The Custom Draft Beer Service Console at DDB


Aah, the sweet taste of homebrewed beer, served fresh from your very own temperature controlled draft service center. That's right, a humonguous (23+ cubic foot) kegerator, dedicated to the imbibement of finely brewed substances.


The Dusty Dog Brewing Custom Draft Beer Service Console
Note the heavily camouflaged Hefeweizen fermenting in the foregound. Ill-fitting rain gear finds new life...


Another view. At this angle, you can see the guardian of the D.D.B.C.D.B.S.C. -- the head of a big ole steelhead, swilling some Two Hearted Ale.


Yet another vista -- bringing the punched tin light into view. Sometimes, just the right mood lighting can make a room, and this room has it...


A (slighlty fuzzy) close-up of the faucets with plain tap handles. I haven't decided how to best personalize my tap handles -- suggestions and donations accepted.


The Ranco ETC 111000-000 Electronic Temperature Controller. This is actually kinda cool. I wired a replacement power cord for 120V input, then ran romex to a 120V/15A rated outlet for the load. So I just plug the freezer power cord into the outlet, and put the temperature probe inside the freezer, and I can keep the temp above freezing. I am amazed it works, but it works very well.


The vacuous interior of the D.D.B.C.D.B.S.C. As you can see, I have plenty of room for more faucets and kegs, as the need arises. I have never (yet) had more than three brews waiting to be consumed, but I think in the future, I may have to make use of that space...



The Gory Details

The collar is made of wet cedar 2x4's and dried pine 1x12's. I used the cedar because of its natural aversion to mold and mildew, and it smells really good. The pine outer layer was necessary so that I could re-attach the lid to the collar without trying to drill holes in the back of the freezer (where all the coils are). I bolted the wood together through L-braces at each corner, giving stability and strength to the whole collar. I then attached small L-braces at the bottom of each corner to help the 1x12's hold shape. The boards were already slightly warped, since I bought construction-grade lumber, not finish-grade, so one end shows some big gaps. It still looks nice. I drilled 1" holes for the CO2 and shanks using a big spade bit, and put a 3/8" hole for the temperature probe -- again, all through the wood to avoid accidentally damaging a coil. The temperature controller came unwired, so I wired it as I mentioned above. The finished appearance of the outlet and junction box is a lot nicer than all the splicing I would have been forced to do to wire the controller inline in the freezer power cord. Now my dilemma is how to get all 6 of my corny kegs full of beer (one of the three in the freezer is actually a dead soldier already!). One of the things I am thinking about is purchasing a Sanke tap (the kind most commercial brewery kegs need) and getting some Bell's beer for my new toy...



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