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This afternoon I added a bit of a luxury to the Kegged Beer Cooler, a three-way gas manifold. While not necessary, this will allow me to easily shut off gas to different connectors if I’m needing to play with different pressures for force carbonating beer, soda, fruit, etc.

Since I was drilling from the inside of the cabinet outward without using a guide the external screw heads aren’t quite lined up (picture). This is disappointing because it doesn’t look as nice as it could, but I guess I’ll just have to leave it. To be sure that I didn’t hit any gas lines I first cut small holes in the aluminum liner with a pointed razor blade, tore back the metal with needle nose pliers, then poked carefully through the foam with a plastic tool until I reached the steel outer wall. The foam was then cleared out using a drill bit in my fingers, and then I completed drilling through the outside.

A few days ago I received some desiccant bags purchased from eBay (picture) and those are now in place as well, so the kegged beer cooler project is pretty much finished. I may eventually add external taps, but for now using picnic-style taps inside of the unit should suffice.

The kegged beer cooler is complete, sitting in the basement, and is actively cooling what remains of two kegs of beer. Tonight I ran the gas lines, fitted everything into place, and set it up against one wall of the basement. It’s currently set to start cooling at 40°F and shut off at 35°F ambient temperature in the unit, which I expect to keep the beer at somewhere in that range. It may be necessary to narrow the band to something a bit narrower, but I’ll be able to determine that after putting a full keg of beer in the freezer and monitoring it.

I’ve been considering fitting the fridge with taps, but for the time being I think I’ll just stay with using picnic-style taps inside the unit. Actual beer faucets are around $100/each after considering all mounting hardware, and I don’t think they’ll provide enough benefit to justify doubling the cost of the unit.

Here’s some more notable photos of the unit throughout its progress:

· Completed chest freezer to beer keg conversion.
· Looking inside at two corney kegs, party tap-style dispensing lines, gas lines, temperature sensor, etc.
· Gas line transition from the compressor compartment into the body of the freezer. It is held in place with twist-type reusable cable ties.
· Temperature probe in place and gas line and Y fitted. Excess foam was left in place to serve as a hose guide.
· Operational Johnson Controls A419 temperature control indicating that it is currently cooling.

All of the photos can be found here. And yes, Roxie approves of it.

Meijer is great for when it’s 10pm and the next step of your project requires Great Stuff spray foam insulation.

Continuing the project to turn a chest freezer into a temperature controlled cooler for home-brewed beer (previously) I made a hole inside the cabinet (picture) the size of a film canister without hitting any of the gas lines. This was done by marking a hole, then carefully tearing away the aluminum liner with pliers, then digging through the foam with a screwdriver before finishing off the hole with a drill and file. Looking around the basement I came across some plastic pieces that were perfect for the gas and temperature probe ingress fittings, fashioned out of a 10cc syringe and a used bathroom water supply line that I’d once had (incorrectly) fitted to my to my toilet (picture).

These fit very nicely into the hole. With the flange on the syringe and the water line nicely fitting up against the inside of the freezer’s compressor compartment both plastic bits nicely stayed in place nicely (picture) making surrounding them with spray foam insulation (picture) very easy. I fitted a scrap piece of vinyl tubing in the syringe housing to keep foam out, and it did a great job. Once removed (picture) there is now a clear ingress for gas, and the temperature probe should sit nicely on top of the grey plastic tube holding it nicely mid-level in the unit without touching any sidewalls.

Now all I have to do is fashion a mount for the temperature controller, wire it in, fit the temperature probe, run gas lines, and build a CO₂ tank retention system. This is probably only a couple more evenings worth of work, which should be right in time for the wit that I’ve currently got aging and which is due to be kegged on Monday. Oh, and I might cover the lid with some horrible contact paper design, perhaps even something as bad as butcher block.

(Yes, this does mean that all beer served from this cooling unit will be heavily dependent on both an old (but unused) syringe and something which once supplied water to one of my toilets.)