kegerator questions

[bigben]

how do you make one and where is the place to find the stuff to make it. I have been lookin for used fridges for the last few weeks. if need be I will buy a new one and use the old one. how much to make one also? takereasy.

[Mill Rat]

Home brewing shops, either local or online, will usually have either a good selection of what you need or can point you in the right direction.

[corkybstewart]

I'd recommend a newer model fridge or even better a chest freezer. Electricity consumption is much better on a newer fridge.
Do what I did-buy the wife a great new fridge and keep the old one. I bought most of my stuff from morebeer.com. I bought my CO2 tanks locally. There are lots of sites on ebay but after you pay the shipping charges they can be pretty expensive.

[bigben]

I have a stand up freezer that I could use. how do you make sure it does not freeze the beer? I guess that you just set it low.

[zoom6zoom]

For a freezer, you will use an external temperature controller. They start around fifty bucks, unless you are handy and can cobble one up yourself. The freezer plugs into it, and it has a temp probe that goes inside. It turns the freezer on and off as required to keep it at the correct temperature.

[bigben]

Is this hard on the freezer at all. all that on and off can't be good.

[corkybstewart]

It has to be a chest freezer. There's no room in an upright since the shelves are also the coils. And it's not hard on them, the thermostat keeps the freezer at the right temp and it doesn't cycle on and off anymore than a regular freezer.

[zoom6zoom]

Here's a thread (http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?threadid=10921) from a while back with some ideas and pics. We've discussed this a lot - Search is your friend.

[Mill Rat]

Originally posted by bigben
Is this hard on the freezer at all. all that on and off can't be good. As your local cyberhood electrical engineer, I can assure you that your freezer will actually cycle less often if it controlled to keep a warmer temperature.

[bigben]

I will check but i did not think that this standup freezer had anything but shelves in it. I thought they could be taken out. is there a place to buy a thermostat at? or maybe I over looked it in the above posts

[bigben]

I re read the above post and seen where to buy em. any help for the beginner that you could post would be very helpful.

[Christiansen]

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/conversion-kits.shtml Not sure what everyone else thinks about these, but here's some kits that come with everything you need.

[Mill Rat]

Originally posted by bigben
I will check but i did not think that this standup freezer had anything but shelves in it. I thought they could be taken out. is there a place to buy a thermostat at? or maybe I over looked it in the above posts Some front-load freezers are frost-free, some are not. The non-frost-free are the ones with the cooling coils in the shelves. They have the advantage of quicker cooling of items places in them. They have the disadvantage of having to be defrosted every now & then. Frost-free models have their coils concealed and the air circulated so that when the coil defrosts, the melt water doesn't drain onto the food. More moving parts, more stuff to break down.

[bigben]

I had seen the kits from the beverage factory. is there a specific kit that is the better one for the money? and what size co2 tank should I get. on down the road I would atleast be able to get two faucets installed. and get the smaller kegs. would a 5LB tank support those? I am guessing it will it will just need to be recharged more often.

[Christiansen]

It takes 1/2 pound of CO2 to dispence a 1/2 barrel (what I think of as the standard keg, 15.5 gallons). So theoretically, you can pump 10 kegs with one 5 pound tank. You're only likely to get 8 or 9 though. How big a tank you want is up to you and your size requirements of where you put it.

[bigben]

the stand up freezer has removable trays. so that is probably going to be the canadit. a buddy at work told me of a local supply house to buy the supplys cheaper to build one. slowly going to piece everything together.

[Mill Rat]

Get two tanks while you're at it. CO2 tanks are notorious for their ability to run out mere minutes after the industrial gases supply closes for the weekend.

[bigben]

what size do you think would suit me? I guess I should get one 5 gallon one and then go to another one down the road.

[HogieWan]

I've been searching for a god deal on a 5# tank to fit on the the compressor shelf in my chest freezer, but I just realized this morning that a 15# tank will fit nicely between the cornies. I've found 15# tank on ebay cheaper than the 5# ones.

