!