- It’s Alive!
So after this weekend’s fight with my tap setup over getting to my sump pump, I decided to make some changes. Initially I was concerned about making this move. I was worried that I would get into it and realize that it was a bad idea, or that it was not possible, or that I would break something. But alas I was the recipient of a late Christmas miracle.
As you may remember, originally this was a corner piece of a counter top from my in-laws house after a renovation. The inspiration was my thought that I could make good use of the space above my sump pump that was otherwise useless. Since this weekend’s decision to make my changes, I came up with the idea to cut off the side of the counter top that did not have the tap system attached to it. After further thought, I came up with the idea to use that part of the counter top as a wheeled base for the kegged and tapped part.
That’s when Tappenstein was born!
As you can see from the picture above, it’s a pretty simple design, the mini-fridge provides the cold for the corney kegs, the tap is mounted to the counter top. There is a computer fan on the inside of the fridge to circulate the cold and the CO2 is held outside of the system.
I picked up some wheels, two swiveling with breaks and two fixed, and mounted them to the cut-off piece of counter top with nuts and bolts. I had to add some support to make sure that the newly made cart didn’t break, but it was good to go.
One of the parts of this that I thought was going to be a problem was getting the tap system up onto the cart with out breaking the system or my back. It went surprisingly smoothly and I had it centered on the cart in a matter of a few short minutes.
As you can see from the image above, the wheeled cart is centered under the original tap box and now, not only is my sump pump accessible, but I can also wheel my kegs around the basement! Whats more, the whole project took me about 4 hours and cost $22 ($12 for wheels and $10 for nuts, bolts and washers). I have to say that I am surprised that it went as smoothly as it did. These projects usually have some kind of hiccups in the process that slows me down.
Moving forward, I have thought about running some nice stained plywood around the sides and over the top to close things up. I thought this might be a good way to close things up and give it a nice finish.
Cheers!
