my tap tower build

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jotakah

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Joined
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Location
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Hey everybody, thought I would share my tap-tower build for you. I wanted something simple, small, and cheap. I got some ideas from here and here and other places as well. I had previously converted this fridge to be a simpler kegerator, where you open the door and pour your beers from the black plastic party-tap. But after 2 years of that, opening the door every time I wanted a beer was getting inconvenient. Thus, taps!!

First, I made a small box with some hemlock wood. Drilled in the tap holes and made a groove for a hinge, and stained it.

I wanted to use an old bamboo cutting board as the "bridge" between the minifridge and the tower, but it was all cut up from years of chopping vegetables on it. So I sanded it as best I could before cutting a notch out of it for a drip tray and staining it. As you can see I was able to get rid of many of the knife-marks. If I'd tried harder, probably could have gotten them all.

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Okay, as you can see the notch fits the small drip tray (about 6"x5"). Stain looks nice and covers up some of the knife-marks. Most of them are in the middle anywhere, where the tower will sit. Then it was time to start drilling in the fridge.

I decided to drill 2 small holes for the copper pipes instead of 1 big one. Here you can see the two holes just after I broke through the metal, and then after I made it down into the fridge. The hole on the left side ended up juuuuust skimming the fridge's cooling pipe, which you can see as the black thing in the middle of the insolation. Lucked out there, once I found it I started drilling that hole at an angle away from the pipe, since these holes were slightly larger than the outer diameter of my copper pipes anyway

Then it was time to drill pipe-holes into the bamboo "bridge" and prep 4 more holes to bolt the bridge to the fridge

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Okay so here is where the work started getting frenzied so I apologize there aren't more pics.

Obviously, I spaced the holes to fit perfectly between where my CO2 cylinder/regulator lives in the fridge (on this back shelf thingy) and where my kegs sit. Then I sized how far down into the fridge I wanted the pipes to drop (about 7") and cut the pipes to the length to fit just where I wanted them. I taped the hell out of them at the point where they sit in the fridge insulation so that they would hold still, then I sprayed them with some foaming insulation. All around the whole bottom of the inside of the tower. This obviously serves to hold them in place, and to insulate the copper.

Then all I had to do was feed the beer lines through and attach to the shanks, and then it was done! Works like a dream

Thanks for checking out my DIY build. I know it is not as fancy as some of what you guys make but I'm sure others out there are into lower-effort projects like this

Let me know if you have any questions! :mug:

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I like the use of the cutting board. Nicely done.

Thanks. It was SWMBO's idea. :ban:

I was discussing how I wanted a wood rectangle that was thinner than 1/2" and was not plywood, and was having a hard time finding something that fit the bill. Almost immediately, she asked "well why don't you use one of our cutting boards?". DUH! I kept thinking I needed "wood" wood, totally forgot about "alternative" woods like bamboo :drunk:
 
I used to use my freezer as my kegerator but am switching to a mini fridge. I wanted a tower instead of going through the door, but my shanks are too long. This is a perfect solution. Thanks!
 

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