[corkybstewart]

As a longtime kegger I can attest to the fact that Friday evening your one and only CO2 tank will mysteriously go from full to empty in 30 minutes, especially if you're about to have a party. Seriously, a leaky oring, loose tap connector, almost anything can cause a leak that will drain your tank. And the gauges register pressure, not volume so the pressure gauge will often "indicate" a full tank when it is really almost empty. I bought a 20 pound tank, borrowed another from work(unused for 3 years), then my ferrier gave me a 3 pound tank, and finally I bought a 5 pounder. I take no chances. I have actually had a tank run out on Friday evening and I had to buy beer for the weekend when I had 30 gallons already on hand.

[HogieWan]

I plan to add an extra to my arsenal eventually

[bigben]

allright I have been lookin around for one and was pretty much set on ordering from beverage factory single tap kit. but I was scrollin through the internet and found a home brew place local. I called em up and the sell the whole kit for 190.00 all you need is a fridge and a keg. a 5 lb bottle comes filled. gonna check this place out tommarow. I am plannin on gettin one of these now. thanks for the help and takereasy.

[toneyc]

It has been 6 days since your post, so you've probably figured this out already, but...

That $190 kegging kit is probably for homebrewer's cornelius (corny) kegs. With cobra faucet. For a commercial keg, you'll also need a tap, another $40-50. And if you want taps on the outside of your fridge, those will be another $50 to however much you want to pay. But that is what my system is, a 13cf chest freezer, a 20lb co2 tank with a couple of T fittings, one goes to the tap, the other two go to corny kegs. I use cobra faucets for their ease of maintenance.

:)
Toney.

[bigben]

no this system is meant for regular kegs. he sell these and then sells adapters for the home brewing kegs. he said it will work with any keg you buy in a distributor. I have not bought the kit yet I gotta bring the funds back from christmas and bill. I am shooting for havein this thing up and running by the daytona 500. I found a fridge for 50 bucks and figured I would go this route instead of a freezer. there was not going to be much room for anythin when finished. How much does it cost for adapters usually to use the cornelious system? I am plannin on gettin into brewing this summer/ fall. also it seems like alot of science as far as setting the kegerator up. is there a website that breaks it down. I imagine that there are instructions. I searched here a good bit and it seems as long as I get beer line that is 3/16" id and 5 ft of it I should be set for non foamy beer? I also read that all commercial kegs are allready carbonated. how much co2 do you normally put into one of these? or does it vary with types. the first keg to probably be use in this is a 1/4keg of yuengling lager. thanks for the help and suggestions.

[bigben]

this fella actually got into doing the homebrewing stuff because he fills fire extinguishers. he had a bunch of people comin in and asking for stuff and he got it. he had a few of the corny kegs for sale there and I was plannin on gettin them latter this year.

[corkybstewart]

If you're going to be using commercial kegs a fridge is way better than a freezer. It's hard enough to get a corny into a freezer without busting a hernia.

[zoom6zoom]

That's why you bolt one of these to the ceiling, corky!
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/44000-44099/44006.gif

[corkybstewart]

I need to lift the kegs to keep in shape. I've tried just lifting full pint glasses and that ain't getting it done.

[Mill Rat]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
I need to lift the kegs to keep in shape. I've tried just lifting full pint glasses and that ain't getting it done. The full pint glasses work fine for exercise. It's the pints that are getting close to empty that seem to undo all the effort you just put in with the full one.

[corkybstewart]

So I guess I should make sure they stay full, right? Just in time, my pint of Triple Brune is empty. But I don't know how many I can lift before someone has to lift me off the floor.

[bigben]

allright plannin on gettin it setup for sat night. gonna get a keg of yuengling on friday. kegerator is setup and ready for launch. what are some do s and do nots. I know you should let the keg sit for a while but how long?