Please show me your beer keg installations

[goodfellow]

Some of you have gone the extra mile in your shop and installed a beer station with tap and keg. I'm looking for some ideas -- what's the best way to do this? Buy a "kegerator", or make your own from an old fridge?

How long does keg beer stay fresh? A friend's wife wants to get him such a setup for Christmas, and she asked me for some answers -- which I don't have.

I have a fridge in my garage, but tap beer would be too much of a temptation in my own garage, and greatly interfere with the work at hand

 

[speed bump]

Talk to your local refrigeration or commercial resturant equipment suppliers, usually used equipment can be had pretty cheaply.

 

[48548]

I have better pictures at home, but you get the idea with what I did.....

 

[russlaferrera]

That is one looking Coke machine!

 

[Northstar9126]

Assuming that you can get beer bottles to work in your Coke machine it has to be the greatest beer cooler on the planet. The thermometer at the top is an excellent idea. I have a factory Kegerator that the wife bought me as a gift several years ago which I really like but would much rather have the Coke machine. I could stock it with a variety of my favorite beverages.

 

[Yoke]

48548 That is one sweet coke cooler.... would be able to tell me what year it is, so I can start looking for one

 

[48548]

http://www.colamachines.com/machines/Cavalier/CavalierCS96/Cavalier-CS-96.htm

This will give you all the info you need, and if you want pictures of mine and the 12oz beers that i holds, I can send them when I get home.

 

[z28toz06]

I have better pictures at home, but you get the idea with what I did.....

Holy Giant pictures Batman!
Is that lifesize!

 

[z28toz06]

One thing I learned is get a CO2 bottle setup. IT makes the beer last longer. Also don't put the c02 in the fridge with it.

 

[dwilliams35]

I've got the CO2 in the fridge with it: haven't had any problems at all that way. Maybe slightly less life with cold CO2, but heck, with the bottle I've got, I ran 27 kegs before I had to change it one time. Kegs do have an effective life: as long as they stay cold and pressurized, it's into the months, though. They've got a born-on date: you need to watch that: if you're going to kill it in one party, it doesn't really matter. If you are going to keep it for a while, it matters a lot. I actually started drinking less once I had the keg: don't know why. Mine's in a 6-foot wide double stainless commercial refrigerator: I can put four kegs in it if I need to. Just used a through-door refrigerator conversion kit from www.beveragefactory.com . I put it through the side instead of the front of the fridge: if it'll work with where the fridge is, etc., I think that works pretty good: that way you're not pulling on the hose every time you open the door to throw something else in there.