Dammit - Keg Doesnt Fit

[davea]

Well i picked up my bar fridge today and measured it up and the keg doesnt bloody fit.... Ive worked out i can easily mod it to fit, however this only leaves ~6cm at the top to fit the coupler which ive read isnt enough room....

So apart from moving the motor out the back of the fridge im now stuck with an issue. So does anyone use bar fridges to hold their kegs? If so how have you achieved it or were you lucky that it just fitted in? I need it to stay something shorter than 87cm high as thats the space underneath the bar and their isnt room (or im not allowed) to get a full size fridge in the bar area...

However if someone has an option under 100cm then id still like to here it, i might just have to mod the bar....

 

[oldbugman]

take a photo of the fridge with the door open. and shoot some measurements and I'm sure someone may come up with an idea.

 

[pokolbinguy]

You could possibly use two small kegs (9ltrs) instead of the 18ltr versions (which I assume your using).

This would easily fit height wise and if you can fit two you can have two different beers on tap. If you are lucky enough to score a bundle at a cheap price you can always do normal 18ltr batches and drink the kegs at different times.

Anyway just food for thought.

Pok

 

[mika]

More expensive, but the morgan 23L kegs are not all that tall but they're a bit rounder.
I haven't seen any prices for them lately, but take it out of your holiday slush fund. You need beer more often than you need holidays

 

[davea]

hmmm sorry should of mentioned it is going to be for commercial kegs to start off with....

so a cub keg is 360 wide (just fits) and 520 high, would just fit but not enough room for the coupler....

i could mod the fridge by moving the motor back and fiberglassing a new bottom in but i wanted to try avoid this at the moment. However if someone knew someone who extended fridge gas lines and re gassed it in sydney id love them to get in contact with me...

 

[Sammus]

I use a bar fridge to house two cornies. The fridge is cooled by the freezer if you get me (the cooling plate is curved in a tight C shape at the top with a flap lid on the front) - I just ripped the lid off and bent it so it was flat against the sides and back - left heaps of room. although now the thermostat isn't exactly great control, itll freeze on anything buy the lowest setting - which is all you need i guess.

I'd guessed you meant you use the 50L variety buy the mention of a coupler in your post. I'm pretty sure these arent any taller than cornies are they?

 

[yoey]

There is a product available called a Keg Mate which is about the size of a bar fridge (90cm high) and takes a commercial keg. They are more expensive than a bar fridge though!

Craftbrewer (one of this site's sponsor's) lists them on their website (see link at top of page).

Have a look at http://www.kegmate.com.au/index.html for more info.

Cheers,
Yoey

 

[mikelinz]

What about storing the keg outside the fridge and running thru some kind of heat exchanger in the freezer box of the bar fridge, Perhaps something like the S/S coil used in the esky units designed to hold ice and serve beer anywhere (on ebay). Then the fridge could hold your glasses.

rgds mike

 

[paul]

You can get low rise keg couplers. Ive seen them on ebay

 

[davea]

What about storing the keg outside the fridge and running thru some kind of heat exchanger in the freezer box of the bar fridge, Perhaps something like the S/S coil used in the esky units designed to hold ice and serve beer anywhere (on ebay). Then the fridge could hold your glasses.

rgds mike

to be honest this would be a prefered option anyway due to the lack of space in the bar for another fridge... However im not too sure how this would all work so id need a bit more help

Would the coil be something similar to this Coil but that is only copper - would it need to be a certian width inside the coil? and would the coil need to be a certan length long - would 4m do would 8m be better, or something else even better? Would it be best for it to wrap around like the picture, or run it and mould it to run directly on the freezer part? Would having the font flooded be a good idea or it wouldnt be required....

ive got another thread and i think there starting to merge now - sorry...

does anyone have measurements of the couplers hight they use for commercial kegs??

 

[KGB]

I scored an old bar fridge on ebay for $2.26 (!) that I use for my kegs. Its pretty small though and I can only fit one keg at a time. I also had to modify the freezer to fit the keg in height-wise. My fridge is cooled by the freezer, same as Sammus. My freezer has the cooling lines running through the walls and top to I was able to remove the freezer floor to give me a couple more inches room to play with. I also cut a section out of the old shelf so it fits in around the cornie.

In the pic you can just see the side walls of the freezer coming down at the top.

 

[davea]

ok, well after a trip to the local home brew place today i must say i am absoletly shocked with how much nicer the home brew tastes and especially at $125 for a 50L batch i totally see why people think i was a nut... im totally sold so please forget everything above about commercial kegs...

im now going to have the smaller 19L kegs and have one in there at a time.... hopefully i should have no issues with fitting... ill try searching to see how big the 19L kegs are...

thanks for all ur help and sugestions guys

edit: Ok i cant find the sizes, would anyone be able to measure one of there kegs for me - im particularly looking for the size with the thing on the top, so a complete bottom to top please....

 

[KGB]

It depends whether they are 18 or 19L kegs I think, but they are about 60cm tall. If you had 70cm to play with I think you'd be laughing, the disconnects don't go more than a few cm above the rubber top.

 

[davea]

its the 19L im pretty sure... any idea in width at all though.. im now being greedy and want to try and fit 2 side by side in....

cheers

 

[TidalPete]

its the 19L im pretty sure... any idea in width at all though.. im now being greedy and want to try and fit 2 side by side in....

cheers

davea,

Not too sure if this will help you as I'm not sure of your fridge model/size? Mine's a Westinghouse but the model/size has been painted out on the fridge door & I forget.
I found that by blanking off the fridge door, flattening out the freezer compartment & moving the controller on the front RHS to the rear RHS (sideways) gave me JUST enough room to fit two 19 litre cornies. Taking out the Belgian to keg tomorrow.

TP :beer:

 

[Ross]

its the 19L im pretty sure... any idea in width at all though.. im now being greedy and want to try and fit 2 side by side in....

cheers

640mm H x 210mm wide.

cheers Ross

 

[davea]

fantastic... the fridge is 43cm wide so perfect...

gonna have to do something with bending the freezer though for the height still, but i can handle that...