Kegerators/ Keg Coolers A mini guide!

Whether you love beer or just have a genuine like for it, there is a good chance you may enjoy a Kegerator/ Keg Cooler. For the sake of this guide i will call it a kegerator because that is what it should be called anyway! I have had a lot of experience working with kegerators and making one is no easy task! I will give you a general guide of how to make one and how to take care of one (pre-made or custom made).
CAUTION: MAKING A CUSTOM KEGERATOR WILL VOID THE WARRANTY OF THE REFRIGERATRO, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!
The first thing that you have to do is buy yourself a 4.3 Cubic Feet Refrigerator. Now, one thing to think about when looking for a refrigerator that you can convert into a kegerator, make sure that the shelving that is in the door of the refrigerator is removable so you can hollow it it out very easily. Many refrigerators gee with permenant shelving, where if you remove it, you may gepromise the quality of the refrigerator's cooling. I mean who wants a warm keg of beer anyway??
Next what you should do is remove the top plastic piece of the refrigerator, this may not be easy to do depending on the brand and model. You want to stick some sort of insulation inbetween the top and this plastic piece. You can use wood (best option), styrofoam, or anything that is mostly hard. You want this to be able to fit on the top so it may take some modification (for one of mine, it took a lot of plastic cutting) to get this to fit. The insulation piece does not have to be huge, just big enough so when you drill your hole in the top, you don't crack it. After you do all of this, reinstall the top plastic piece with the insulation and make sure you mark where you want to drill (I regemend a pilot hole) for the tap handle.
The next step in the process is getting yourself a faucet with tap handle, all the hookups for the C02, and keg coupler. There are many of them on okay, just look under brewina. The reason you need this next is you need to know the size of the hole you need to drill in the top of the refrigerator to make the faucet fit. You don't want too big because you will lose a lot of air up through the hole. Now what you need to do is drill holes for the faucet to screw into. Just line up the holes the best you can and drill away!
Now you have a couple options. You can either put the CO2 container inside of the refrigerator or make some piping outside of the refrigerator and keep it there. Each way has ups and downs, inside takes up more room, outside requires more insulation and drilling. If you put it on the outside simply drill a hole big enough for the tubing to go through, insulate the hole, then push the tubing through. This is my personal way of doing it, it keeps a lot of room in the refrigerator.
Once you have this all done you will be just about ready to hook it up. Put the keg coupler on the keg, but don't tap yet! Hook the CO2 into that and turn the CO2 on. IMPORTANT: Do not put too much pressure out from the CO2. The regemended amount is about 10 to 12 PSI. IF you put too much in you could really wreck something!
Now that you are enjoying your new kegerator, I need to talk about cleaning it. Once you are done with each keg, you should remove the faucet and run hot water through the hose. This will prevent buildup of mold and yeast from the beer. If you keep up on cleaning your beer will always taste crisp and clean!
Good Luck!
rawdog_24