Another noob commercial-to-homebrew question

Jota21 · 04-14-2011, 12:21 PM

Remodelling my basement (sadly not into a brew pub like some of you lucky bastards) has put the brewing on hold for the past couple of months. Now that it's nearing completion i plan to get the pipline going again and want to avoid bottling at all costs (well, at least a minimal costs)...

I already have a fridge-conversion commercial kegerator with a single regulator and a 5lb tank. http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/kits/skk.shtml

Basically, i'm looking for the least expensive option to transform what i have into a setup with two faucets: one commercial, and one homebrew for the time being. This is a full sized fridge, so they'll fit fine...

Is my best choice is to get a second faucet/couplers/keg/lines/etc. If i do this, how would i use the regulator? Get a manifold to turn the one feed into two? I dont think i would trust plastic, so the cheapest i'm seeing is $30-something just for that splitter?

So $30 + _____ for the kit? If anyone just went shopping for these things, I would appreciate any links you can send!

Also, what is the difference between the ball lock couplers 1/4 MFL vs. 1/4 Barb? Which one is better?

Jota21 · 04-14-2011, 01:41 PM

This is what i've added up on beverage factory just to get an idea of costs... it really adds up fast! I dont even have a keg in this list, which is about $40 from my LHBS. I figured that would save shipping, but i'm still at $200!!

I put the MFL couplers in the cart instead of the 'barbs' so that might change, but how does the rest look?

astropunk · 04-14-2011, 02:27 PM

yea, you gotta be ready to open the wallet pretty far to get a keggerator going. Even more to add multiple taps. Im still dreaming of the day I make a keezer.

For now, I have a fridge that holds 4-5 kegs, but I still use picnic taps on them and just open the door to pour a beer. Its ghetto, but it works. Its in my basement, which is not much of a showroom or hang out spot anyway.

erikpete18 · 04-14-2011, 07:12 PM

For what its worth, I've got a two-keg setup right now and used just a plastic T to split the gas line and its worked great for me for about 1.5 yrs. I've also seen a few DIY drip trays in the the DIY subforum, might be something to look into if you are handy at all (I don't remember them being all that complicated, so it wouldn't take much).

The MFL are quick disconnects so that the hose isn't permanently connected to your ball-lock QD. Here's a decent picture of them. You can unscrew the metal nut and screw it onto a second QD. I've seen some people use them to switch between commercial/corny QDs or between ball/pin-lock QDs. If you are just planning on having the single ball-lock keg, I'd just go with the barbed unless they're about the same price.

Also, I hate to add more money to your list, but consider upgrading to perlick faucets. They're only about $7 more (if AHB is still having their sale), and they're so much nicer. That's really the only downside to the original keg setup I had was I went for the cheaper faucets. After a year of struggling with stuck faucets, I went back and bought the perlicks to replace them. If I was doing it all over I'd definitely spring for the perlicks now, because you'll probably wind up doing it anyways and it'll save you the $14 you spent on the regular ones.

Jota21 · 04-14-2011, 07:52 PM

So if i downgrade to a plastic manifold and the barbed couplers, upgrade to a perlick, and ditch the drip tray, i'd save about $50...

$100 is starting to sound better... Now we're getting somewhere! Thanks!

**bruin_ale** · 04-14-2011, 07:57 PM

you also don't need 20 ft of bev line, about 6' per keg is fine.