Kegerator

I've been homebrewing for about 3 years now and always wanted to switch from bottling to kegging, but couldn't ever quite make the jump for whatever reason. I had a mini fridge I bought in college just sitting around acting as a beer fridge, so a couple of years ago I decided to start getting it ready for a keg setup. Some measurements verified that it should hold a ball lock setup with some modifications, so I did some work to the inside of it, removing excess parts and bending the cooling element down and back, holding it in place with a couple of screws.

I always had a problem with this fridge not getting cold enough to make ice or keep my groceries cold enough, even on the highest setting. So I thought maybe if I could circulate some air around the cooling element I could make it a bit more efficient. I picked up a computer case fan and found an appropriate AC adapter to hot wire to it, then cut and fit some plastic to direct the air flow behind and around the element, giving it a kind of whirlpool effect (however slight). This seemed to work well, as now it would make ice on some of the lowest settings. (Note: I have since found this, that would be much easier.)

That's how it sat for 2+ years, waiting for me to get motivated and funded well enough to finish the job. My wife is awesome, and coordinated with my brother (who also brews) to get me a ball lock keg setup with a 10 lb CO2 tank tank for Christmas this year, so I got to work finishing the job. 

First things first, I decided to wire the fan plug into the power supply of the fridge so it would all work as one unit and not have an extra plug. This was the original plan, but hadn't yet happened. I did some investigation on the back of the fridge, and decided to run extensions from the plug of the AC adapter to the appropriate wires from the fridge's power cord. I soldered extension wires on and insulated them with heat-shrink tube so they wouldn't short, then hooked them up with the insulated wire crimps that came on the fridge's wiring. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the fridge for the wire from the AC adapter to pass directly to the workings of the fridge, instead of the door and around like it had been. Some tidying of the wires made it a bit more manageable and now it all works as one unit. Any time the refrigerator is plugged in, the fan is circulating air.

Even with the door liner removed, the door to the fridge wouldn't close all the way with the equipment in there, so I decided to make a collar for the front of the refrigerator from a 10' 2x6. I glued it on with some Liquid Nails, and added a few straps to give it a bit more support. I put some weatherstripping I had left over from another project around the edges to improve the seal. Since the magnet on the door wouldn't work to hold it closed anymore, I picked up a latch to do the job. 

To help it stay cold, I picked up some reflective insulation and placed all around the inside and on the inside of the door. 

In the near future I'm going to pick up a faucet for the front of the door, and I may eventually move the CO2 tank outside the fridge to accommodate another keg and tap. We'll see what the future brings, but I'm really excited for now.

Update 1/14/15: Got a Perlick 630SS faucet for the front. Looks good and works well.