1/2 Barrel Kegerator Questions - Help Please! - Page 2

bphelan · 02-08-2012, 12:44 AM

As someone who was in your shoes just a year ago let me second the suggestion to finding a purpose built half barrel kegerator on craigslist. I was thinking similarly to you that diy would be cheaper. Well after rendering a regular refrigerator I found on craigslist for $100 useless (pinched a line on the fridge trying to shoehorn it into my basement) then the headache of moving it out and disposing of it, I then needed to settle for crappy fridge that has a noisy compressor that was $50, obtained from the repair guy who came to see if the first fridge could be fixed. I was already $200 in the hole ($50 for the guy to look at the fridge). Then I had to buy the hardware which will was atleast $75 (sankey tap, faucet, and shank) and I already had the regulator and CO2 tank. Overall, it was a massive pain in the butt, when you consider I had to find a buddy with a pickup or SUV to help move both fridges, frankly its just not worth it. If you are even able to modify a mini fridge its going to over work the compressor, it might work a month it might work for a year but ultimately you're on borrowed time with something like that because it will eventually crap out.

I realize in hindsight I should have just coughed up the $250 for a used, purpose built on craigslist, which as I said before commonly appear for that price with everything you need to serve a keg. Additionally if I had bought a kegorator I would have been able to take it with me to the apartment I'll surely be living in next year at graduate school. Instead I have to leave the ugly noisy fridge for the next roomates to rent my house because there's no way I want that thing in a small apartment. Granted I'll be able to cannibalize some of the parts but at the end of the day, DIY is a money hole just to serve a keg of beer for weekend parties.

I can suggest however that you purchase a tank, regulator, sankey d coupler and a pick nick tap and build a cold box. Prior to building my current set up I had purchased a large Brute brand trash can which I lined with flexible flooring insulation found at HD/Lowes and used spray foam to fill in the gaps. Total cost about $40 to make plus cost of the dispensing equipment (tank, reg, coupler). It would keep a 1/2 barrel cold from Friday to Sunday with two 20 pound bags of ice. Plus since you dispense with CO2 the keg won't spoil like it does with a hand pump. Additionally this option is totally portable so you can be the keg guy people call when they're having a party or tailgate. My friends and I drank from many free kegs over the year by doing this. Additionally, if you drink natty like I did/do for parties I'm sure you have no problem killing a keg over the course of 1 weekend. If you have any more questions PM me I can send you some pics of the cold box I built and shopping list. Also don't totally write of home brewing, ultimately browsing this forum when I was putting together my kegorator planted a seed in my head and six months later I'm hooked on brewing my own beer.

zbrady · 02-08-2012, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bphelan

As someone who was in your shoes just a year ago let me second the suggestion to finding a purpose built half barrel kegerator on craigslist. I was thinking similarly to you that diy would be cheaper. Well after rendering a regular refrigerator I found on craigslist for $100 useless (pinched a line on the fridge trying to shoehorn it into my basement) then the headache of moving it out and disposing of it, I then needed to settle for crappy fridge that has a noisy compressor that was $50, obtained from the repair guy who came to see if the first fridge could be fixed. I was already $200 in the hole ($50 for the guy to look at the fridge). Then I had to buy the hardware which will was atleast $75 (sankey tap, faucet, and shank) and I already had the regulator and CO2 tank. Overall, it was a massive pain in the butt, when you consider I had to find a buddy with a pickup or SUV to help move both fridges, frankly its just not worth it. If you are even able to modify a mini fridge its going to over work the compressor, it might work a month it might work for a year but ultimately you're on borrowed time with something like that because it will eventually crap out.

I realize in hindsight I should have just coughed up the $250 for a used, purpose built on craigslist, which as I said before commonly appear for that price with everything you need to serve a keg. Additionally if I had bought a kegorator I would have been able to take it with me to the apartment I'll surely be living in next year at graduate school. Instead I have to leave the ugly noisy fridge for the next roomates to rent my house because there's no way I want that thing in a small apartment. Granted I'll be able to cannibalize some of the parts but at the end of the day, DIY is a money hole just to serve a keg of beer for weekend parties.

