Cost and materials for kegging?

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction, what's the general cost to acquire a keg and get it ready to receive beer? I'll probably go with ball-lock, just due to their popularity and ease of getting.

Just starting out, and trying to figure if it'd be more economical to keg vs bottle (I know bottling 50 bottles is a PITA)

There's no real question that bottling is cheaper, so I guess it depends on what you're trying to economize.

When you say "get a keg and get it ready to receive beer", what do you mean? Virtually all of the homebrew shops sell kits that include a CO2 tank, a single keg, and all the rigging you need to get it up and running for around $200 or so. You'll need a fridge or a converted freezer on top of that too.

MalFet said:

There's no real question that bottling is cheaper, so I guess it depends on what you're trying to economize.

When you say "get a keg and get it ready to receive beer", what do you mean? Virtually all of the homebrew shops sell kits that include a CO2 tank, a single keg, and all the rigging you need to get it up and running for around $200 or so. You'll need a fridge or a converted freezer on top of that too.

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Ah, well that answers that question; much appreciated

If you don't have a fridge, or a freezer, you'll need one. So there's that cost. You'll need a controller to set and control the temp, so there's roughly $50-70 on top of the fridge/freezer cost.

For around $250-300 roughly, you can find complete set ups online easily. For instance.. 2 keg ball lock, all the hoses, fittings, regulator to control two beers, and a tank, will run you just shy of $300.

That would be everything you need for kegging, and would be 2 kegs as well.

I switched from bottling to kegging and needed a freezer, so far, I've spent around $600 for my set up. I've got 6 kegs.

All in all for a keezer (converted freezer) it'll probably cost you around 500. I am making my second one this one is a 4 tap. It's gonna cost me 500 for everything minus the kegs.

It all depends on how you buy you equipment

Don't get scared off by the cost. I pulled the trigger on kegging pretty quickly after getting into this hobby. I loved making beer but despised bottling. I knew I would quit making it if I had to keep bottling. If this is how you feel, start buying the kegging equipment little by little or try to find used stuff.

Just my two cents.

Jay

mpjay2000 said:

Don't get scared off by the cost. I pulled the trigger on kegging pretty quickly after getting into this hobby. I loved making beer but despised bottling. I knew I would quit making it if I had to keep bottling. If this is how you feel, start buying the kegging equipment little by little or try to find used stuff.

Just my two cents.

Jay

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Agreed.. I did a couple of batches, and realized I loved to brew, but I hated to sit there infront of the dishwasher and bottle the beer. I just didn't find it fun, and found it a chore.

Not to mention, I hated waiting 3 weeks for it to carb, then having to chill them for a couple day. I like racking from my primary/secondary into the keg, chilling the keg and carbing it at the same time. Within a week I'm drinking good, cold, clear, carbed beer.

It's like going AG. Sounds expensive up front, but if you enjoy it, it's a natural progression that makes it worth it.

I started out in June brewing, and decided early on that i wanted to keg, not bottle. Probably have $350-400 in everything. Two kegs , small chest freezer, CO2 tank, and starter kit all from craigslist. I just had to get the ingredient kit from LHBS

xmacro said:

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction, what's the general cost to acquire a keg and get it ready to receive beer? I'll probably go with ball-lock, just due to their popularity and ease of getting.

Just starting out, and trying to figure if it'd be more economical to keg vs bottle (I know bottling 50 bottles is a PITA)

Click to expand...

Check out Revvy's thread "bottling tips for the homebrewer" bottling is rather cheap and after reading this thread a while ago, I decided not to keg.