There is debate as to whether beer is better from a can or bottle, but everybody agrees that you can't beat tap beer. With the help of a buddy who is more adept with power tools, I built a keezer (kegerator made from a chest freezer) so that I can enjoy some of my favorite beers on draft. It was remarkably simple and looks amazing sitting in the corner of our living room.
The first step was finding a freezer to serve as the cooling unit and base for the keezer. You can buy new from any appliance retailer, but I highly recommend just cruising around Craigslist for a good deal. I was able to find a freezer that had been sitting in a guys basement for the past 10 years and he was just looking to get rid of it for $90. It has the ability to hold a CO2 tank plus either one 1/2 barrel and one 1/6 barrel or four 1/6 barrels. You will need to buy a temperature regulator to keep the beer from freezing. Unless you plan on fermenting your homebrews in here where you would need a more precise temperature, I would suggest just getting the basic analog version.
The next step is building the collar. The collar allows you to have more room to work inside your keezer. With a collar, you can also drill your tap lines through that instead of through the freezer which presents the risk of hitting a cooling line. We first removed the lid to the freezer by unscrewing a couple fasteners (watch out for the spring loaded hinges). For the collar, we used a simple design involving four 2x4's. Measure twice, cut once! We then added 1x6's to the 2x4's so that there was a slight over hang on three sides, thus preventing the collar from moving around and eliminating the need to fasten the collar to the freezer and risking damaging it. We added weather stripping to give it a good seal. Reattach the lid to the collar, drill holes for your tap lines, and you're almost done. Stop by your local homebrew shop and they will tell you exactly what parts you need to get up and running.
If you just do one line, you can save a lot of money. If you want to have multiple tap lines, you will need to a buy a gas distributor and all of the hosing and tap hardware for each new line. I figure each new line cost me nearly $160. My two main reasons building the keezer were #1 to have beer on tap and #2 to eliminate the hassle of bottling when I inevitably start homebrewing. So it was important for me to have multiple lines so that I could eventually brew multiple batches at a time.
To make the unit look nice and make my wife happy, I stained the collar a dark cherry color and painted the freezer with chalkboard paint. It looks very nice now and serves as a conversation piece in our living room. The chalkboard paint allows me to label the beers on tap without having to buy expensive handles.
Here is a breakdown of the costs:
Freezer - $90
CO2 tank, shank, hosing, gas regulator, coupler, etc. I got from a friend at a discount - $250
Chalkboard paint - $16.46
Temperature regulator - $69.55
Collar materials - $40.12
Additional line and distributor - $221.28
Cleaning supplies - $98.96
Total - $786.37 (don't let my wife see this)
For each keg of beer you get (I usually get 1/6 barrels), you can expect to pay at least $70 plus a deposit on the keg itself. For some nicer/foreign beers, be prepared to pay nearly $200 or more. To find your favorite beer in kegs, just ask your nearest liquor store. They can then ask their distributor if they can supply it. Ask for a price and shop around, some places may get a better price because they specialize in keg beer.
This really is a fun thing to have. It is so convenient to pour a glass of Surly Coffee Bender and enjoy the new episode of Game of Thrones within the comfort of your own home. I love showing it off to all of my friends and sharing my passion for craft beer with them. I don't think I actually save any money buying a keg vs buying a case, but as I said before you can't beat beer on tap.
L'Chayim!
