Looking at kegging set ups

[buckinin]

I'm considering purchasing a kegging system at home. I'm not the most handy person so I'm thinking about buying a fridge on line from somewhere like kegerator.com and not trying to build something myself. Any recommendations or experiences with this website or others?

I also see that Midwest Supplies has a deal on kegging systems today. But it looks like their systems come with picnic taps. How tough is it to convert to use such a system with a kegerator with tower?

Thanks!

 

[woo_pig]

It's really not that hard to build one yourself .It al depends onh of many kegs you want and how fancy you want to get. But if you would rather just buy one .Go ahead.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I'm considering purchasing a kegging system at home. I'm not the most handy person so I'm thinking about buying a fridge on line from somewhere like kegerator.com and not trying to build something myself. Any recommendations or experiences with this website or others?

I also see that Midwest Supplies has a deal on kegging systems today. But it looks like their systems come with picnic taps. How tough is it to convert to use such a systems with a keg restore with tower?

Thanks!

I got mine on sale at Costco and I love it. Danby 5.2 CuFt Compact Keg Cooler

The only thing I would suggest right off the bat is really consider if you want a single or duel tap. You can always upgrade it later...but it didn't take me long to move to the duel tap. Also....when you buy them it almost never comes with the home brew keg connections. So check on that...but it never hurts having commercial keg hook ups also b/c if you ever go dry on homebrew you can go pick up a keg from a local store. Changing out the lines really isnt that hard...but I bought two seperate line connections and easy connect adaptors so im not cutting the hoses and changing the lines if I switch between commercial and homebrew kegs.

I would say the keg its self and the lines will be pretty easy to learn there are plenty of YouTube videos to show you how to set it up and to clean them...I mean a lot...

For me the biggest learning curve was the gas and force carbing...study up on that and the biggest first tip I can give us is the gas changes pressure based on the temp of the beer...

hope this helps...ask some more questions if I missed something....

 

[buckinin]

Thanks! I appreciate it!

 

[afro_lou]

Good advice so far!

If you're looking to go back and forth between commercial (sanke) kegs and corny kegs, get one of these, and the associated wing nut for your Sanke-D tap. Then add one of these to the end of your beer line, and use these for your cornys. At least that's what I did, and it works just fine.

Also, read up on balancing your lines!!!

Keg Line Balancing

Happy Kegging!

 

[richl025]

Well, I AM a handy guy, but I simply did not have time to build my own, so I went with a commercial one from Kegco (http://www.kegco.com/kegerators/index.html ).

It's been running for about 2 1/2 years now without a problem.

I got the triple tap option - even though I am not a very prolific brewer, I'm glad I went with 3 - it's great to have variety on tap...

I second the comment another poster made about balancing your keg lines - VERY IMPORTANT. I got lucky & got it right the first time, but I've seen many posts from people having problems with this...

Good luck - once I made the jump to kegging I found myself wanting to brew more <g>.

Plus, it is SO nice to come home after a hard day and pull yourself a pint!

 

[buckinin]

A couple places I've read that you can get foamy beer (especially for a first pour if it's been a while) if the beer tower isn't cooled somehow. Have you seen this problem or do the systems mentioned above have cooling systems for the tower?

Also, do these allow different pressures for the different kegs or would you have to upgrade to a different pressure regulator for that?

Good to know about the balancing issue before diving into this!

 

[buckinin]

I am looking at a dual or maybe triple tap. Right now I usually have three or more batches of beer in bottles at once so I know I wouldn't want to be limited to one or maybe even two on tap.

 

[afro_lou]

Yep, you can definitely get some extra foam if your tower isn't cooled. I was getting a ton, so I got this. It seems to help, so no complaints!

If you want different pressures in each keg, you'd need a multi-regulator, something like this for 3, or this for two, or, if everything is at the same serving pressure, just get this or this.

Cheers!

 

[buckinin]

I decided to go ahead with the triple tap Kegco option. The Beverage Factory was running a 25% off 4th of July sale that seemed to be too good to pass up. It also included an upgraded regulator and all stainless tower and taps for free.

Thanks for the advice! I might have to go for the tower fan and look at Sanke adapters (although I don't plan to buy commercial right now). At least I can come back to this thread and find the links.

 

[richl025]

I bought a tower far right away, I can't comment on how it would be without one, but I recommend it.

I also keep a Sanke keg adaptor handy, but thankfully have never had to use it yet <g>.