ZaGhost

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Heh, I was gonna ask you if that was a working tap whenI was over... hehe :-)
I'm thinking of adding an in wall system at some point... my rec-room shares a wall with the furnace room...should have room ther for a small fridge..or maybe freezer (thanks to RNT's idea) mount a tap or 2 through the wall...
Probably won't be a reality for a year or 2, but who knows... for now, just bottling in Grolsch bottles :-)
Speaking of which, need to get a batch on soon.......

Jobberx

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Rednecktech, What kind of timer are you using on your draught freezer? Is it just a general purpose timer, or is it one with a temp probe that works like a thermostat? I am building something similar and i'm not sure how i will regulate the temparture. Thanks

Rednecktech

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It's a standard exterior timer for home use from Canadian Tire, cost about $25. The thermostats are a couple hundred bucks and higher. I decided it wasn't worth that kind of investment so was going to scrap the freezer idea and use a fridge but I really wanted to use my DAB tower. After thinking about it for a while I decided to try a timer, it works great. The temps fluctuate maybe a couple degrees F so it works well.

Keep us posted on your project

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j.harrison1991

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Greg! Your gonna have to set me up with some gear when I move out!!

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Jobberx

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Thanks, i was hoping i the less expensive option would work. I will post some pictures when i am finished.

Rednecktech

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Absolutely!

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Jobberx

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I finally finished my draft beer system and i am quite pleased with how it turned out. I started with a small chest freezer that i got for free from my mother inlaw. It was a little rusty from being in her cellar, but works just fine.
I bought a used ceramic molson tower from e-bay and cleaned it and replaced the o-rings in the taps.

I wanted to make the freezer look a little better so i bought some small ceramic tile and made a counter top for the freezer. I then attached thin pine to the body of the freezer with construction adhesive. I also insulated the tower with stick on plumbing insulating tape and added a small blower from Princess Auto with an piece of flexible plastic pipe to cool the lines in the tower. Here are a couple pictures.

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Rednecktech

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Sweet looking unit! I wanted to do something similar to mine but then a higher power told me as soon as I got it all done Murphy's Law could kick in and the compressor in the freezer would die so I've opted for the old "plaster it with beer decals" option!

Congrats, may you enjoy many yrs of cold beer from it

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MMansfield

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Finally got around to posting some pics of my unit. Perhaps sparked by freshly cleaned tap lines and insanely good IPA. It's a small Wal-Mart deep freezer I haggled down to $199 as it was a slightly dented display model. Drilled a hole in the centre of the top and mounted a single tap tower I received as a present for graduating university. CO2 tank isn't small enough to fit in the freezer so I drilled a hole in the top left corner to run a line into the freezer. An excellent thing about the unit is that it as an adjustable temperature setting nob. I bought it thinking I'll need a timer but the lowest setting actually keeps it at about 2-3 degrees, so I just leave it at that. I also made some panels out of pieces of sheet metal for the front. I glued on a bunch of beer labels I steamed off beer bottles I drank and coated them with spray on plastic. I then stuck them on using velcro so when the freezer dies I can put them on the new one. Enough talk, here's the pics...

DonaldMcL

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All I have to say is wow. Makes my simple system look like a joke. Where did you guys get the taps? I'm thinking I might want to switch to something like this, as bottling is a huge PITA.

Also, where did you get your gear? Tanks, kegs, etc?

One last stupid question... how do you get the beer into the keg?

Downs

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so mine isnt nearly as nice as the previous post
but im happy to have some beer on tap
in fact i have a bit of a problem that some of you guys may be able to help out with


So started out with a fridge I got off kijiji, this is in fact where I have difficulties, which I will get into more detail later, but the tap at the fridge is leaking.



Looking at the inside, I had to build that little platform to level out the bottom. I've got plenty of room though for at least one more corny. Using a picnic tap at the moment until I fix door.



The door itself I have left stock for the moment, I'm thinking I would like to upgrade my regulator and put a second tap on the door. Makes sense since I had to be off center with the first tap due to the divider.



Looking at the closeup now of the tap, this is where I am having leaks as the picture below indicates. Leaks do not occur when tap is dispensing, only when turned to the off position.



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

In terms of Beer, I just finished my first corny of my first brew. In fact it wasn't much of a brew at all, I bought a premixed box of wort and only fermented and transferred to the kegs. Very happy with the end product though, and glad I went this route and ended up with something drinkable my first time. I'll be venturing further into the brew process as I get more experience.

Barney

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i certainly no expert on this but i'll take a crack at your problem. where your leak is at is it threaded or does it have a seal into it? that's what i would check. it most likely does not leak as you pour because you are relieving the pressure. and when you shut off the pressure builds back up. how much PS! do you run on these systems ?( or kilopascals for you younger folk)

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Downs

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ok so
the tap is threaded ... meaning actually not threaded
its like a male and female the tap and the shank fit together then the bolt around the outside is tightened?
i checked to make sure everythign was tight and it was ...

in terms of pressure, i only had the lead when i first put the keg on
so at that point the pressure was pretty low
i was still getting used to what to set it too it was around 10psi
the beer i have on tap is a golden lager and i have since increased to more like 15 psi
that 15 psi worked the best for me, nice carbonation and perfect head

how is that for answers

i was wondering if there is a washer maybe or something that would need to go inbetween the shank and the tap?

thanks for trying to help i appreciate it

Rednecktech

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There is a washer/o-ring in there. The part that goes through the fridge door is the "shank" and the tap is the "faucet". You should be able to buy replacement seals and washers at Brewing Centres which is actually now the Noble Grape. If not they are readily available online or you could call Draught Pro.

You should also grab a faucet wrench. http://kegman.net/faucet_parts.htm

Also, have a look here at the carbonation chart. That should give you an idea of what your equilibrium pressure should be at to maintain desired carbonation levels. Most commercial beers are around 2.7 vols or so, more traditional brews are in the range of 2.2 - 2.5 vols. If your pressure is too high for the temp you run your fridge the beer will over carbonate over time, from the top of the fluid down. In other words you'll get foamy beer towards the end of the keg. If you find your beer exits the faucet too fast you need a longer choker line which is usually a 3/16" lead to the faucet about 3' - 4' long to restrict flow. It's all calculatable, you want about 2 PSIG at the faucet.

Best of luck

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Rednecktech

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Check out the Noble Grape homebrew supply for the supplies. And the pepsi kegs have a removable lid so you'd siphon the beer into them.

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