Question For Beer Drinkers

Jazz · THUNDER BAY, ONT

Question For Beer Drinkers

hemi43 · ONTARIO

I have built a quite a few, and still have a draft system here at home. There's only a few certain fridges that will accept the beer cylinders because of their evaporator location. I still have one fridge left here(unrestored) . I haven't built one in a couple of years, so it's just taking up room. I can tell you exactly what you need.The large kegs will not fit, so you will need to use whats called "cylinders", and if memory serves me correct they are about 2 1/2 case each. A full cylinder will keep a month if untapped, but once you start drinking from it, you better finish it quick because it will go bad on you. You will also have to rent a gas cylinder from your local welding supplier to pressurize the beer. They sell a special gas called "beer gas" for that purpose.

The pictures below are just a few of the old fridges I restored/ converted to draft. Picture 3 and 4 are the types of fridges that can't be converted to draft because the distance between the evaporator (freezer) and bottom of fridge is too short. These were usually built from the late 40's to the mid 50's. The picture on the bottom as well as the Guiness fridge were both converted, and these are the types of fridges made from the mid 50s to the very early 60's. Anything newer usually had square corners and are just not desirable.

picture1 061.jpg

picture1 015.jpg

-- Edited by hemi43 on Sunday 2nd of June 2013 02:51:06 PM

hemi43 · ONTARIO

The Boy wrote:
thanks for your reply hemi, yes they are extremely easy to make, just picked up a full Co2 kit for a demo, just checking to see if there is much interest in such a beast because we have a back yard full of these vintage fridges and looking at new ways to move them

The old fridges are getting hard to get, but since you know Ed you should have no problem. I used to get mine from Paddy's market, but it's been a few years since I built one. CO2 is not really the most desirable gas to use !! It will work if you plan on killing that beer cylinder in a couple of days, but if you want the beer to last a little while I would recommend beer gas. If I recall it's a mix of CO2 and nitrogen .Let me know when you get it up and running, and I'll come over and let you know how good your beer tastes !! LOL

-- Edited by hemi43 on Saturday 1st of June 2013 11:28:55 PM

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

So my dad and I were thinking of converting a few of the old vintage round top fridges kicking around the shop into kegerators to sell

just seeing if people are into that kinda thing

does anyone already have a home tap system?

what size kegs would/ do you buy? 58L 30L 20L

any info would be great, thanks

Lightspeed Mike · BELLEVILLE, ONT

Make one up, buy a keg, drop it off at my place and I will tell you in a week or two how well it works.
Sound like a good deal? Yes?

2inchestoolow · CLARINGTON, ONTARIO

A good friend of mine converted a small chest freezer into a "kegorater". He finished the outside in wood with a nice wood bar top, and then used a porcelain Sleemons double tap. The freezer thermostat was replaced with a fridge type unit to convert the freezer to a fridge. It was big enough to hold a full sized keg, a half keg and the beer gas cylinder.

It was awesome.....we drank loads of beer from it and it was the hit of many parties. The only downside was if you had a keg too long it seemed to go stale...it almost forced you to drink too much beer ! LOL

I've considered building one for my place...but I don't drink a lot and I think it would be an expensive man toy.

I bet you could sell them though.

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

ya they say with the Co2 system the keg should stay fresh for 3-4 months so guess it all depends how much you drink

flatblack55delivery · PORT HOPE, ONT

O.K. Mike we will get right on that ,so no beer till we get there ,right ! Ed

slim · DUNDAS, ONT

With any that went bad you could bottle it and sell it as aftershave. Hobo the smell of stale draft with a slight hint of urine . drives the women wild.

shag766 · FOXBORO, ONT

a buddy of mine in the kingston area re/builds those old round tops now and flips them out. he is in the refrige business and knows his ****. google the fridge doctor kingston and thats him, if you are interested pm me and i will hook u 2 up. he lives north of napanee. he is a solid citizen, wink-wink.

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

thanks the building is not an issue my dad is in the appliance repair biz himself just wondering if the desire to own is out there

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

renting out that is a great idea I had not thought of....could make a killing frosh weeks haha

fatstax · COBOURG, ONT

you know what might be a killer idea, a hat that holds beer cans that you can drink from. now thats innovation

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

thanks for your reply hemi, yes they are extremely easy to make, just picked up a full Co2 kit for a demo, just checking to see if there is much interest in such a beast because we have a back yard full of these vintage fridges and looking at new ways to move them

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

I thought nitrogen is only for certain beers like guinness not domestic beers like Canadian

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

hahaha I get the feeling a lot of people would want to come "test" it out

hemi43 · ONTARIO

The Boy wrote:
I thought nitrogen is only for certain beers like Guinness not domestic beers like Canadian

I thought the gas was the same, but I know the keg fitting is different for domestic beer and imports. A friend of mine still uses the black fridge in the picture I posted, and he uses it solely for Guinness with beer gas and has had excellent results.

jarvis1 · COBBLE HILL, BC

Why do the bubbles in Guiness go down instead of up?

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

from what I know most beer all you need is Co2 and certain beers like Guinness need a nitro gas to get a perfect pour and heighten the taste. they should all last the same length. just you gotta know when the keg was filled sometimes by the time you get your keg its a month or 2 old

Rustynuts · MAGNETAWAN, ONT

what is the cost for a keg of beer?

hemi43 · ONTARIO

Fordy Acres Car Farm wrote:
I might be interested in an old round top without the keg and tap. What would you be asking for a restore-able working unit with lotsa nice chrome/stainless - or my cost on a fully restored one in my colour choice? (please PM me if you don't wish to discuss publicly)

Thanks - Fordy

I have one round top fridge left that I will never get around to refinishing. I think it's a General Motors Frigidaire. I could use the room so all you have to do is pick it up and make a small donation to the fundraiser that Moondoll is doing next week for Easton.

I do have a fully restored 1960's 3 selection Coke machine that I'd sell. Will hold 120 cans of beer.

-- Edited by hemi43 on Sunday 2nd of June 2013 02:41:37 PM

Sacotu · COBOURG, ONT

i have a friend that makes his own draft beer and uses a fridge like these for dispensing. for the reusable draft kegs he uses the old pop cylinders.

hemi43 · ONTARIO

Rustynuts wrote:
what is the cost for a keg of beer?

I've never bought a keg which is equivalent to around 6-7 cases of beer. I used to buy the cylinders which were around 2 1/2 cases, and I was paying aprox $75. It was almost the same cost as bottled beer.

hemi43 · ONTARIO

The Boy wrote:
from what I know most beer all you need is Co2 and certain beers like Guinness need a nitro gas to get a perfect pour and heighten the taste. they should all last the same length. just you gotta know when the keg was filled sometimes by the time you get your keg its a month or 2 old

Like I said, CO2 will work, but the beer will last longer if you use "beer gas".

This is what I used;

http://www.lindecanada.com/en/products_and_services/gases/hospitality/beergas.php

The Boy · COBOURG, ONT

from the beer store you can order 58L which is 173 beers 30L which is 88 beers or 20L which is 59 but different beer is only available in certain sizes

Fordy Acres Car Farm · DORCHESTER, ONT

I might be interested in an old round top without the keg and tap. What would you be asking for a restore-able working unit with lotsa nice chrome/stainless - or my cost on a fully restored one in my colour choice? (please PM me if you don't wish to discuss publicly)

Thanks - Fordy