♫ (Zemba Craftworks Theme) ♫
Hey, Internet! Today's video is a design for a portable draft beer serving system
that is cheap, simple to put together, easy to transport, and -- somehow --
reasonably classy despite the fact that it does literally involve serving beer out of a
trash can.
(kitten falls) Whoa!
So, if you homebrew and you keg your beer, you've probably, at some point,
run into the question of how to serve all that delicious beer directly from the tap
at a picnic or some other event away from home.
There's a few options. Of course, the simplest is a big bucket of ice
with your keg in it and a picnic tap connected.
(kitten pours some beer) Oh s***!
There's also the jockey box, which is a coil in an ice bath in a cooler that chills the beer
as it winds its way through the coil to the faucet.
If a jockey box sounds more up your alley, check the description for links to
a couple great build videos from 'BEER-N-BBQ by Larry' and 'YETI Coolers'
on how to put together your own jockey box.
The design I'm going to walk you through in this video is really just a fancy version
of that big bucket of ice with some improvements
to make it just a little bit more presentable.
I've been using it since last summer,
and I've been really pleased with it -- both in terms of how easy it is to transport
and set up, and how nice it is to sit down and pour a beer out of it.
So, without further ado, let's build a trash can kegerator.
♫ (Zemba Craftworks Theme - Reprise) ♫
The general idea for this project is to start with a trash can that will hold
our keg, along with a few bags of ice to keep it cold. Then, to class it up, we're
going to add a bar top and a draft tower.
Depending on what supplies you already have around, and how much you want to
spruce everything up, the whole setup will run about $100 give or take.
We'll go into more detail in a bit, but let's take a look at our general budget.
A trash can will run you $15 - $30. We're looking in the
ballpark of 32 gallon cans. The bar top will range roughly $10 to $30
depending on if you make your own or buy it pre-made. For the draft tower,
budget anywhere from $20 to $50 depending on what style of tower
you want. The beer faucet and shank can run $25 to $75 depending on a lot
of factors such as whether you want chrome-plated or stainless steel, and
whether you go with forward sealing Perlick-style faucets. Lastly, some optional
items -- to add a drip tray, budget $15 - $30, and if you want to
spruce it up with some fabric, throw in another $5 to $20. Altogether, that
gives us a pretty broad range of anywhere from $70 - $235.
Using the parts that I used, my final price tag was $150.
In terms of tools you won't need much out of the ordinary.
For the essentials, we'll be creating a feed through hole in the bartop
for the beverage line, so you'll need a drill with a spade bit, hole saw or a
Forstner bit large enough to accommodate your tubing.
I used a 1-1/4" spade bit, which is usually the cheaper option
if you'll be buying one. We'll also be drilling the holes to mount the draft
tower, the size of which will depend on your hardware. In my case, I used a 3/8" bit.
Again, either a regular or spade bit will work fine. To finish the bar top,
you'll need some sanding supplies, so either sandpaper, or a sanding block, or a
power sander. Plus, a brush along with wood stain and sealer or anything else
you want to use to finish the wood. You'll also want a wrench to tighten
down the draft tower, and a screwdriver to tighten your hose clamps.
Now, optionally, if you do use black iron pipe for your draft tower like I did, you
may want a pipe wrench or channel locks to assemble and adjust it. Once you start
putting those pipes together, they get stuck faster than... (hesitation)
...I don't know, man. A...a pipe? I don't have a good metaphor. It gets stuck. A pair of
needlenose pliers is also helpful in attaching the faucet shank within the
bushing of the iron pipe because you can't quite fit a wrench in there.
Of course, if you're not a homebrewer with a bunch of spare kegging crap lying
around, you'll also need tubing, the quick disconnects for your kegs, some hose
clamps, the faucet wrench, your CO2 canister... I'm just gonna assume that you have the
kegging side of things covered.
Obviously a clean, brand new trash can is highly recommended!
But... I am not going to tell you how to live your life.
Some things to consider when selecting a can: wheels are a plus.
Make sure it's large enough to hold your kegs. Depending on the can, you might
be able to fit two (or maybe even three!) corny kegs... I cannot. I can't.
