Questions about Custom Bar Setup

[rjthomas21]

I'm looking to build a bar in my basement of our family's cabin and stumbled upon this site. After learning a lot I was able to answer a bunch of my questions but still had a few I was looking for some guidance on.

Is there any special considerations needed if I will only be up at the cabin on the weekends? Any special parts, cleaning, or maintainance I should be aware of? Some kegs may get finished in a weekend or it may take a month or two to go through a keg.

I originally wanted to put the have the taps on the part of the bar that extended out from the wall but looking at the lack of options and extreme price tag on under the counter kegerators, I decided to have the taps on the back counter that is up against the wall (unless anybody has any alternatives). There is a long utility closet that runs behind that wall and the plan was to put the kegerator back there and runs lines through the wall to the countertops. My question here is what is the best way to keep the lines chilled and would it be easier to keep chilled if the taps came out from the wall or from a tower mounted on the countertop?

Since the kegerator won't be seen, what would be better to purchase (in terms of $ and ease of setup and use)? An actually kegerator or a freezer and conversion unit? I'd like to have the ability to hold at least two sixtels (maybe a 1/2 and a 1/6) and it seems like both options can hold at least 2 sixtels. Is that correct? Also, which method is more reliable since the nearest liquor store is an hour away?

I guess mainly what I'm looking for is advice on how to keep the lines chilled from the kegerator, through the wall, and to the taps and which unit is preferred in situations similar to mine.

Thanks so much for all the information on this site and any other advice or suggestions are always welcomed!

[panthermark]

I have a fridge conversion kit....and from everything that I have gathered on this site....a conversion kit (fridge or deep freezer) is the way to go.

A couple things to keep in mind.

If you go with a deep freezer, you will have to be able "lift" the kegs into the thing. Not a problem with sixtels....but I now have a nice herniated disc from lifting a bigger keg into a jeep. (And I'm only 35 and in pretty good shape....or so I thought.)

If this is a cabin....you will have to keep constant power to the place to keep your keg cold.

How "high" do you need the taps to be? Insulating a 12" shank isn't too bad, but if it is coming straight out of the front or side of a deep freezer, than you have to keep in mind that the upper height of a deep freezer is only about 3 feet off of the ground. A fridge or upright freezer conversion will give you more height.

[rjthomas21]

Thanks. Seeing as how my father will be doing some of the lifting I think that an upright unit will be much better for his back. The power to the cabin only goes off when there is a storm rolling through the area. It doesn't happen often (maybe once a month) and when it does it is only for a 2-3 hours. Is this a potential significant concern (besides maybe some slightly warm beer)?

I discussed some of the options with my father (aka investor) and he wasn't too keen with the idea of a temperature regulator. He didn't like the idea of it busting and freezing everything. This means a fridge would be a better choice, right? Can these maintain a temperate of 38ish degrees without the use of a temperature regulator?

His design for the bar includes the taps coming up from the counter so an extra long shank is out of question so it looks like we'll be going the insulated chilled tube route. From my understanding, a fan inside the fridge would push air up through the insulated pvc pipe into the tower thus cooling the entire beer lines? Is there a return pipe for the other air in the tower to return? I've read all I could on this site and believe I nearly have the entire concept grasped but if anybody has any pictures of their own cooling lines I'd love to see them (visual learner).

Thanks for the advice so far.

[cubby_swans]

I discussed some of the options with my father (aka investor) and he wasn't too keen with the idea of a temperature regulator. He didn't like the idea of it busting and freezing everything. This means a fridge would be a better choice, right? Can these maintain a temperate of 38ish degrees without the use of a temperature regulator?

If temperature controllers busting, and freezing everything, were a legitimate concern, people wouldn't use them. Seriously... if the temperature regulator that's built into a refrigerator 'busts' than you run the same risk. So no, a fridge is not a better choice, based on this reasoning.

[rjthomas21]

Thanks. I'll bring this up next time we talk. So in regards to freezer vs refridgerator it just comes down to preference or are there other concerns I am missing?

[cubby_swans]

often people have problems getting beer in a fridge down to temperatures needed for beer. If you buy one, and stick beer in it, and it won't get the beer cold enough... you're screwed if there's no way to modify it. This is not an issue with a freezer/temperature controller.

[huey782]

often people have problems getting beer in a fridge down to temperatures needed for beer. If you buy one, and stick beer in it, and it won't get the beer cold enough... you're screwed if there's no way to modify it. This is not an issue with a freezer/temperature controller.

Temperatures for beer are no colder than temperatures for food. Looking at the forums, most of the "my beer isn't cold enough" problems seem to come from kegerators, not fridge conversions. If you're really worried about it, you can get a thermometer that instantaneously reads the air temperature, and you can check to see if the air coming down into the fridge is cold enough. You can also stick it right on the evaporator coils, and it should pull down to the low-mid 20s. This should only be a problem with a used fridge though (mine's 20+ years old, and pulls down to 38 no problem, without the thermostat at its coldest). If for some reason a new fridge won't pull down, take it back.

[rjthomas21]

Follow up questions. When looking at the setup for chilling the cooling tower, what is the best way to power a small blower? Drill a hole in the fridge and run the power cord through there?

Also, we're looking to install two faucets so should we look into purchasing a piece of equipment that allows me to differentiate the pressure to each keg? Or does the piece that comes in the conversion kit handle that? Or does it not matter much? One keg will probably always be Bud/Miller/Coors and the other will vary but not much (Sweetwater, Terrapin, Dos Equis, etc).

[cubby_swans]

Temperatures for beer are no colder than temperatures for food. Looking at the forums, most of the "my beer isn't cold enough" problems seem to come from kegerators, not fridge conversions. If you're really worried about it, you can get a thermometer that instantaneously reads the air temperature, and you can check to see if the air coming down into the fridge is cold enough. You can also stick it right on the evaporator coils, and it should pull down to the low-mid 20s. This should only be a problem with a used fridge though (mine's 20+ years old, and pulls down to 38 no problem, without the thermostat at its coldest). If for some reason a new fridge won't pull down, take it back.

I've seen several posts from people with older fridges that can't get them to cool a keg of beer any lower than 42 or so... which is fine for food, but not necessarily for a keg of beer. And if that's the route you go, it's likely a used fridge, and you can't take it back. And then there are people who want their beer 'ice cold' (why, I don't know) and a refrigerator is not suited for that, either. A freezer with a temperature controller gives you much more freedom to easily just pick the temperature you want.