Portable Keg Cooler (a.k.a. R2-Beer2)

Step 9 Final Result

For the debut, I put a 1/2 full cold keg in with 50 pounds of ice. Let me just say, it was the hit of the party! The ice easily outlasted the beer and 48 hours later I disassembled the cooler and dumped out about 20 pounds of ice that still remained. A more typical situation for me would be a weekend fishing or camping trip and I will need to update this instructable once I know how well it holds up after a full day in the sun. For multiple days, the plan is to just drain out the excess water and then add ice as needed to the top.

The only thing that I have remaining on my list is to add some latches to the lid and pimp it up a bit with some LED ground effects.

As I mentioned before, total cost was about $105. The time commitment was around 20 hours or so.

Cheers!!

2009_09_08 - UPDATE! - I had a Labor Day Weekend Beach Party and once again the R2BEER2 was a huge hit. With a full keg and about 30 pounds of ice, the ice lasted all weekend of 80-90 degree temps. Unfortunately, the beer ran out much too quickly.

Comments

[Ryan_C]

Awesome Job! This is exactly what I was dreaming up, just wasn't sure where to find the 55 gal and 30 gal drums. Where would be a few good spots to try? How long does the ice last out in the sun?

[glubash]

Glad that you like it! I haven't done an outside sun test. Two inches of the extruded polystyrene should give an R-10 insulation factor. The R-factor on the extruded poly is the highest that I could find that was readily available and not prohibitively expensive. The next significant step up gets into very high buck materials or vacuum. Most standard coolers seem to have around 1/2 - 1" or so of insulation and I think the "super" coolers are closer to 2". With the 2" of insulation in this thing and starting out with a cold keg and a full load of ice, I think it will easily last a day in the sun but have yet to try it (have an outing planned in a few months where it will get a full test). As far as finding drums, that took me awhile. I started out with looking on Craigslist and doing a lot of asking around. I did find a businesses that cleans out and recycles drums (they were asking about $25). I posted an add on Craigslist as well and got several responses. I paid $10 for each of my drums. Not sure what the small one had in it but the large one was from a gas station car wash (you could ask there as well). Good luck!

[glubash]

The ice generally will last around 2 days in full sun and 95 degree heat (with the keg getting hit on a regular basis). Better insulation in the lid would increase this. Additionally, I may paint the lid white.