I can suggest however that you purchase a tank, regulator, sankey d coupler and a pick nick tap and build a cold box. Prior to building my current set up I had purchased a large Brute brand trash can which I lined with flexible flooring insulation found at HD/Lowes and used spray foam to fill in the gaps. Total cost about $40 to make plus cost of the dispensing equipment (tank, reg, coupler). It would keep a 1/2 barrel cold from Friday to Sunday with two 20 pound bags of ice. Plus since you dispense with CO2 the keg won't spoil like it does with a hand pump. Additionally this option is totally portable so you can be the keg guy people call when they're having a party or tailgate. My friends and I drank from many free kegs over the year by doing this. Additionally, if you drink natty like I did/do for parties I'm sure you have no problem killing a keg over the course of 1 weekend. If you have any more questions PM me I can send you some pics of the cold box I built and shopping list. Also don't totally write of home brewing, ultimately browsing this forum when I was putting together my kegorator planted a seed in my head and six months later I'm hooked on brewing my own beer.

Wow! Couldn't have asked for better advice. I think I will be looking for a pre-built half barrel kegerator and will probably build a cold box as well. Both sound like great ideas, and I really appreciate the advice. I'm pretty handy with a wrench and have a strong art background so I was looking forward to building a kegerator as a custom project but I'm not about 99% going to buy a purpose built one and then customize it cosmetically to my liking.

When you were browsing, what were good resources that you used for home brewing instructions, etc? Even if someone dropped a kit in front of me I wouldn't know where to start. I am very interested in brewing my own beer but cost wise aren't kegging and bottling your brew both expensive?

bphelan · 02-08-2012, 04:38 AM

Frankly, I just kind of had it in the back of my head ever since registering as a member of the forum. I think the thing that really got me hooked was when I went to dinner at one of my profs house. Her husband is quite the home brewer and after tasting a few of his beers I thought I have to try this myself. The one thing to keep in mind though is that initially you really wont be saving any money by brewing your own beer. Honestly I think I've just finally gotten to the point that I may start recouping some of my initial equipment investment, but every time that happens I go and buy another piece of equipment (propane burner, larger pot... etc.). My advice would be go out drink a bunch of different craft brews, include your friends and see if they like craft brews (you may already be at this point I don't know). If you get hooked on well crafted beers you might just be interested enough to give brewing your own beer a shot. In terms of brewing your first batch, any decent ingredient kit from any homebrew shop that's worth anything will include the instructions you need to produce a quality brew. Find a local homebrew shop in your area and talk to the employees, in most places they are avid brewer's themselves, ask them to run through the brewing procedure with you before you walk out the door. I even called my local shop halfway into my first brew and they were more than willing to answer a question I had.

First get you draft beer system, kegerator or otherwise, up and running because you'll have a hell of a good time scoffing at your fellow classmates when you go to their parties and they're still dispensing beer with the silly hand pump like it's amateur hour. I know everyone loves to come to our house for parties.

zbrady · 02-08-2012, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bphelan

Frankly, I just kind of had it in the back of my head ever since registering as a member of the forum. I think the thing that really got me hooked was when I went to dinner at one of my profs house. Her husband is quite the home brewer and after tasting a few of his beers I thought I have to try this myself. The one thing to keep in mind though is that initially you really wont be saving any money by brewing your own beer. Honestly I think I've just finally gotten to the point that I may start recouping some of my initial equipment investment, but every time that happens I go and buy another piece of equipment (propane burner, larger pot... etc.). My advice would be go out drink a bunch of different craft brews, include your friends and see if they like craft brews (you may already be at this point I don't know). If you get hooked on well crafted beers you might just be interested enough to give brewing your own beer a shot. In terms of brewing your first batch, any decent ingredient kit from any homebrew shop that's worth anything will include the instructions you need to produce a quality brew. Find a local homebrew shop in your area and talk to the employees, in most places they are avid brewer's themselves, ask them to run through the brewing procedure with you before you walk out the door. I even called my local shop halfway into my first brew and they were more than willing to answer a question I had.

First get you draft beer system, kegerator or otherwise, up and running because you'll have a hell of a good time scoffing at your fellow classmates when you go to their parties and they're still dispensing beer with the silly hand pump like it's amateur hour. I know everyone loves to come to our house for parties.

The kegerator will be happening, it has too haha. What I am now envisioning is a cold box for the party keg and a kegerator for my homebrews that I will dive into this summer. I'm currently in an apartment at school so summertime is gonna be the brewing time. I'm definitely going to give this a try. How hard is kegging your brew? Is there a lot of money involved?