Cheapest way to get a Kegerator/Keezer

[htims05]

So I had one of those mini fridges with the metal plate "freezer" in them - Saw a few people that bent the plate down and converted that to hold 2 corny's...yeah didn't work for me.

So now with brew day around the corner I need to find a kegerator. Here's my predicament...

I don't have a whole lot of space for one, the mini-fridge was a free garage find and sat on my covered back deck...worked fine there for years (I hear though your not supposed to have refrigerators out in the cold, can get down to 20f or so for a few months...i'm in upstate SC). So I was planning on just sticking the kegs in there with a few party taps and letting it ride.

Now that idea is gone...what's my cheapest alternative. I've looked at amazon and I might just buy one prebuilt - none have great reviews...and I'm not going to spend more than a few hundred for this, not a $900 one.

I'm not opposed to a keezer build, but I'm not sure where I'd put it, that'd likely be to big for the back porch.

Open to ideas...while i scour craigslist...which seems to have next to nothing where I live.

 

[IslandLizard]

Commercial kegerators are way overpriced, and give you 2 or 3 taps max on a tower.

Look for a chest freezer, new (preferred) or Craigslist (may break sooner, or not).

Hybrid solution:
I use an upright freezer with taps coming out of the door. Fits 5 ball lock kegs after removing the bottom section of the inside door panel with the shelves. I picked one up for $100 off CL, locally.

A chest freezer with collar would look better, work the same, except larger ones can host more kegs, even 8 or more.
Aside from the freezer itself, count on spending a minimum of $400-600 getting it all together. Collar wood, faucets, shanks, fittings, lines, gas distributor, etc. It adds up.

 

[mongoose33]

You can get some fairly small chest freezers from which you can make a smallish keezer. A 5.0 cubic foot freezer has a pretty small footprint. You can get 2-3 kegs in there depending on the height of the collar and the size of the kegs--a pinlock form factor is larger in diameter but shorter, so they may fit on the hump. I can do that in my keezer, the regular kegs on the floor of the unit, the pinlock form factor ones on the hump.

Look in my sig for a way to make a keezer easily without any glue.

 

[greywolf]

I built mine on the cheap. $149 for a 7.0 cu ft freezer at Home Depot. Added a collar and paint. Hooked it up to a inkbird and done. I use picnic taps. Just open the lid. My drip tray is a drywall mud pan with some slots for the taps to rest in. I may add real taps later but no hurry as these work fine. I may have $200 in the whole thing. Holds 4 kegs. I could have searched out a deal on a used freezer and saved $100.

 

[greywolf]

A view of the cluttered inside. Room for all the essentials. Condensation hasnt been as much of a problem as everyone said. I wipe it out when changing kegs.

 

[htims05]

If I used one of the 5 cubic ft chest freezers could I fit 2 ball locks and the co2 in there without a collar?

 

[tellyho]

If I used one of the 5 cubic ft chest freezers could I fit 2 ball locks and the co2 in there without a collar?

Might be able to. Are you planning on just picnic taps, then? Collar is necessary to mount taps.

 

[htims05]

Might be able to. Are you planning on just picnic taps, then? Collar is necessary to mount taps.

Yep just picnic for now. I'm only looking to cool 2 ball locks and if I can fit it the 5lb co2 (which has the 3 gauge regulator so I can serve and carb at the same time.

 

[odie]

3 kegs and a small CO2 is possible in the right 5.0cf freezer without a collar. Or 2 kegs and a 20# co2 with no collar.

Older freezers often have only a corner hump. Long time ago I had a 3 keg draft tower 5.0 freezer with 5# co2 and no collar.

They are hard to find but still out there

 

[greywolf]

Atta boy. You can upgrade later.

 

[sicktght311]

I've got the insignia 7cuft chest freezer turned into a keezer

Freezer - $149
Collar - $15 in wood and 10 minutes of cutting, screwing, and staining
Taps - 4x Draft Warehouse self closing taps - $80
Misc Tubing - $20
Inkbird ITC308 - $30
4 Way co2 Manifold - $25
Misc Ball Lock Fittings - $30

Thats all you need to get it done if you want 4 taps. I can fit 3 regular corny style kegs in the freezer portion, and then i have a shorter wider converted pin lock keg i put on the hump, or a 3gallon keg if i'm doing imperial style smaller batch beers. My 5lb CO2 tank with regular sits on the hump with the small keg, and i have a 4 way co2 distribution block on the back wall of the collar.

So all in all under $400 for a fully functioning 4 tap keezer. If you went with picnic taps, you could do it for less. The collar is most likely necessary however to fit most corny kegs. They're too tall unless you get a much taller than it is wide chest freezer

 

[bonerjamz]

Yep just picnic for now. I'm only looking to cool 2 ball locks and if I can fit it the 5lb co2 (which has the 3 gauge regulator so I can serve and carb at the same time.

did you ever find out if you can fit two ball locks with a 5# co2 in a freezer without a collar? Looking for a similar situation for myself.

 

[lump42]

If space is tight, upright fridges work as well and there's no need for a temp controller that way.

Edit: Bonus you can store hops and yeast slants in the freezer section.

 

[htims05]

did you ever find out if you can fit two ball locks with a 5# co2 in a freezer without a collar? Looking for a similar situation for myself.

No. I decided I really don’t have the space for a keezer so I just built a mini fridge kegerator.