Build a Draft Tower
Getting a kegging system up and running at home is a worthwhile project for any homebrewer. However, assembling all the necessary components is rarely an inexpensive venture. If you decide to go with a mini-fridge or chest freezer as the base for your kegerator, one major cost center is the draft tower, which is the fancy-looking chrome pipe to which the dispensing faucets are mounted. A tower with a single faucet costs an average of about $75–$100 for a new “economy” unit, and the price goes up from there for fancier hardware and multiple faucet options.
But don’t let that deter you, because you can build your own draft tower from PVC for a fraction of the cost of a new metal tower. The prime directive for this project is to get your system up and running as inexpensively as possible; you can always upgrade the hardware at a later date as finances allow. And with PVC, it’s trivial and cheap to add additional faucets, unlike with a traditional metal draft tower. You can even make your own per-faucet drip trays for less than $5 each.
Materials, Parts and Tools
For the Tower:
• 3-inch (7.6 cm) diameter PVC pipe (commonly sold in 2-foot/61 cm lengths)
• 3-inch (7.6 cm) PVC end cap (slip fitting)
• U.S. standard floor-mount toilet flange (4-inch exterior/3-inch interior diameter) (10 cm/7.6 cm)
• Mounting bolts, washers, and nuts (1⁄4-inch bolts are standard)
• PVC cement
• Paint (optional)
• Foam insulation (optional)
For the faucet:
• Short faucet shank (3 inches/7.6 cm or less), or a dedicated right-angle tower shank
• Dispensing faucet and tap handle
• Shank hookup hardware (depends on shank type)
• Beverage tubing.
Tools:
• Drill with 1⁄2-inch (1.3-cm) hole saw bit
• PVC pipe cutter tool (or a hack saw or hand saw)
• Angle grinder, RotoZip or hack saw with metal-cutting blade (for straight shanks)
• Hand file (optional)