Mini keg esky build

[Tony121]

Cheers! Thanks again for that T piece, I did have a little trouble with those copper washers though I could never seem to get a great seal with them, bought some nylon ones from ATHB and they seem to do the trick.

Maybe I was doing something wrong.

No worries at all, good to see it all come together.

 

[damoninja]

I had the parts list already laid out so I didn't miss anything, also a few mockups I did in the process to assist people with understanding what I was asking for when looking for someone to knock up the CO2 adapter.

Everything liquid wise is pretty straight forward, not much different than a kegerator... the gas assembly is what took a bit of work to pull together. Hope it all makes sense.

Part Quantity Source Notes
5L keg 2 ATHB / BK 5L short
Spear head 2 ATHB / BK
Silicone tube (meter) 1 ATHB / BK
Disconnects (stainless liquid) 2 ATHB / BK Stainless is a lower height as it doesn't angle upwards
Disconnects (plastic gas) 2 ATHB / BK Plastic or stainless is fine for gas
Stepless clamps 8 ATHB Order some spares
Shanks 2 ATHB As short as possible, angle barb seems to be the best fit
Nylon flare washer 6 ATHB Order some spares
Mini regulator 1 ATHB / BK Using the 5/8" fitting - accepts 5/8"-18UNF
FFL to barb fittings 6 ATHB
T30-5/8" adapter 1 Gascon Custom made. Female Type 30 with swivel nut to male 5/8""-18UNF surface sealing - elbow configuration.
Measures 30mm from face to block top.
If you find a really tall esky you can buy beerkat's straight configuration version

If your bottle takes a 5/8"" UNF don't get one of these.
400g CO2 bottle 1 LHBS? Valved, standard type 30 fitting. Using a paintball cylinder might be a shorter option.
Beer line 1 LHBS Don't cut it too short, it has some tight corners to get around don't want to kink it.
Esky 1 Kmart Just make sure it's plenty tall enough.
MFL T fitting 1 Tony 1/4" MFL to 1/4" MFL T configuration, this screws in to the reg outlet
Plumbers tape 1 Bunnings The yellow stuff.

 

[Chap]

Awesome thanks damo. Is the bottle just a soda stream bottle or something else?

 

[damoninja]

Awesome thanks damo. Is the bottle just a soda stream bottle or something else?

It's a 400g valved bottle i don't know what type of connection is on the other end of the valve, but i doubt it'd be the pin type that is in a soda stream

 

[Lionman]

Any chance of getting more of those elbows made up damo?

 

[Zorco]

+1

 

[Chap]

Also +1 on the elbow

 

[damoninja]

I'll spin off a thread and touch base with the blokes at gascon.

 

[damoninja]

Spun.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/94889-eoi-type-30-to-58-elbow-mini-reg-adapter/

 

[Batz]

The eagle landed today, got to marking out holes for the taps, measuring line and fitting everything up.

Lines are all snug with no leaks, will get the coke bottle and PET lid and do a wet run tomorrow. Running about 4.5 feet lines, planning on keeping dispense pressures low but if I really get pissed with it I'll bite the bullet on the FC taps and have not-buyers remorse.

Final touches will be to add a bracket to hold the gas in place as I'm not happy with it floating about, though when the lid's closed it presses against the rubber seal so should be good there... Also a flange around the shank as I discovered there's quite a lot of compression in the plastic so they do move if you twist them.

Aesthetics wise thinking it needs some sick stencils

esky-front.JPG

esky-front2.JPG

esky-inside1.JPG

esky-inside2.JPG

Thanks damoninja, I like your set up there. I'm working away ATM and thought I'll miss out on the K-mart clearance on these esky's. Day off sitting in my donga today, so went into K-mart Gladstone and found them for $29.00.
Will build it when I get home, looks just the thing I'm after.

Cheers
Batz

 

[damoninja]

Thanks damoninja, I like your set up there. I'm working away ATM and thought I'll miss out on the K-mart clearance on these esky's. Day off sitting in my donga today, so went into K-mart Gladstone and found them for $29.00.
Will build it when I get home, looks just the thing I'm after.

Cheers
Batz

Glad you managed to find one. I ended up mounting a down pipe bracket on the inner wall to hold the gas bottle in place, it kept shifting forward when there was ice in there.

Does a good job used it 3 times now even less of a pain than trying to keep a bunch of bottles upright in a damn esky.

 

[Batz]

Glad you managed to find one. I ended up mounting a down pipe bracket on the inner wall to hold the gas bottle in place, it kept shifting forward when there was ice in there.

Does a good job used it 3 times now even less of a pain than trying to keep a bunch of bottles upright in a damn esky.

I think I'll fit the gas to the outside in a piece of PVC. Never have liked gas in esky's or fridges.

 

[damoninja]

I think I'll fit the gas to the outside in a piece of PVC. Never have liked gas in esky's or fridges.

Will remove the height constraint also. I wanted something that was self contained. Have my 2.6kg bottle inside my keezer too

 

[mattyg8]

looks awesome too bad I missed out on the eskies, anyone else found something cheap and similar?

 

[crowmanz]

looks awesome too bad I missed out on the eskies, anyone else found something cheap and similar?

a 25L willow (like this http://willow.com.au/cooler-25l-blue.html) will fit 2 x 5L mini kegs with a slight squeeze (still space for ice) and with enough height above the kegs to mount taps. Only issue I need to sort is the lid doesn't close/lock in when you have your disconnects on. I'll try and post a photo later, will have to get it off my phone since the app isn't working.

probably not the best option if you are buying I already had an old one laying around that was previously used as a jockey box.

 

[mstrelan]

https://ikegger.com/products/ikegger-jockey-box

 

[mattyg8]

Managed to pick up one of the orange ones on wheels at kmart eastland. Will start collecting the other items.

 

[damoninja]

a 25L willow (like this http://willow.com.au/cooler-25l-blue.html) will fit 2 x 5L mini kegs with a slight squeeze (still space for ice) and with enough height above the kegs to mount taps. Only issue I need to sort is the lid doesn't close/lock in when you have your disconnects on. I'll try and post a photo later, will have to get it off my phone since the app isn't working.

probably not the best option if you are buying I already had an old one laying around that was previously used as a jockey box.

I have one of those, I couldn't see how I could have made it work, by the time the spear and disconnects were on it was way too high.

 

[Kingy]

I put a collar on my esky to fit everything in, you could do that.

 

[crowmanz]

I have one of those, I couldn't see how I could have made it work, by the time the spear and disconnects were on it was way too high.

It is only too high when the disconnects are on (5L kegs) I just leave the lid off when serving until I can bother sorting the disconnects