Buy Pre-made or Build a Kegerator?

When building a home bar, the choice of whether to use a free standing kegerator or a built-in is best advised by looking at the differences in the functionality of each type.

A simple flow chart to narrow your decision making process down when trying to decide what type of kegerator to build or buy.

The fans and cooling equipment of the different types vary, and each is best suited to a certain specific set of applications. If you are planning on being creative with the project, there are some things you will definitely want to go over regarding ventilation of the cooling unit. Here I will discuss the various factors involved in the implementation of one or the other.

When you start to consider building a kegerator into a cabinet or countertop, you have entered into the realm of a serious home draft system. There are a lot of out of the box options for both free standing and build in style kegerators. If you plan on building creatively in your home bar, you may be best served by using a kegerator conversion kit and modifying a freezer (keezer) or even building your own insulated cooling chamber.

Here are some questions you will want to ask yourself.

• Do you have a working refrigerator or freezer?
• Is space limited?
• Is there power available?
• Do you want to dispense multiple beers?
• Will you be using the kegerator indoors, outdoors or in the garage?
• Do temperatures rise above 75F or drop below 32F?
• Is mobility of the kegerator important?
• Do you need to lock up your kegerator when not in use?
• Is the kegerator appearance important?
• Will you be dispensing any foreign/import beers?
• Do you plan on adding additional taps in the future?
• Do you live in a place that gets very hot or cold? If so, you will want to make sure that your kegerator has a strong cooling compressor that is adequately insulated and ventilated.
• Do I want to be able to store bottles? If so, there are kegerators out there that will accommodate this, with a separately cooled unit for bottled beers.
• Do you make your own beer?
  • If you make your own beer, do you want extra storage space for fermentations?
  • Does this extra storage space need a separate temperature control?

It is best to ask these questions early and understand what you will want to buy or build.

One such unit is the Summit Under-Counter Draft Beer Kegerator. This is the kind of kegerator that is designed for free-standing or built-in use. This unit fits flush into a cabinetry layout with a fan cooled compressor. This kegerator will hold one half-barrel, quarter-barrel or up to three soda/homebrew kegs, and has a 1/5 HP motor. A high-ticket item, and one that looks beautiful in a home bar.

This is a good multi-feature kegerator to look at, even if it is out of your price range. You can look at these features, and then think about how you can create these features in your home. Let us take this small feature for example: the compressor is fan cooled. This is a necessity for some units that will be mounted under counters or around cabinetry. When you put a refrigeration unit into a boxed space the heat generated by the compressor motor has no where to go. If you have a regular free-standing kegerator, it will usually be vented out the back, like a regular refrigerator. You can put it against a wall, but when you box it in, there is no airflow to cool the motor, and this will cause undue stress on the cooling compressor. {Check out the Ultimate HomeBrewers Bar project to see a bar built around an under-counter kegerator.}

When considering the purchase of a kegerator, consider the horsepower of the cooling motor. If you are paying a low price, it might be because the unit has a weak motor. A 1/5th HP (Horsepower) motor is suitable for a single station kegerator, meaning a single draft tower with up to four draft spigots. If you are considering the larger, under the counter variety, with room for two full kegs, I suggest finding one with a 1/3rd HP motor, unlike the example above. This will ensure that your motor has a longer operating life, as it will not be stressed out as much trying to keep up with your cooling needs. A 1/5th HP motor is what is usually used in the freestanding kegerators, which usually hold only one ½ barrel (full keg).

Another important difference between free standing and under the counter style kegerators is the insulation value. Free standing kegerators are usually somewhat limited in the insulation they can provide, while under the counter kegerators can be built out with a lot more room, and insulated accordingly. By surrounding your kegerator with R-30 fiberglass insulation, you can increase the efficiency of the cooling greatly. If you don't want to leave that much room, you may be able to get the unit insulated with spray foam insulation. This process can be pricey for a house, but I bet it would be pretty cheap if you just brought your kegerator over to the spray foam insulation guy's shop. Just make sure that there is ventilation for the compressor motor, whichever way you want to go with insulation.

If you are feeling like a bold builder, you can also run beer lines away from your kegerator or cooling chamber in order to dispense from a custom feature. One place I have seen this done is a fine dining establishment and live music venue in Austin, Texas called the Eastside Showroom. The draft lines run about thirty feet along the ceiling from the walk-in refrigerator and terminate in a draft tower that floats above the bar. This system was built out of what looks to be an antique milk can and some other interesting odds and ends from the bar owner's antique collection, including a port hole window from a boat of some sort. The end result is a draft dispenser that reminds one of what it must have looked like on the inside of the Nautilus from the book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Vern.

As you can see from this example, sometimes a great idea is served best through ingenuity instead of the out of the box option. This allows you to harness your creative genius to build a unique and cost effective home draft system. It is possible, with a little building know-how to build a professional bar level home draft system for just a little more financial investment than the cost of a kegerator.

Related Kegerator Articles :
Kegerator Project Plan -- Follow the instructions to install a refrigerator conversion kit.
Build a Keezer -- Learn how to build a homemade kegerator from a freezer.
Kegerator Selector Tool -- Find recommendations and advice on what kegerator is right for your kegerator profile.