Merry Christmas . . . . . to ME !!

The culmination of two years’ worth of Christmas presents to me !!!  A keezer !!!  (erm, think kegerator, but made from a [i]freezer[/i])

Last year my wife “gave” me the gift of beer dispensation for Christmas.  And by gave I really mean, “this is your present, you have to buy the shit and/or build the shit.  And I’m not buying you anything else, not even CoD.”  Which was pretty awesome, even without the CoD.  This gave me the ability buy or create a kegerator with no strings attached.  More importantly it executed an agreement specifying that the unit could reside in a semi-prominent location within the primary living area of our home.  Shazam.

At the time my homebrew was in a $35 fridge in my crappy, dingy, unfinished basement.  The system was crude, closer to tailgate than bar room.  If I managed not to bump my head on the giant wood clamp that keeps the freezer door shut, I still had to employ a couple of nifty tricks to pour beer instead of foam.  I constantly moved hoses around to keep everything working.  This was not a system my guests could operate.  My visiting family is too lazy to climb the basement steps let alone learn how to pour beer from this system.  The basement was way, way, [i]waaaay[/i] too far to run during the short time between BF or CoD matches.  It was bare bones.  In other words, it sucked.

I quickly set out to find a used kegerator.  And I quickly learned that a 1960’s vintage fridge painted in a woodsy camouflage pattern would not meet the terms stipulated in the aforementioned agreement.  Also learned that folks don’t often get rid of refrigeration gizmos that would meet those terms.  After 9 months of patient searching, my wife made an adorable decree akin to, “fuck it.  I’m not buying you CoD this year either.  Buy new.  Merry Christmas.  Again.”.  Which I did.  Now it’s functional.  I’m very, very happy.

This was my setup in the basement:

[IMG]http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss338/Snuphy/Misc%20Beer/Almost.jpg[/...

Now:

[IMG]http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss338/Snuphy/Kegerator/FullUnit112712...

[IMG]http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss338/Snuphy/Kegerator/Overview.jpg[/...

This is what’s on tap:

[IMG]http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss338/Snuphy/Kegerator/MaidenMenu.jpg...

I made the inside tall enuf that kegs will fit on the shelf on the left side.  So I could have 4, maybe 5 faucets someday.  I’ll add tap handle number three sometime early next year.  Before I do that I need to organize/clean up all those random hoses and wires and stuff.  I also want to make tap handles and create a way to prominently post a list of what beers are on tap.  And move the bathroom closer to my gaming position.  Which now looks kinda like this:

[IMG]http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss338/Snuphy/Kegerator/HelloControlle...