# Kegerator Series 3



## twizt1d (2/2/12)

thought id make a thread for people that own or are looking to buy these kegerators as a bit of a resource for setting up/tweaking them

get a decent regulator, i kept the supplied one as a spare it looks so cheaply made i didnt want to trust it
replaced with a Tesuco which is built a lot more solid, the hole going into the fridge will only fit 1 gas line so if your planning on having a dual pressure reg you might need to get creative to get both lines into the fridge (if your tank is mounted on the back anyway)
when you run the gas line inside use about an inch of the red supplied "gas line" to slip over where its going into the fridge, this will seal the hole better and protect the gas line from rubbing
also the gas line that comes with it is rediculous but it wont fit anyway so get some decent stuff

immediate problem for me was the controller reading a few degrees lower than the beer in the keg
the probe is reading the temp of the plastic frame its clipped into rather than liquid/beer, simple fix was to rip the plastic frame off the wall of the fridge, unclip the probe from it and drop it into a container of water
the probe is now reading the same as my stick thermometer so its gotta be pretty close, the plastic cover will push back in too so it still looks tidy

i did buy one of those fan kits thats supposed to keep the font cool but honestly dont bother its pretty well useless and doesnt blow bugger all air around, im going to cut its guts out and replace the fan thats in it with a pc fan which will be much more effective

the beer lines that come with it are super short (probably less than a metre) i havent replaced them yet but have been looking at these which are apparently really good
meaning i wont have the spaghetti monster flying out of the fridge every time i open it

i might add some photos later..


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## Wimmig (2/2/12)

The hell is the restrictor link? I just used restrictor taps with mine. Replaced the lines, taps & reg very quickly. At best, it's heavily modified now. Though, as it was bought with the governments $1k dealo..doesn't bother me.

I love craftbrewer and all, but that is LOW tech, at best.


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## twizt1d (2/2/12)

ive got flow restrictor taps on mine but its not a balanced system, with the restrictors i can still have short beer lines and it will be balanced without the need for ~4m of coiled line for each tap
i was reading about them on another forum and the guys on there were more than happy with the results
the resistance doesnt need to be outside the keg aslong as it slows the flow down


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## kelbygreen (2/2/12)

4m of coiled line??? I got about 1.2m of line and running normal perlick taps with no flow restrictors. But it is 5mm line I think so that restricts the flow a little.


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## Camo1234 (2/2/12)

tonesbrew said:


> i did buy one of those fan kits thats supposed to keep the font cool but honestly dont bother its pretty well useless and doesnt blow bugger all air around, im going to cut its guts out and replace the fan thats in it with a pc fan which will be much more effective




I have a computer fan sitting in a tupperware container with a hose coming out of the container and up into my Font.... The fan blows the cold air from the bottom of my kegerator, up to the top of my font and then obviously falls back in.... I have got the temp in my font from mid to high teens down to around 6-7C depending on the aimbient temp.... It has turned the first glass every session from a glass full of foam to a heady beer :icon_cheers: ..... Didnt spend a cent as it was all stuff I had lying around and its a very good mod for your kegerator.


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## sidearm (3/2/12)

tonesbrew said:


> thought id make a thread for people that own or are looking to buy these kegerators as a bit of a resource for setting up/tweaking them
> 
> immediate problem for me was the controller reading a few degrees lower than the beer in the keg
> the probe is reading the temp of the plastic frame its clipped into rather than liquid/beer, simple fix was to rip the plastic frame off the wall of the fridge, unclip the probe from it and drop it into a container of water
> the probe is now reading the same as my stick thermometer so its gotta be pretty close, the plastic cover will push back in too so it still looks tidy



Hi tonesbrew,
I think this is a big issue with these kegerators. Could you give a detailed description of how you took the frame out to remove the probe etc?
I'd like to do the same and your guidance would save myself (and others) a lot of time messing about.

thanks,
desmo


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## barrel01 (5/2/12)

desmo said:


> Hi tonesbrew,
> I think this is a big issue with these kegerators. Could you give a detailed description of how you took the frame out to remove the probe etc?
> I'd like to do the same and your guidance would save myself (and others) a lot of time messing about.
> 
> ...



Hi desmo,

After reading this I have just done the same to my kegerator. The temp probe on my series 3 was at the bottom rear of the left hand wall behind the plastic grill as described above. 

The plastic grill can just be pulled out and you will find the temp probe clipped to the back of it. I just unclipped it and sat a little cup of water on the small rear shelf which the probe just reaches into. (You can get a bit of slack out of the temp probe lead, it is a short fly lead and you will see and connector come out of the wall.)

I just sat it in the water and closed the door, took all of 30 seconds to do, the digital display was showing 2c and after being in the water for a minute it had gone up to 6c. I will wait over night to let the beer get cold right through and take a reading tomorrow.


