Kegerator. Build or buy?

[Braufather]

Not being much of a DIY fan, I tend to go for of the shelf/out the box solutions where possible but as kegerators seem to start at £600 and conversion kits cost about £250 I’m tempted to have a go myself and convert my current keg fridge.

Are the any advantages that the grainfather keggerator for example would have over a fridge converted via a kit, and visa versa?

 

[DuncR]

Build your own… go for it.

 

[Leon103]

Only advantage would be any warranty that is offered. Do you have the kegs? Not sure what is included in a conversation kit, especially for £250. They are very simple to make.

 

[gyurmaember]

If you want to keep it in your living room, go for the off the shelf one.
If it's going to a mancave, or shed just make one.

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

Build - it's easy. You need zero DIY skills

 

[Rwilts]

Just started to convert our old small chest freezer into a keezer. Two hours of work tonight resulted in....

 

[White Rose Al]

I grabbed a fridge from Gumtree for £15, tower and taps from BKT and after a couple of hours I have a great kegerator for not alot of money.

Plus I enjoyed the notion of reusing an old fridge that may have headed to land fill

 

[Hoddy]

Go self build. Don’t mess around with a keezer (freezer) conversion. Just get a good larder fridge that will take 3 or more kegs at once and buy the bit from BKT or TMM and away you go.

 

[hop-a-long]

Having bought the MJ kegerator (at a reduced price), I'd say go for DIY. The space in my kegerator is so tight, there's only one way to fit all 3 kegs. And all the kegs are at the same pressure. So I'm still looking at modification in the future.

 

[Graz]

DIY. If I can do it anyone can

 

[Braufather]

Cheers for the feedback everyone. That’s pretty much unanimous! Including from hop along who has the one I would of bought.

I’ve a got a larder fridge that I currently serve kegs with party taps from.

Fitting taps I the door looks simple enough. I guess I can put gas through there as well.

Most of kits use splitters but I’m thinking a manifold may be neater and they are reasonably cheap.

Does everyone carb up in the kegerator too. I was thinking setting it to 15 psi at 8c and that would do for carbonating and serving

 

[Braufather]

Build - it's easy. You need zero DIY skills

Are you sure about that? It’s looks more complicated than I thought

Just been browsing @DocAnna thread here

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/another-kegerator-build.94829/page-5

 

[Braufather]

Gas lines.

Any reason not to use the more flexible beer lines instead of the usual stiff grey lines?

Regulator. I want to keep it simple so what’s the best regulator to get to streamline it so I get reliable pressure across all kegs via the manifold. Do I need a secondary one?

thinking of just setting up a soda stream in the kegerator to dispense the beer and not worry about secondary regs and valves. Use my main gas to to crab kegs outside the kegerator at room temp before transfer into the kegerator. i can also use this with my beer gun And to purge etc.

@hop-a-long Can I ask what gas lines and regulator come with the MJ regulator? Does it have a manifold? Is it the 2020 model?

 

[DuncR]

Once you’ve planed to leave enough space, in-line regulators can be added in slow time

 

[Agentgonzo]

Go for the build! Think how much more satisfying it will be to serve your own beer from your own kegerator!

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

Are you sure about that? It’s looks more complicated than I thought

Just been browsing @DocAnna thread here

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/another-kegerator-build.94829/page-5

It's as easy as this

 

[Leon103]

Gas lines.

Any reason not to use the more flexible beer lines instead of the usual stiff grey lines?

Regulator. I want to keep it simple so what’s the best regulator to get to streamline it so I get reliable pressure across all kegs via the manifold. Do I need a secondary one?

thinking of just setting up a soda stream in the kegerator to dispense the beer and not worry about secondary regs and valves. Use my main gas to to crab kegs outside the kegerator at room temp before transfer into the kegerator. i can also use this with my beer gun And to purge etc.

@hop-a-long Can I ask what gas lines and regulator come with the MJ regulator? Does it have a manifold? Is it the 2020 model?

No issues using reducers etc to using the thinner/flexible lines - may go down that route with mine.

I have a kegland reg, works good enough. In-Line regs are good for setting different psi. Not sure why you would want to using a sodastream - very expensive. Feed the gas through the drain hole, set manifold inside, getting a bigger than needed so you can connect your beer gun easily. My brewday thread shows my 3rd build in more detail.

Also I always force carb and get the beer near to 0c, it absorbs co2 better.

 

[Braufather]

No issues using reducers etc to using the thinner/flexible lines - may go down that route with mine.

I have a kegland reg, works good enough. In-Line regs are good for setting different psi. Not sure why you would want to using a sodastream - very expensive. Feed the gas through the drain hole, set manifold inside, getting a bigger than needed so you can connect your beer gun easily. My brewday thread shows my 3rd build in more detail.

Also I always force carb and get the beer near to 0c, it absorbs co2 better.

This is probably the route I’ll take. I saw on the MM video posted above he used the reducers and put through the drain whole ( can my temp probe go through there too?)

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

This is probably the route I’ll take. I saw on the MM video posted above he used the reducers and put through the drain whole ( can my temp probe go through there too?)

I went this route. If memory serves, BKT sell the whole kit to do all this. I am running the temp probe through the door on mine. I can't remember if that's because the drain hole wasn't big enough or the probe lead was too short.

 

[Braufather]

I’ll check out those kits.