But you might be able to! Look for one with no holes on the bottom
unless you have a plan to seal them. After all, keeping the ice water in is pretty critical
to the whole cold beer business. Although, having a removable drainage stopper
might be nice to drain the ice water out afterwards. I've considered repurposing
an old bottling bucket spout for that, but I haven't tried it yet obviously.
So, if you give it a shot when you put this together, let me know how it works out!
You also want a can with a nice flat opening so that the bar top will sit level.
This can originally had a handle in the back that was getting in the way,
but, fortunately, it was easily removed.
(clatter)
Overall, this can was perfect. This is a 32 gallon Rubbermaid. It was $20,
and it holds a 5 gallon corny keg with plenty of room left over for ice.
For the bartop, $18 will grab you a nice, round, 2 ft diameter pine tabletop
from most of the big home-improvement stores.
This is by far the easiest route. If you're looking to save a little money, or maybe
use some nicer wood, making your own tabletop might be preferable if you have
the tools to do it.
But...this works. It's easy.
We'll also be finishing the wood, as you can see here, so make sure to budget for that if you
don't have anything on hand to do the job. I'll be using a stain and
polyurethane combo. We don't need much at all for a tabletop this size, so if
you're buying some, one of those 8 ounce cans will be more than enough and you'll
have plenty left over. Those are about $5 each -- so $10 for stain and polyurethane.
Next up is the draft tower. There is a lot of variability in cost here. Going with
black iron pipe like this is easy, particularly if you like the industrial
aesthetic that it kind of lends to the whole thing, but it's definitely not the
cheapest option. This is 2" diameter black iron pipe, and it was about $50 for
the entire assembly including the flange, straight, elbow, and bushing. So if you're
looking to do this on the cheap, the draft tower is a good place to start to
shave off some of the cost. For about $25, you can find a
plastic draft tower online. You could also look at using a smaller diameter black
iron pipe -- all you need to fit through here is your beverage line, so 1-1/2"
or 1-1/14" would work just as well. You can also use PVC pipe,
which of course you could spray paint for a very similar aesthetic, at a much
cheaper cost. Don't forget to grab some hardware to affix your draft tower to
the bar top. For this flange with this four-hole bolt pattern, I'm using four
5/16" bolts with washers, lock washers, and nuts, which is about $5 to $10 worth of hardware.
The faucet is your standard beer faucet with a 2-1/2" long shank.
Your run-of-the-mill chrome-plated faucet is
about $15, plus another $15 for the shank. You'll also need a short length of
tubing, about 2 to 3 feet, some hose clamps, and the disconnect for your keg --
all of which you may already have.
If you want to add a small drip tray,
budget about $20 for that. This is a 5 by 8" stainless steel drip tray from Amazon.
Lastly, if you want to class it up one extra step, I use a canvas drop cloth
as a makeshift skirt around the can just to make it a little bit nicer. Obviously you
can use any fabric you want, but a drop cloth is one that you can grab at
the hardware store when you're picking up the rest of the supplies.
A 6x9' drop cloth, which was a good size for this can, is $12.
Originally, what I was doing to attach it to the can was just fastening it in the back
with safety pins. But...to really do it right, what I ended up deciding was to
to sew the cloth into a sleeve
that slides down over the top of the can and is held in place on
the edge by the bartop.
Start by cutting your fabric into a rectangle that's 1" - 2"
longer and then the circumference of your trashcan and 6" - 12" taller
than the height of your trashcan. Fold that in half and sew it along one edge.
Then, flip that inside out, and now you have a sleeve
that will slide over the outside of the can and hang in place on the edge.
The only real construction that's involved is to finish the bar top and
assemble and then attach the draft tower. You can probably get away with not
sanding one of these pre-made tabletops, but you'll definitely be happier with it if you do.
I stepped from 60 grit to 120 to 220... like most sanding just keep
going until you have a nice surface that's smooth to the touch.
Sanding by hand is good exercise, I guess? But... (sigh)
(sanding intensifies)
For the edges, a piece of regular sandpaper is nice to wrap around the
curvature of the wood.
If you're also staining like I am, go ahead and brush that on.
I used Minwax Ebony to give it a nice dark finish.
Wipe off the excess after about 15 minutes and give it another coat if needed.
I'll usually let that dry overnight, and then apply the polyurethane the next day.