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## twizt1d (12/2/12)

barrel01 said:


> Hi desmo,
> 
> After reading this I have just done the same to my kegerator. The temp probe on my series 3 was at the bottom rear of the left hand wall behind the plastic grill as described above.
> 
> ...



sorry id been away for a while with work..

yep it shouldnt be hard to find, its the little plastic grill on the bottom left hand side, just pry/pull it out (gently)
i think youll be pretty happy with the improvement, i havent taken a measurement of what temp its pouring at since i moved the probe but id say its pretty close to what its reading

i spent a full day today sorting out the issues i was having with foamy pours..
replaced the shitty supplied beer lines with 2.2m of 5mm beer line 
ripped apart that blower font cooler thing and replaced the shitty fan with an old CPU fan
insulated the font a bit better with leftovers from my urn

the font is now sitting at ~4c and its pouring absolutely beautifully with the flow controller set fully open, though i better pour a few more just to be thoroughly sure :chug:


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## Wimmig (12/2/12)

They also make a blower for the font as well, 

Page 2;

http://www.kegking.com.au/Downloads/Catalo...rice%20List.pdf

"These font fan kit is the easiest way to chill the font of your kegerator. The kit includes a 12volt power pack, the blower box that
blows air up the provided tube into your font. The blower box can just sit in the kegerator as shown in the photo (to the right).
This will cool your font down and reduce any foaming issues you might have caused by a warm font. The fan also increases air
circulation in the fridge which will help get your kegs in the fridge colder quicker. In many instances it will reduce the serving temperature of the beer by as much as 3 degrees Celsius"

Going to put the prob in water myself on the weekend, sound like a good quick mod.


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## twizt1d (12/2/12)

thats the blower thing i mentioned before that i got but it is pretty well useless, doesnt move bugger all air really certainly wont help cool anything by 3c without modding it
i wouldnt recommend their unit but id recommend building your own with a better fan in it

i pulled the little blower fan out of it cut a bigger hole and mounted an old CPU fan on it
now it works pretty good, i jammed my stick thermo down the font before i poured my last beer and it was at ~4.5c 
it keeps a bit more air moving around inside too which will help to cool kegs etc faster and keep the temp more even


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## Spiesy (12/2/12)

I had MAJOR problem with me Series 3 when I got it just before New Years. The hoses weren't properly attached to the back of the taps, they were actually split at the tap end, with the clamp not even over the barb... suffice to say, after I ran some pressurised sanitiser through - I had a mini (sanitary) foamy flood in my loungeroom. My old man and myself ended up buying some clamps and re-attaching everything in the font. Pain in the ass.

Despite all this, I have been pouring pretty good beers (my Kegerator came with fairly lengthy beer line hoses). I don't have a font fan, but downstairs at my house it's pretty cool, so I don't think my font gets too hot. I always have to throw my first half a glass (of foam) at the beginning of a session, but half a glass a couple of time per week is no big problem for me. I'd reckon building a custom fan would be more of a pain in the ass (at this point in time).

PS: good idea on the probe mod, I've just done it.


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## hirns (12/2/12)

Just bought one of these for $14 dollers. Will add a tube to duct aur to font. Will let you know hao it goes.


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## twizt1d (12/2/12)

Spiesy said:


> I had MAJOR problem with me Series 3 when I got it just before New Years. The hoses weren't properly attached to the back of the taps, they were actually split at the tap end, with the clamp not even over the barb... suffice to say, after I ran some pressurised sanitiser through - I had a mini (sanitary) foamy flood in my loungeroom. My old man and myself ended up buying some clamps and re-attaching everything in the font. Pain in the ass.
> 
> Despite all this, I have been pouring pretty good beers (my Kegerator came with fairly lengthy beer line hoses). I don't have a font fan, but downstairs at my house it's pretty cool, so I don't think my font gets too hot. I always have to throw my first half a glass (of foam) at the beginning of a session, but half a glass a couple of time per week is no big problem for me. I'd reckon building a custom fan would be more of a pain in the ass (at this point in time).
> 
> PS: good idea on the probe mod, I've just done it.



i remember reading somewhere there was a (short term) problem with brittle beer lines from a new guy using a heat gun to get the lines over the barbs
with the little fan setup i've got going now the first pour into a 750ml glass gives a 3 finger head which is a lot better than ditching half a glass of foam like i used to 



hirns said:


> Just bought one of these for $14 dollers. Will add a tube to duct aur to font. Will let you know hao it goes.



should work ok, just remember to run the tube pretty well to the top of the font so the cold air is falling back down around the beer lines
it doesnt work as well trying to push cold air all the way up the font
i cut a few discs of the stuff i used to insulate my urn and jammed them over the top of the shanks inside the font


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## Spiesy (12/2/12)

tonesbrew said:


> i remember reading somewhere there was a (short term) problem with brittle beer lines from a new guy using a heat gun to get the lines over the barbs
> with the little fan setup i've got going now the first pour into a 750ml glass gives a 3 finger head which is a lot better than ditching half a glass of foam like i used to


Makes sense... yeah these hoses had about a 10mm split in both of them. And the idiot who assembled them thought he'd put the clamp on the hose, but not where the hose goes over the barb - so that didn't exactly help matters.

