Most other bloggers are more reliable than I. But I have 10 gallons of homebrewed beer in my fridge, which now also features a faucet coming through the door.

I win.

For Christmas this year, my wife gave me dominion over the garage fridge. I’m pretty sure this fulfills the Old Testament charge where God spake unto Adam, saying “Go, and take dominion over every beast of the field, and every fowl that flieth, and it shall be lawful unto you to take a second fridge, and to fill it with the fruits of the land, that ye may prosper and have joy.”

This “kegerator” has turned into quite a project, whose main tools so far have been adjustable wrenches, hose clamps, and credit cards.

Mine features a 15 lb CO2 tank running through a Micromatic premium dual-gauge regulator, which steps down 650 psi to a working pressure of 12 psi. A brass “Y” fitting routes that pressure to two different kegs; one contains an English Bitter, and the other an English Brown. (I brew my own beer and am focusing on the English styles these days; hence the Theakston Old Peculier for “research purposes” in the extreme upper left of the photo.) 

The kegs are reconditioned 5-gallon stainless “Cornies,” which are relics of the days of pre-mixed sodas. (My newer keg is engraved ”Pepsi Cola Bottling Company, Waterloo, Iowa.”) The kegs were manufactured by the Cornelius Company; hence the name.

Since none of this is cheap, I am building the kegerator in stages. For now, the second keg uses a cheap plastic picnic dispenser, which is perfectly serviceable, but carries the distinct disadvantage of not requiring me to drill another hole in the door — which, in all honesty, is about 23% of the fun of having a kegerator. The ultimate goal is to have three beers plus plain soda water on tap; I figure there is just room for four kegs if I raise the floor up over the compressor hump in back.

So if I fall silent here, just know I must be exploring yeastier media. And if, when I return, my posts are full of typos, that will be a sign things are proceeding right on schedule.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.