This is a kegerator, after all, so you'll inevitably have some beer spills.
I used an outdoor, waterproof polyurethane and gave it as many coats
as I had the patience for, which, as it turns out, is three.
Next, choose a location for the flange of the draft tower and mark your holes.
You might be tempted to go directly in the center, but remember that the faucet extends about
5-1/2" forward with this setup, and you need room for a drip tray
if you're adding one. Considering that, I mounted the flange 5-1/2" back
from the center, which puts the faucet -- and your glass -- centered
in the middle of the tabletop.
Next, mark and drill your holes.
(tentative drilling)
(blargarblgarblgarbl)
When drilling with spade bits, if you stop just as the pilot tip has broken through,
but before the entire bit has bored all the way through, you can flip over
the workpiece and drill the rest of the hole from the other side
for a nice, clean bore on both sides -- rather than blasting your way through
and splintering the wood on the back... like I did here on the smaller holes.
(shwoooooooop)
(shwoop)
Now, if you just set the table top on the can, you'll notice it does slide around a bit.
It's not so bad, but I decided to add some scrap wood to the bottom to hold it in place
on the can and prevent it from sliding back and forth.
These scrap pieces were cut into arcs on a bandsaw, but obviously it doesn't have to be pretty.
Anything will work. These are actually leftovers
from my House Stark shield... but that's a project for another video.
(zip) (zap)
(zoop) (zip)
(zap) (zoop)
Once the blocks are screwed into place, we have a tabletop that fits nice and snug into the top of the can.
Assembly of the draft tower with the iron pipe can be a bit tricky.
Start by attaching the flange and elbow to the straight section, but leave off the bushing.
What makes the assembly particularly difficult is that you need to tighten
the shank onto the bushing, and the bushing into the elbow,
but we want the faucet to be vertical once everything is locked down.
Before you tighten the faucet onto the bushing, take the bushing and thread it into the elbow,
tightening it as securely as you want it to be in the final position. Take note of
which portion of the bushing is on top and mark it. This will make it a lot easier
to get the faucet in the right position. Next, we're going to remove the bushing
and tighten the shank on to the location that we marked as the top of
the bushing. Your shank should come with a flange for the faucet ... I didn't like the
round flange on the hexagonal bushing, so I 3D printed a hexagonal flange.
If you have access to a printer, there's a link to the file in the description.
But, of course, it's just completely unnecessary! The round flange, or even no flange, will work just fine
unless you're like me and you want to 3D print absolutely everything.
Attach the faucet to the shank and tighten it up, keeping it aligned
with the top portion of the bushing that you have marked.
You may want to tighten it about 1/4 turn counterclockwise of the final position
so that you can give it that extra last 1/4 turn to really lock it into place
once everything is ready to go. Since we can't get into the tower all that easily,
we're going to attach the tubing before attaching the bushing.
You'll also want to add some insulation to the tower to keep your beer line from getting too warm.
This is just a short piece of foam pipe insulation, and that fits pretty well,
but any insulating material you have around will do the job.
Feed the tubing up through the tower and connect to the end piece of the shank.
Soaking the tubing in some warm water definitely makes this a lot easier,
particularly if you have the smaller 3/16" tubing and not the 1/4".
Tighten the hose clamp, and now we're ready to put it all together.
Side note: as you tighten the bushing into the elbow,
make sure the tubing is free to spin so that it doesn't kink.
Crank the bushing into place and hopefully the faucet will line up.
Feed the tubing through the hole in the tabletop, and attach the tower with its associated hardware.
(clink) (clank)
(clankalank) (clack)
(worp)
(worp) (worp)
(more ratcheting)
(still ratcheting)
And finally, we're ready to try it out!
Select a venue...
...toss on the tablecloth...
...add your keg...
...add some ice...
...connect your CO2...
(sssss)
(ssssssssssssssss)
...connect your tap...
...screw on the tap handle...
...adorn with drip tray...
...and, lastly, pour yourself a well deserved cold pint.
Cheers!
♫ (more 8-bit music) ♫
if you liked this project, please feel free to subscribe for more DIY videos.
I do also have a mini-fridge kegerator video if you're looking for one that doesn't involve ice and trash cans.
I hope you enjoyed watching this as much as I enjoyed making it.
Thanks again!
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