phettebs
Landlord.
Now that I am a proud owner of my very own UK beer engine, I need to get it into production! My plan has been to use my existing kegerator which is just a chest freezer with a temp controller. I currently use corny kegs and I lift the lid of the freezer and use picnic taps to fill my glass. Not very elegant but it works.
With the engine, I will need a place to mount it and then a place to run the line. I will also have 2 cornies on tap as well. Rather than drill through the sides of the freezer and run the risk of hitting a cooling line, I will be building a wood "collar" which will be mounted to the top of the freezer. I'll remove the lid and the lid will then be mounted to the collar. With the collar in place, I have a safe area through which to do any drilling and mounting of hardware.
But what good is a story without some pics of the process? I don't expect this to be the epic Shed Building thread but hopefully someone finds it interesting or at least takes the piss out of my lack of carpentry skills!
Right, let's start with the freezer. My original plan (before the beer engine) was to have four cornies on tap. So this freezer is big enough for that. Now it will be two cornies and a polypin.
Here is the beer engine after I took it out of the shipping box. I have since cleaned it up and reassembled it. It is simply begging for a pint of beer to be run through it!
For the collar, I am using 2x6 pine as my base. It will match the perimeter of the top of the freezer, under the lid.
I will then attach 1x8 pine to the base so that I have 2" extending below the base. This will "lock" the base onto the freezer. I will not actually attach the collar to the freezer in any way other than the weight of it and the 1x8 holding it in place. Here is the base cut out but not screwed together:
Now that the base of the collar is connected, I've started gluing the 1x8 to the face of the base. I went with glue because the it was a face to face join and I didn't want a bunch of screws or nails all the way around.
Before the next step, I removed the lid from the freezer and put the collar in place to test the fit. Of course, it did not fit at all. I made a poor assumption whilst measuring the top of the freezer. I assumed the the thing was square! It turns out, the sheet metal under the plastic top of the freezer, actually bulged out as much as 1/4" in some spots on both sides of the freezer. I used a router to cut some of the material away on one side of the collar and then used a hammer to bash the metal back flush with the plastic top of the freezer. My projects never go smoothly. :evil:
Now that the collar is all together, I can start to drill holes for the hardware. Here I've drilled two 7/8" holes for the beer shanks. I will put two Perlick SS faucets on the outside and inside will run to the cornies. I didn't take pictures but there is also a 5/8" hole for the beer engine's line, a 1/4" hole for the temp controller probe, and an oversized 1/2" hole for the CO2 line.
With the holes drilled and the corners caulked, I stained and then varnished the collar. Keep in mind, this is not a demonstration of proper woodworking skills. I'm not all that handy and this is meant to be functional. Eventually, I will finish my basement and build a bar. The kegerator will be closed away in the "beer room" with the taps protruding from the wall behind the bar. Nobody will see it!
Well, that's it for now. The next step is to attach all the hardware like beer shanks etc. I will take pictures of each step and post them to this thread.
Baz
With the engine, I will need a place to mount it and then a place to run the line. I will also have 2 cornies on tap as well. Rather than drill through the sides of the freezer and run the risk of hitting a cooling line, I will be building a wood "collar" which will be mounted to the top of the freezer. I'll remove the lid and the lid will then be mounted to the collar. With the collar in place, I have a safe area through which to do any drilling and mounting of hardware.
But what good is a story without some pics of the process? I don't expect this to be the epic Shed Building thread but hopefully someone finds it interesting or at least takes the piss out of my lack of carpentry skills!
Right, let's start with the freezer. My original plan (before the beer engine) was to have four cornies on tap. So this freezer is big enough for that. Now it will be two cornies and a polypin.
Here is the beer engine after I took it out of the shipping box. I have since cleaned it up and reassembled it. It is simply begging for a pint of beer to be run through it!
For the collar, I am using 2x6 pine as my base. It will match the perimeter of the top of the freezer, under the lid.
I will then attach 1x8 pine to the base so that I have 2" extending below the base. This will "lock" the base onto the freezer. I will not actually attach the collar to the freezer in any way other than the weight of it and the 1x8 holding it in place. Here is the base cut out but not screwed together:
Now that the base of the collar is connected, I've started gluing the 1x8 to the face of the base. I went with glue because the it was a face to face join and I didn't want a bunch of screws or nails all the way around.
Before the next step, I removed the lid from the freezer and put the collar in place to test the fit. Of course, it did not fit at all. I made a poor assumption whilst measuring the top of the freezer. I assumed the the thing was square! It turns out, the sheet metal under the plastic top of the freezer, actually bulged out as much as 1/4" in some spots on both sides of the freezer. I used a router to cut some of the material away on one side of the collar and then used a hammer to bash the metal back flush with the plastic top of the freezer. My projects never go smoothly. :evil:
Now that the collar is all together, I can start to drill holes for the hardware. Here I've drilled two 7/8" holes for the beer shanks. I will put two Perlick SS faucets on the outside and inside will run to the cornies. I didn't take pictures but there is also a 5/8" hole for the beer engine's line, a 1/4" hole for the temp controller probe, and an oversized 1/2" hole for the CO2 line.
With the holes drilled and the corners caulked, I stained and then varnished the collar. Keep in mind, this is not a demonstration of proper woodworking skills. I'm not all that handy and this is meant to be functional. Eventually, I will finish my basement and build a bar. The kegerator will be closed away in the "beer room" with the taps protruding from the wall behind the bar. Nobody will see it!
Well, that's it for now. The next step is to attach all the hardware like beer shanks etc. I will take pictures of each step and post them to this thread.
Baz
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