Homemade Keg Cooler

[glubash]

Hello all, thought that I would share a picture of my homemade keg cooler (aka R2BEER2)! I put this together a few months ago for a Labor Day beach party. Happy to report that it worked wonderfully! Two days of 80-90 degree temps and it still had ice left over when I dumped it out on Monday.

If you are interested in seeing how it was made, feel free to take a look at the instructables page that I posted awhile back (many more pictures there):

Portable Keg Cooler (a.k.a. R2-Beer2)

Cheers!
Glubash

[fnmocurtis]

Nice cooler. I did something for a friend a year ago with a very large tote bin that held 2 kegs. Not quite as isulated as yours but held ice for 2 days. More than long enough for the party!

[Itch]

Bringing back an old thread, but very nice Glubash! I actually saw that about a week ago on instructables and am building something similar. Great idea and concept and this will be a big hit for my big houseboat trip this summer.

[glubash]

Bringing back an old thread, but very nice Glubash! I actually saw that about a week ago on instructables and am building something similar. Great idea and concept and this will be a big hit for my big houseboat trip this summer.

Glad that you like it. I'm considering pulling the wheels off the bottom and using a hand truck instead for better mobility. It would also provide a nice place to mount the CO2.

Regards,
Glubash

[Itch]

Good idea. I actually mounted a large Thermoelectric cooler on the lid of mine so I can keep my keg cold without ice and have it wired to a 12 Volt Cigarette lighter style plug (great for RVing or tailgating). I also hinged my lid, and added limiting chains, so the lid can only go so far back, as well as a latch to keep the lid down and in place.

[glubash]

Good idea. I actually mounted a large Thermoelectric cooler on the lid of mine so I can keep my keg cold without ice and have it wired to a 12 Volt Cigarette lighter style plug (great for RVing or tailgating). I also hinged my lid, and added limiting chains, so the lid can only go so far back, as well as a latch to keep the lid down and in place.

Very nice! Please post pictures if you have them.

Where did you get the 12V cooler? That would be a good upgrade for mine.

[Itch]

Here it is so far. Still waiting on the C02 tank so I can install the plumbing for the keg.









This is the cooler I'm using:

LARGE THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE | AllElectronics.com

Runs very well. So far with an 80mm fan on the hot side, I was getting 70*F on the hot side and about 10*F on the cold side. With the cooler plugged in for 6 hours the water at the bottom of the cooler was 46*F. I'll let it run over night to see what I get. I have wired to a plug that I can either plug in a cigarette style lighter or plug it into a small power supply and run it off 110Volt outlet.

[glubash]

Looks like I have some shopping to do. On a fishing trip in FL last fall with temps in the 90's I had to reload on ice about every 2 days or so (unfortunately it was in the sun). One or two of these would save a few trips to the store! Add a fresh load of ice for thermal mass plus the additional cooling would probably keep a keg cold for quite a while. Plus, being an EE, this is just the sort of geeky thing that my buddies have come to expect from me.

Let me know how your overnight test turned out.

Thanks,
Glubash

[Itch]

Yea, this would help with that. Water is down to 42*F so far. Not bad for about 18 hours so far plugged in.

[Hennepin]

Yea, this would help with that. Water is down to 42*F so far. Not bad for about 18 hours so far plugged in.

I have made something similar using a industrial grade trash bin. I had spare keg parts including a 3 tap tower so overall costs were not that bad. I really like the idea of the Thermoelectric cooler on yours.

[Itch]

Thanks, After 24 hours the water is holding 42*F....which I don't' think is too bad with no thermal mass in the container. I think I could get it colder if I hooked up a fan in the container, but I will wait and see on that.

[Itch]

So yesterday I was looking at this and saw I had a small 40mm 12 volt fan unused sitting on my workbench. Figured I would have a go with it and install it on the cold side, on the lid. Did some messing around and this is what I came up with. Just fired up the cooler again now and the base reading of the water was 62*F at 8:45 AM EST.

[Itch]

Already down to 42*F and the rest of the cooler is colder than before without the fan. The cold air is being distributed around much better with the fan.

[Itch]

Thought I would post a small update. With no thermal mass, the water inside holds 42*F. I added about 5 lbs of ice inside and with the added thermal mass the water was holding 38*F.

[Rkulp]

Very cool. I'm just wondering why you would put all that money and work into something that just holds ice. You can pick up a used fridge for less than $50 if not free.