Tony's Kegorator Mk 2

tony05

tony05

Well i started building one a year or so ago........... posted some pics i think. But the freezer was a piece of shit and i wanted a bigger one.

Well........... i scored a 500 liter chest freezer for $50 and its a rippa.

I began work on it. I have a 3 tap cobra font with the latest design Perlick taps (got em from the US seing as the Aussie dollar is kicking the greenback arse ATM )

I have the font mounted and the water recirc was tested today..... all day, for leaks and not a drop! Took a bit of "strip and rebuild" to stop the drips but all i can say is thank god for Loctite gasket goo

I have installed a fan to recirc air, and mounted a PT100 temp probe into an old JD bottle. Tee bottle will be filled with metho (never goes bad) and placed where it works best. may take some experimentation. This method buffers the compressor cycle a bit and helps extend the life of the freezer.

here are some pics.

Here is the font mounted up on the freezer....... god i cant wait to get it running!

FontonKegorator.jpg


The inside mount of the font. I had to cut a bit of water proof ply to help support it through the thin metal lid. Once its working i will plug this with some foam insulation to insulate it.

Fontthroughlid.jpg


The temp probe in JD bottle. I mounted the probe into the lid so it screws on and off and is water tight. Very happy with this!

Tempsensor.jpg


The cold water tank for the font and the pump and plumbing. Ive put a ball valve on the pump outlet to regulate the flow......... this pump really goes hard. Id say 2 to 3 times the flow of a march pump and not much bigger. Identical design but a bit bigger is all.

Coldrecircpump.jpg
 
The return to the cold water tank..... nice and simple.

coldliquidreturn.jpg


ANd an over all pic of whats in there so far.

wideview.jpg



Im planning on just adding a cup of sea salt to the cold water for the font. I wont be freezing it, its just cooling for the lines all the way to the taps so all i need to do is stop the water going bad. Salt should do this.

More pics to come........ there are kegs and beer to get going yet. I have some fitting on order that i should get next week to get beer flowing from the taps.

I have a brown porter ready to filter, a Maibock thats cold conditioned for 2 months ready to filter and a Belgian Saison Stout ready to rock and roll.

Ooooooo i cant wait to have 3 beers on tap.

cheers
 
Tkromer said:
So you're keeping your beer at freezer temps??
Click to expand...

No i have installed a temperatire controller in the side. I can set it to what ever temperature i want and it will switch the compressor on and off to suit. I stripped the origional thermostat out all together and re-wired it all.

Do you really think i would freeze the beer ? ;):lol:

Found a fitting on the cold water tank with a very slow leak..... a small puddle under it. Will have to drain the system and re-do the fittings. There all getting gasket goo this time!

cheers
 
Looks awesome!

Ya got yer own damn Pub now. :cheers:

Curious, if the fittings are tight and done proper...why would they leak?
 
One fitting leaked cause i didnt put enough thread tape on it. Its fixed now!

Im also dropping the idea of the salt and will look into some food grade Glycol to prevent corrosion.

cheers
 
mmm and drank my last beer in the one keg i have too ya bastard.

Will filter 27 liters of 7.5% Maibock and gas it up...... should have it right to go before bed time.

cheers
 
Filtered it, gassed it and poured it.

Ohhhhhhhh WOW!

7% Maibock made with premium german pilsner malt and new season german hops (saphire and hallertau) cold conditioned at 2 deg for over 2 months.

Oh WOW.

:P

Its nice.

Will filter the 50 liters of porter tomorrow night.

cheers
 
tony05 said:
No i have installed a temperatire controller in the side. I can set it to what ever temperature i want and it will switch the compressor on and off to suit. I stripped the origional thermostat out all together and re-wired it all.

Do you really think i would freeze the beer ? ;):lol:

Found a fitting on the cold water tank with a very slow leak..... a small puddle under it. Will have to drain the system and re-do the fittings. There all getting gasket goo this time!

cheers
Click to expand...

I didn't notice that part. I wasn't worried you'd freeze the beer, even at 5-7% it shouldn't freeze unless it was REAL cold. I was mostly concerned because good beer served much warmer :) The temperature regulator should let you make it just perfect. And Maibock sounds GREAT :)
 
Nova......... its free for everyone who spells my name with a "Y"

for you.............. on your knees boy!

I plumbed up the gas and beer lines tonight, dropped the Maibock keg and a 50 liter keg of summer brown porter in and its chilling down as i type.

By tomorrow night i should be able to start testing it. I expect a few teething problems but should be right.

cheers
 
Pictures as promised:

A Sweaty Cold Font

Floodedfont.jpg


Inside the freezer. I have had to double the length of the 5mm ID lins from the 4mmID line i was using in the fridge. There are still gas and beer lines to go in for 2 more corny kegs

Pics blured cause the kegs are actually illegal to use in Australia.

Insidethefreezer.jpg


My home made and expandable gas manifold. Cheaper than the barbed ones on line and i can add or subtract to it as i please

GasManifolds.jpg


And here it is with the first of my beers on tap...... the Aussie summer Porter.

Porter832x1248.jpg


Cheers
 
Beauty!!!

How'd ya get a Black Butte Porter Tap???

I love that beer...it's from my neck of da woods. :D

Kegs are illegal?? WHAAAT?! How the hell do ya do keggers?
 
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