The tap on my C02 regulator is also rat shit. I need to use multigrips to get the bloody thing to 20psi (when carbing).

Is the computer fan / tupperware / tube device hard to make?


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## hirns (12/2/12)

Spiesy said:


> Makes sense... yeah these hoses had about a 10mm split in both of them. And the idiot who assembled them thought he'd put the clamp on the hose, but not where the hose goes over the barb - so that didn't exactly help matters.
> 
> The tap on my C02 regulator is also rat shit. I need to use multigrips to get the bloody thing to 20psi (when carbing).
> 
> Is the computer fan / tupperware / tube device hard to make?




If you go with the computer fan then you will need a 12v power supply. The one I posted a pic of runs on two D cell batteries. It's yet to arrive, but I have another small campervan fridge fan that also runs on two D cells and its has been running for two weeks so far on the same batteries. You can hardly feel the air comming out of it but where it used to take two days to cool a 19l keg in my old barfridge voverted kegerator, it now cools a keg overnight. I'm just going to use some flexi conduit or washing machine greywater hose for the ducting.
Cheers


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## twizt1d (12/2/12)

airflow is important when trying to cool things down fast and keep even temperatures

good example is the snap freezer/holding room on prawn trawlers, temp guage stops at -40c and the dial is always maxed out past that yet if you dont have good airflow the prawns just wont freeze
the more airflow the faster the temps come down
i guess you can relate that directly to a keg in a fridge 

its dead simple to make your own blower/whatever you wanna call it just need..
an old pc fan
a jiffy box/old lunch box or whatever else
12v power supply

you can get the 12v power supply from jaycar if you dont have an old one laying around, actually if you already have the fan then you should be able to get a jiffy box and 12v plug pack for not much more than $20


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## Clutch (12/2/12)

Would this type setup help in fermenting/lagering fridges at all?


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## twizt1d (12/2/12)

airflow really just affects/improves the cooling efficiency and temperature stability*** of a 'refridgeration system'
by how much depends on the size and shape of the fridge and how much air your moving (it doesnt need to blow your hat off, a gentle 'breeze' is enough)

keep in mind its going to be subjective.. 'one size probably doesnt fit all' 

***temp stability as in the overall _air_ temperature inside the fridge space as a whole

take from that what you will i guess..


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## barrel01 (13/2/12)

Making a fan for the font is worth the little time and effort it takes IMHO. I made mine up from an 80mm PC fan in a small jiffy box and ran 20mm flexible conduit from the box up the font. I used a 13.8V DC power supply and dropped the voltage to 13.0V via a pod adjustment on the power supply, it gives the fan a bit more oomph without overdoing it and killing the fan. I ran the cable out of the drain and mounted the power supply to the rear of the kegerator. The power supply is overkill but I have them lying around so it was a logical choice for me.

I left the part of the conduit that is in the fridge intact but from where it goes into the font tower, I cut a series of slits in it using my dremel and when I fed the conduit through the font, I rotated it so the the slits lined up with the beer lines so it was blowing cold air directly on the lines the whole way up the tower.

If I take the cap off the tower I can still feel the cold air coming out of the end of the conduit so the air is making it all of the way to the taps. 

This setup gives a great result and the the top of the font around the cap and taps has condensation and water droplets around it. Nothing like a flooded font but I good sign that it is cold in there.


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## Spork (13/2/12)

An old mobile phone charger does the 240->12v duty for me. I cut the output plug off, wired on a PC fan connector, and plug in a computer fan. First fan was hardwired on, but I got clumsy with a full keg - and probably will again, so now it takes 10 seconds to replace the fan.


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## Spiesy (13/2/12)

barrel01 said:


> Making a fan for the font is worth the little time and effort it takes IMHO. I made mine up from an 80mm PC fan in a small jiffy box and ran 20mm flexible conduit from the box up the font. I used a 13.8V DC power supply and dropped the voltage to 13.0V via a pod adjustment on the power supply, it gives the fan a bit more oomph without overdoing it and killing the fan. I ran the cable out of the drain and mounted the power supply to the rear of the kegerator. The power supply is overkill but I have them lying around so it was a logical choice for me.
> 
> I left the part of the conduit that is in the fridge intact but from where it goes into the font tower, I cut a series of slits in it using my dremel and when I fed the conduit through the font, I rotated it so the the slits lined up with the beer lines so it was blowing cold air directly on the lines the whole way up the tower.
> 
> ...


Ta mate, I might give this a go. Would have been nice if they'd just built the bloody thing right to start with, and mounted a little fan up there....


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