Our commercial kegerator has an air-cooled tower, and I can feel the cold air falling back down into the cabinet space with an even smaller opening.
The difference here is the kegerator is already air-cooled and has plenty of air circulation, as opposed to a converted freezer. This is where the double duct helps circulate air, but I think you’ll be fine.
This sounds like an awesome idea. If I understand your dimensions above, it will look something like this inside the upright pipe.
In the Texas summer heat, you are going to need to move plenty of cold air all the way to the outer taps and back. Are you planning to T the cooling line and run out to the outer taps at both ends?
You may want a blower rather than a fan since it would provide more positive pressure to drive the air in through the cooling tube, back out through the pipe and back to the kegerator. It would also be good to keep all the lines reasonably straight so that air flow coming back is less restricted.
I’ve never done this - just trying to offer some thoughts that might be helpful.
Good point on getting the cooling air to each end of the ‘T’
I was just browsing the Micromatic site, and noticed their blowers for air cooled systems: Their 51 CFM blower is recommended for up to 15 ft. of line length. Based on that, I was thinking the model @Tripod linked to should be sufficient?
Nice design. Is this going to be your main feed to your taps or just for parties? I have my insulated taps running through an interior wall and although not as warm as a Texas summer gets warm In the summer. My lines are about 5 or 6’ long. I’ll fill a small glass and dump it. I’m sure you’ll be fine with only 8’. It would be more of a concern for a longer line. When I tended bar and we had a 20’ run I always dumped the line wah
@voltron - My kegerator is a commercial True back-bar fridge so it has plenty of air circulation as you noted. However - I’ll still need the blower…thanks for doing the cross-reference on the CFM of the Micromatic. I did not find that data - So I feel a little better about the blower I’ve picked.
@Steve - I love the diagram! That is exactly what I’m doing. And what you’ve represented is the most ‘constricted’ it will be (only the length of the ‘base’ of the tower). Nice catch regarding a t-fitting to split the cooling line - That is exactly what I was planning to do! The fan I picked is definitely a blower-style for the exact reason you mentioned. Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Seem we’re thinking about it the same.
@brew_cat - This will be my main feed. My kegerator holds two 1/2 barrel kegs so it’s not small or portable (no plans to put it on rollers). The tower will be permanently wall-mounted and it’s available 24/7/365…not just for parties 
I got half my stainless steel shanks and faucets so I spent some time test-fitting this stuff. Here’s some beer tap porn:
I’m excited to see how this one turns out. Between this, and @MikeBeer’s BIAB build, we have a couple fun projects to watch on this forum!
Your design looks totally awesome. Looking forward to see pics of the final build
I made some progress last night and snapped some pix. Still a long way to go…
Originally I was going to populate the one side with three faucets and add the other 3 faucets in the future. However, after further reflection…it will be so much easier just to run the liquid lines now and not try to fish them thru in the future. So…I’m going to do all 6 liquid lines and shanks now. I’ll add the last 3 faucets in the future. I found these to cap the faucet-less shanks: https://ajexusa.com/product/121220-faucet-shank-plug-chrome/
Cutting the window for the faucet faceplate
Tapping to be able to screw the faceplate to the pipe
Test fit - yummy!
Faucets removed…test fitting with faceplate screwed on
Another view
Test fitting the whole thing. The ‘window’ is already cut behind the faceplate on the left…just need to cut the holes for the shanks now
Great Photos! This is going to be fun to watch come together as you progress through the build. 
Rad
Way nice.
Be great to see all 6 pouring beer at the same time! I can appreciate your dedication dreaming this project up, testing the fitment and building… Keep the “tap porn” coming! Sneezles61
I decided that a piece of tube between the flange and the T was unnecessary so I just welded the two together with four big fat tack welds. I’ll come back later and fill the air-gap with RTV and be done.
I also started ‘playing’ with paint. Remember - this is gonna be outside in the elements so it has to be painted to slow rust (no way to eliminate it). Two coats of primer…two coats of hammered -copper…then a dusting of hammered-black to give it some character and make it look old and sorta weathered.
The nice thing is I can go back and forth adding a little more black till I like it…and if I go too dark…just go back and dust it with the copper.
Seeing as you had beautiful pictures of your yard… I thought I’d show you our backyard too! Sneezles61
Oh jeez! Ya know, I gripe once in a while about the summer-time heat in Houston until I see something like this. It reminds me to be thankful for what we have (or in this case…for what we don’t have).
Yesterday we had record heat - December 15th and it was 82* and sunny.
Watching paint dry yesterday did not seem very productive so I thought I would play around with making some tap handles.
I had planned to make some unique beer-inspired (aka…drink lots of beer and get inspired) tap handles for each of the 6 faucets. However, after test-fitting the faucets I realized that I really don’t have much room for handles as the faucets are spaced pretty close together.
I don’t have a lathe, but thought about building one like this for my drill-press. But I wanted something more unique than just a turned handle.
I do some other projects for fun with reclaimed wood (cedar fence pickets and/or pallets) and wanted to keep this theme alive. I was going to cut out some simple handles and just figure out how to label them later. Something kinda like this.
So I kept searching. I found a lot of people are doing numbered taps. Most seemed too plain (like these) but some are more bespoke and rustic (like these) . All-in-all, numbers are pretty practical and it’s basically the same thing many micro breweries do. Then - we can compliment the numbered taps with a chalk-board that lists the names, ABV, IBU, etc.
