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heinz57

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So I'm not that big into patting myself on the back, and I've been holding off doing this for about the last two weeks now, but I finally moved the thing into my apartment and turned it on. What a dream.

It's a Perlick two door three tap counter top refrigerator draft beer dispenser (their terminology, not mine). I just call it my new bar.

IMG_3107.jpg


Everything was a little dirty so I've been slowly but surely cleaning it up over the past two weeks, but finally got enough room in our little apartment to fit it in, so today me and the room mates moved it in.

Best part, aside from being able to have 4 taps in the apartment (I already had a small mini 1 tap kegerator and I've got another tower yet to install) is that the bar cost me $250. I found a guy who owned a diner in Beverly Hills and was looking to renovate the whole place into a salad/soup joint. He desperately wanted everything out of there and you better believe I was glad to take it off his hands. I love Craigslist.

I was curious, does anybody know how much these things are new? When I sent the guy an email about the price I assumed it would be at least a grand, boy was I surprised. Don't worry, new tap handles are in the works, those were just the handles that were on the towers when I got the thing.

I attempted to measure out roughly how many cornies I am going to be able to fit in it as well, and it looks extremely promising. It seems I can fit about 8 cornies in the thing give or take 1. I only have 5 at the moment, so I'm getting on purchasing a few more. It'll be great to have a few on tap and a few carbing at the same time. Carbonation might take a little bit longer, but that is alright with me.

Alright, that's enough bragging. :D
 
They're around 2 grand new I believe, http://www.micromatic.com stocks them.

What I'd suggest you do is rig a cross-bar draft tower, similar to these or these, (DIY is the cheapest choice by far, unless you know a metal fabricator somewhere). Are you sure it can only hold 8 cornies? Crazy. My single dispenser kegerator (standard 1/2 barrel keg size) holds four - I thought this was intended to hold 3 1/2 barrel kegs...

I see those pop up on CL around here somewhat regularly, they're generally a grand used... sounds like you got a good deal. Congrats!
 
Nice. $250 is a steal. I've got a 3 keg two tower two tap True unit, also make a nice bar. Someday, I'm planning on upgrading the towers to twin faucet towers.
 
It's been a while since I priced them at my restaurant equipment supplier but as I recall the retail price is about $2,500 for one of those. You got a good deal!
 
Great unit! One question. Why does your 3 tap dispenser only have two taps?
 
When I purchased the unit, it only came with two towers. Not a problem, I have a third tower.

The problem. The hole already fabricated in the unit is too large for the third tower that I already have. My solution? Build a small collar out of wood to fasten to the old hole, then drill into the wood with the new tower.

Got the thing up and running today, going to plumb the inside of the thing for Co2 and dispensing in the two towers, and then I'll add the third one.

One of the interesting things about this is that there is a very handy and nice three port gas manifold. I have to somehow get a hold of a few fittings that I'm thinking may be original to Perlick, so that may take some thought.
 
heinz57 said:
One of the interesting things about this is that there is a very handy and nice three port gas manifold. I have to somehow get a hold of a few fittings that I'm thinking may be original to Perlick, so that may take some thought.

I have some perlick regulators, they take standard 1/4 NPT threaded fittings.

Don't worry too much... should be simple.


kvh
 
kvh said:
I have some perlick regulators, they take standard 1/4 NPT threaded fittings.

Don't worry too much... should be simple.


kvh

Awesome. I didn't think it was going to be a huge ordeal getting my hands on the necessary parts. The hardest part was probably dragging the SOB up the stairs.

The thing actually got stuck on the stairs while we were bringing it up, nobody on the upper end of the bar, so I had to scale a palm tree (never done THAT before) to get to the second floor and guide the thing up. It took some scratches, but all in places nobody will ever see. All in all, the best purchase I've made in terms of home brewing to date, hands down.
 
I had the exact same unit in my home for about 4 years. I bought it locally of ebay for $200. It worked wonderfully for 4 more years (was probably 10 years old total) until the compressor took a dump. I think keeping it in the hot garage that last summer before I moved made it work too hard. BTW if the compressor does go I;ve found them brand new online for under $100. You just have to pay some HVAC guy to install because it would be a PITA / illegal to do it yourself.

I measured once and thought I could fit cornies 2 deep by about 8 (if your tank is outside) that would give you 16 kegs on tap!! These bad boys are awesome but the 2 phase compressor is sure loud when it kicks on and they will make a room hot. Enjoy it buddy, I hated leaving mine broken and stripped of glory in my last home.
 
I've been looking for one like that, but I NEVER see them for less than $1500 used. That's a steal! Congrats!!!
 
you could also get one (or two...) of these:

DS-144-PSSKR.jpg


I have a very similar unit and this is the type of towers I use. Gotta love cheap gear!
 
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