Man Up! Build the Kegerator and They will Come.

August 28, 2011

Last January right before the Super Bowl we had the idea to serve each customer a “right-sized” pour of a cold beverage during their visit to Rock Barbers.  How cool would it be to “take the edge off” a long day at work while you relax in our barbershop?  Very cool was the answer.  So we started thinking about bottles vs. cans.  That became a problem for storage, cooling and disposal.  Ah hah! Let’s build a kegerator.  It can’t be that hard… and it wasn’t.  Here is how we did it.

1. Buy a fridge that can hold a full keg.  (It is called a half-barrel at the liquor store.)

We bought ours at Sears.  It is an apartment size refrigerator.  $299.00 plus tax.

2. Get the Kegerator Conversion Kit.  $200.00

  • 1 CO2 tank with regulator
  • 1 coupler
  • A lot of surgical tubing for beer and CO2 lines
  • 1 tap
  • 1 tower(necessary for mini-fridge conversions)
  • 1 drip tray
  • 1 draft spigot
  • 1 shank
  • 1 draft spigot handle

3. Remove the shelves from the fridge.  Just throw them away because you will never need them again.  This fully opens up the space inside the fridge  to accommodate the keg.

4. Remove the shelves on the door itself.  This takes up valuable room when you shut the door. Replace the door gasket as you will need a seal to keep the beer cold.

5. Drill a hole in the front or side of the kegerator at the proper height to be able to dispense the beer from the tap without bending over.  *This is a safety measure to avoid getting a bad back from bending over.  You gotta think ahead people!

6. Place the shank into the hole, secure and tighten it.  Attach the hoses according to directions to the CO2 tank.

7. Place the cold keg in the new kegerator, attach the coupler. Set the CO2 tank to 8 pounds of pressure. Pull the tap handle and beer should flow.

Oh sure there will be plenty of tinkering and adjusting to get the foam just right.  A lot of beer will be consumed in this process but as they say “Waste not, want not”.

The next time you come in to Rock for a haircut, don’t wait to be asked, just go over to our kegerator, grab a cup from the top, place it under the tap at a 45 degree angle, pull that tap and pour yourself a cold one.  God knows you deserve it!

PS: It’s 5 O’clock somewhere.

PSS: We are always looking for cool stickers to put on the kegerator.  Bring one in and stick it on.