Costco Kegerator

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h2oriderz

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I was tooling around Costco and came across this kegerator. Comes with just about everything, but would need to be modified for homebrew kegs. Take a look and tell me what you guys think.

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It is probably set up to do sanke kegs, not corny's.

Price is well .. from what I've seen on CL and looking commerical, this seems about right. It is less than new from most other sources and about the same or a little more than CL minikegerators
 
I bought that very same model a couple of years ago. I was fooled by the clearance price. The fridge won't keep beer at a serving temperature (unless you like warm beer) with out modification to the thermostat. The regulator is garbage. And the compressor quit after a year and a half.

I do not recommend
 
runbad said:
I bought that very same model a couple of years ago. I was fooled by the clearance price. The fridge won't keep beer at a serving temperature (unless you like warm beer) with out modification to the thermostat. The regulator is garbage. And the compressor quit after a year and a half.

I do not recommend

oh and the sanke coupler broke after three kegs
 
I have the same model and have had good success w/ it thus far. Holds steady around 40F which is where I prefer it. I did swap out the faucet for a perlick using amazon reward points and switched from Sanke to ball lock. Been working great for the price IMO.
 
It's basically the same thing as the DAR125SLDD Should fit one or two 1/6th barrel small sankey kegs or two corny kegs.

Depending on your supplier, you can do an excellent conversion for a fair bit less.

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Not including the cost of the kegs/CO2/Reg this cost me a hair over $350 canadian.

That's with 2 Perlick 525SS faucets, stainless tower and hardware.

Now, I dinged my door up a bit because I was careless removing the shelving insert (eventually gonna veneer it anyways when I get the maple top made up) If you put a couple empty boxes down to work on top of, you'll save yourself that hassle though.
 
I saw the same thing at my Costco and briefly thought about it. Then when I touched it and saw how cheap the components were I kept walking. For a little less I money I made my own kegerator and used top quality components like Perlick taps and SS shanks.
 
I used one for a year and never had an issue with it. the one at costco is not your typical cheapo one. Sure it uses cheaper parts but you get what you pay for. If I added up all the perlicks, shanks, gas line, ball locks etc it would be a crap load more than that starter unit. For someone starting out it is not a bad deal. All you need to get are a couple ball lock fittings and line and it will be good to go. Expand as necessary. If it did not come with the CO2 tank and regulator (this particular one is dual gauge where most cheap ones do not have a high side gauge) then it would not be such a great deal.
 
Orion, I did mine with perlicks and all that for basically the same price. Only thing missing on mine is a bar rail and drip tray. I honestly don't use a drip tray either, just a folded bar towel.
 
I got my Danby Designer Model DKC645BLS around 6 month ago from Walmart.
Works fine so far. Keeps my beer cold enough.
Lowest setting is 36. Max is 46.
Displays temps in C or F.
The rails on top feel like they are made from aluminum foil, but serve their function. Just don't push on them.
I am able to fit 3 Corny Super Champions inside (8.5" dia x 25" tall) with a little effort.
3 outlet gas manifold fits in corner above compressor shelf.
I saw an adapter to add two more taps on top of a 3" tower. I think I'll try it.

One minor annoyance is, if power drops it defaults to a 41 degree setting.
Would be nice if it remembered it's last setting.
 
Just bought one from Costco. 399.99 in Ontario. Model #DKC146SLDB.

Been playing around with it empty, with a glass of water on the middle shelf. Froze water the first night, about 2/3 of the dial. Notched it back about 1/16". Water (now with salt...) is at 2C (35F). Pretty much the coldest I want to go anyway as I want to have carbonated water on tap also. I'd go for 33F with beer only, as Iike my beer COLD. Looks like it would handle it without issue. Not too noisy, a bit of a fluid flow sound up close, but I figure we will forget it's there when under the bar.

The regulator is a rebranded Taprite 2 gauge. Tower and tap feel a bit cheap, and the lead warnings from California are a bit unnerving, but hey, anything will kill you in California.

Maybe I'll upgrade the tower to a 2 or 3 tap, and make a tower chiller. But for now looks like a good buy.
 
I got that kegerator from Costco when I switched to kegging. It's definitely sanke like others have mentioned, but that's what I use. I don't think it would be hard to switch it over. No problems keeping beer at proper serving temps. I used it to store soda before I put my first keg in it. It froze the cans with it on the coldest setting. I used a thermometer inside to find a close approximate temp to use, then fine tuned it once I had beer in it.

The worst part about it is that it doesn't come with a Perlick faucet. I also wish it came with two faucets instead of one, but I think it was meant more for people to just put one half-barrel keg of bud-light or some other crap rather than home brewers.
 
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