Kegerator Build Part 2: Adding a tower 3

Adding a tower

I wrote up my initial kegerator build here and promised more details when I added a tower.  Well, I didn’t do any documentation during my tower install and I took forever to even take pics of the finished project, but I finally did take a few pics, so here is a quick write-up and the pics.  As you can see in the first picture, I mounted the tower just a little back from center to allow myself plenty of room for a drip tray in front, and room for “stuff” behind it.  Maybe one day I will add a few rails to the back and sides, but for now it works great.

I chose to use copper tubing inside the tower to try and keep the hoses cool, but I don’t think that I have enough copper inside the fridge to do the job.  I definitely have a problem with excess foam, but it works well enough for now.  I was afraid that if the copper was much longer, it may cause some sharp bends in the beer line to get around the CO2 assembly and the kegs.  As it is, it does require the lines to drop down and then come back up before attaching to the keg.  I feel this may be contributing to the foam problem as it allows for a “high spot” in the lines where the gas collects.  If I were to do it again, I may skip the copper lines altogether as I don’t think they are really helping with anything.

The basic installation process I followed was as follows:

• Place 2 copper pipes inside a PVC pipe and fill gaps with foam insulation
• Wrap the PVC pipe with insulation tape so that it just barely fits inside the tower
• Drill a hole all the way through the top big enough for the 2 copper pipes, but not big enough for the PVC pipe
• Run the beer lines through the copper pipes and put the whole assembly inside the tower
• Mount the tower to the fridge using included hardware

The drip tray was ordered online and while I really like the look and material, I found that the bottom of it is not completely flat, so it wanted to spin around on the low spot in the center.  To fix that problem (and actually “mount” it non-permanently) I ordered a stack of 1/2″ by 1/8″ disk magnets and placed them inside and under the tray.  I found the place under the tray where the bulge was about the same height as the magnets and put 4 of them under the tray, then 4 of them in the tray at the same location.  The magnets stick to ther fridge and then the ones in the tray stick to the others holding the whole assembly in place.  The magnets are VERY strong and keep everything in place quite well.  If you look real close at the picture above, you can see the magnets in the gap under the tray.  Once I had them installed I was actually glad for the non-flat bottom as it allowed me to mount it to the fridge without using double sided tape or drilling holes.

One final touch was the magnetic towel bar on the side of the fridge for the quick cleanups when someone spills (never me 🙂 ).  And finally, here are a few other random pics I took.  Overall I’m quite happy with the project, I just wish I could get the foaming problem under control.