Kegerator - Tidy Beer Lines.

[blawford]

I have most of the bits to start assembling my kegerator but first I need a bit of advice.

The fridge I am using is a tall larder fridge and is going to be half kegs and half other stuff, the door will be opened fairly often to get at other stuff and therefore I need to keep the beer lines tidy and out of the way.

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My broad plan is to have the taps holes just below the row of cans on the door. I was thinking of drilling through the plastic moulding that the door shelves hook into and feeding the lines there to keep them in place. After that I would need a few places where the lines are loosely kept in place and enough slack to allow the door to open and close but not too much that the lines get in the way or catch in the door seal. Easy, right?

As a picture speaks a thousand words...
https://s7.postimg.org/dmacxywcr/kegeratorplans.png

Has anyone got at tips, ideas, words of warning or examples I can learn from before I start?

[m_rawdin]

I think the issue you might have is when you shut the door the plastic strip down the side of the door will fit flush against the inside of the fridge and will either trap the beer lines or pinch them or the door won't shut. Also have u thought about storing your gas outside the fridge?

[blawford]

There is probably 1.5" between the outside of the plastic and the inside of the fridge, not sure whether this is enough to ensure the line doesn't get pinched.

I have thought a bit about the placement of the gas, aside from taking up room in the fridge is there any big advantages of keeping it outside? My other half has been very accommodating of my new beer obsession and I feel like I might be pushing my luck if I ask to move an ugly gas cylinder out of the fridge to be visible in the kitchen!

[vacant]

Perhaps raise the kegs to the middle of the fridge splitting the extra storage space above and below, and removing the door's middle shelf if required. Beer lines could loop in front of or on top of the kegs and into the taps (without the need to run them up the side with a load of John Guest elbows at every tight turn).

[TonySan]

Why not mount the beer taps inside the fridge ? That was going to be my option before I got a freezer.

With the thermal mass of the liquid inside the fridge, you won't be losing a great deal of cooling by opening and closing the door.

[blawford]

Taps on the inside is something I hadn't considered, interesting idea. But I think I just like the look of the taps on the door, they are too shiny to keep hidden.

What is a good way of keeping beer lines vaguely where I want them? I essentially want something that mounts to the inside of the fridge and keeps the lines loosely in place. Some kind of stuck down cable tie comes to mind but I was wondering if anyone had a more elegant idea?

[TonySan]

Double sided sticky pads/no nails, and then any 10mm pipe clip you fancy from a plumbers merchant/DIY store assuming you are using 3/8 pipe ?

[blawford]

Yep, good idea.

[Fil]

the usual 3/8" ldpe beer/gas line isnt the most malleable of materials, being quite rigid. most of us use the thin 3/16" microline as a budget and simple antifobbing solution (anti foaming). a benificial side effect is that the thinner line is easily coiled up and can be secured with a cable tie etc the down side is you will need 4-6ft per keg depending on the serving pressure employed, while im sure your aware the micro line has a pressure reducing effect of 1-2 psi per foot length, the goal being to reduce the keg pressure before the tap point to a nominal level of 1-2psi balanced against the pour speed. this should negate foam outs due to severe presure drops at the tap point.

while not common you can also supply the gas via the 3/16" micro line, However be mindful that it will also reduce the pressure supplied to the keg dependent on the length employed so if used for co2 remember to add 1-2psi per foot length used to your serving/conditioning pressure level to take this into account.

If the fridge will be opened regularly i would also consider wrapping up the kegs once they have reached target temp so they are buffered from the regular loss of cold air from within the fridge.

depending on the situation it may be prudent to leave awkward lengths of 3/8" beer/gas line within the fridge so you end up with a dedicated keg fridge as its just simply simpler that way

[blawford]

depending on the situation it may be prudent to leave awkward lengths of 3/8" beer/gas line within the fridge so you end up with a dedicated keg fridge as its just simply simpler that way

Haha, tempting, but that is a bit of a gamble that could easily backfire on me!

I already have the 3/8" beer line and have flow control taps coming, so I will go for that for now and see where I end up. I think the rigidity of the pipework could end up working in my favour as it shouldn't get easily bent at right angles as long as I don't restrict it too much.

@Fil, as the biggest advocate of PTFE tape I know, should I be wrapping any threads I will be screwing JG connectors onto? (1/4" FFL connection on my regulator outputs, corney disconnects?) What about the gas canister itself?

[mshergold]

I don't think you'd gain anything by putting the holes in the side of the door and it looks like they might pinch so would put run the lines down through holes in the shelf with the milk in if you can spare the space and then trunk it down the door (assuming you can get it to stick).

[Fil]

depending on the situation it may be prudent to leave awkward lengths of 3/8" beer/gas line within the fridge so you end up with a dedicated keg fridge as its just simply simpler that way

Haha, tempting, but that is a bit of a gamble that could easily backfire on me!

I already have the 3/8" beer line and have flow control taps coming, so I will go for that for now and see where I end up. I think the rigidity of the pipework could end up working in my favour as it shouldn't get easily bent at right angles as long as I don't restrict it too much.

@Fil, as the biggest advocate of PTFE tape I know, should I be wrapping any threads I will be screwing JG connectors onto? (1/4" FFL connection on my regulator outputs, corney disconnects?) What about the gas canister itself?

sorry missed this.. yes but a single or double wrap should suffice, under normal conditions with ptfe less can be more.. but there are circumstances you can go mad hehe..

[blawford]

depending on the situation it may be prudent to leave awkward lengths of 3/8" beer/gas line within the fridge so you end up with a dedicated keg fridge as its just simply simpler that way

Haha, tempting, but that is a bit of a gamble that could easily backfire on me!

I already have the 3/8" beer line and have flow control taps coming, so I will go for that for now and see where I end up. I think the rigidity of the pipework could end up working in my favour as it shouldn't get easily bent at right angles as long as I don't restrict it too much.

@Fil, as the biggest advocate of PTFE tape I know, should I be wrapping any threads I will be screwing JG connectors onto? (1/4" FFL connection on my regulator outputs, corney disconnects?) What about the gas canister itself?

sorry missed this.. yes but a single or double wrap should suffice, under normal conditions with ptfe less can be more.. but there are circumstances you can go mad hehe..

Don't worry Fil, I knew deep down what your answer would be and I wrapped every thread in PTFE, even used gas specific PTFE on the bottle, regulator and gas disconnects.