I decided rather than make a wood handle and put a number on it…I would cut the outline of a number directly from wood. I like the numbers in this font and it has the tall/thin characteristics I needed.
I opened an image of the numbers in Photoshop and stretched the image till it was really tall. Then I projected the image onto some heavy paper to use as template.
Next - I transferred the outline onto the wood and cut 'em out.
I modified the letter’s design a bit to create a flat base for the threaded inserts. I found these threaded inserts on Amazon and they end up being less than 60-cents each.
I did some burning with a torch to make the edges (and back side) black.
I still have work to do…need to seal/varnish them and add the thread inserts. However - I’m pretty pleased with how they look. They are the height I wanted and are also narrow enough so they will fit the spacing between my faucets.
As a newbie I really appreciate all your efforts and the detailed info and pictures of your project. However, looks like you really need to examine your obsession with beer and how it is brewed and dispensed. Not being a dedicated brewer I may be out of line, but just sayin. A garage dispenser? On the other hand your fabrication skills are amazing.
What material are you using for the cooling conduit that is included in the dispenser tubing? Will the tower really keep the lines cool in the heat of summer in Houston? And how hot does it get in the summer? Sounds like a real challenge but it also sounds like you are up to the task. Please keep us posted. I may want to adopt some of your techniques.
Progress has slowed a little since I’m waiting for some parts to arrive. I realized that the shanks I ordered don’t fit flush to the faceplate. The shanks are made for the curvature of a 3" towers and I just determined the OD of my faceplate is closer to 4". I ordered these as an economical solution: Keg Beer Towers Draft Kegerator Chrome Outside Flange - 4" Diameter Tower
My fan arrived from Amazon so I thought I would work on the tower cooler. Here is the fan I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7VS6HX/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A235LT0EDLFSAR&psc=1.
For the hose I went to Home Depot and bought a sump discharge hose kit for about $12: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-1-4-in-x-24-ft-Sump-Pump-Discharge-Hose-Kit-EBHK24/205618043
The hose came with a couple adapters and I modified the larger adapter and attached it to the fan using both super glue and hot glue:
For the “T” fitting in the tower I got a 3/4" PVC “T” that fits tight inside the hose:
The hose is 24’ in the package. I hooked-up the blower using all 24’ and it works GREAT. Seems like plenty of airflow. That’s great news since my final set-up will be using less that half this length (which will increase the final CFM at the hose outlet). I hope to have plenty of cold air flow for the HOT Houston summers.
So all-in…I’m at about $30 for a 52 CFM tower cooler.
Very creative! If your collar doesn’t fit quite right… You could wrap sandpaper around the pipe and with back and forth motions, sand the collar to fit like a glove…
I’ve got to put a fan in my keezer… I’ve got the fan… Now to kick the 2 kegs si I can take it out of service…
Keep the progress pictures coming! Sneezles61
No updates for quite a while due to the crazy busy holidays and awesome vacation time! So…I’m posting LOTS of photos - enjoy!
I’ve got the taps up and running with 3 of the 6 taps operational. I had to order new ‘sleeves’ for all the shanks to accommodate a 4" curve and the new sleeves only fit half of the shanks I bought (some of the shanks were larger than others). Anyway - I need to exchange those shanks so the new sleeves fit.
This whole process involved LOTS of ‘putting together’ and ‘taking apart’…LOTS of test fitting.
Test-fit - placing the tower on the exterior wall to find the perfect final location:
Test-fit - the ‘block’ on the back of the wall to support the uber-heavy tower
Test-fit - start working on the internal insulation for the tower
Test fit- hose for the cooling fan.
In the end, the left/right cooling hose that you see above had to be removed. There is a “T” that splits the air but I had to remove the hoses because once I installed the faucets there was not enough room for the left/right hose extension. I’m hoping that once it get’s warm there will be enough airflow to keep the shanks cool.
Beer lines installed for one side. The lins are 10’ each.
You can see here that I’ve staggered the elbows to make it easier to attach the beer lines
Lines attached to shanks - set-up to crip the oetiker clamps before final installation.
I cut some plugs out of 2" foam to serve as insulation at the end of the pipe.
Plug installed to make the ‘cool space’ as small as possible.
I cut a new hole in top of my kegerator. The new hole is about 3 1/2" which is plenty large for all my hoses AND if I ever want to re-install a traditional tower, it will still screw into the deck. This photos is before I actually made the cut.
Here you can see the backside of the tower (interior garage wall) and the 4" ABS flange to mount the insulated duct. You also see the insulation to help keep the ‘T’ of the tower cool (and reduce condensation). There is an identical ABS flange on the top of the kegerator.
I used aluminum tape (same stuff used to seal HVAC systems) to attach the flange to the deck of the kegerator. I did not want to put more holes in the stainless steel deck of kegerator which is why I used this tape. It is VERY strong and seals completely. This is the closest thing I have to show the flange mounted to the top of the kegerator. You can see the flexible insulated duct is already attached with zip-ties.
The internal fan I’m using for my tower cooler has a remote to vary fan speed and I needed to extend the wires so the fan is inside the cooler and the controller is outside (I wanted easy access/adjustability from outside).
This is the inside of the cooler, fan mounted and hose running up and out to the tower.
This is the final ‘behind the scenes’ set-up inside my garage. If you look carefully you can see the variable controller for the tower cooler next to the drill.
…And this is what she looks like now. Three out of the 6 are set-up and cold beer is flowing!
