Kegerator Advice/Help

So I have just set up my first kegerator! I was surprised at how easy it was, and I have checked my system many times. It is working adequately. I say adequately because I believe there is room for improvement.

My current settings are 5 psi and I believe what my two problems in my system is one my temperature in my fridge could be a little coolder, however it is at minimum 40 and sometimes colder, I have not gotten a true temperature due to faulty temperature gauges and thermometers, however I left 2 glasses of water overnight and a thin layer of ice was on the top of the cups, leading me to believe it is probably adequately cold although can improve a little. My second problem I believe is with resistance, my faucet/shank and keg coupler that attaches to the keg are at about the same level maybe an inch difference. I have a standard 5 ft of line.

I am a noob, but I kind of think I need a little more line to increase my resistance, I would like to have my psi a little higher to get a better flow, I would also like my beer to be a little colder and have heard nothing good about drilling a small hole or decent size hole form freezer to fridge.

Any more information needed to help let me know, can also upload pictures of my set up if it would help.

Thanks in advance and sorry so long,

boykin

Are you using an aftermarket controller or the factory one? I use STC-1000's. They are cheap, easy to install, and work great.

I have 5 ft lines and can dispense up to 8 or 9 psi before it gets too foamy. Have you tried increasing the pressure?

Colder than 40?? If glasses are icing over, then its already too cold. The last thing you want to deal with is keg freezing issues.

Plus mid 40's is where you want most beers, some styles even warmer.

No I not using an aftermarket controller. And I am currently drinking yeungling (wanted something easy to start).

As for temperature goes I have not had freezing problems, and I was told 36-40 degrees with anything over 40 causing problems.

What does the aftermarket controller do?

And yes I have increased the preasure it is too much foam, except early in the morning I am able to run 8-10 because over night my fridge gets a few degrees colder but I soon need to decrease back to the 5 psi. It's a slow pour about 8 seconds, but it has a nice 1 inch head and is cold.

boykin said:

No I not using an aftermarket controller. And I am currently drinking yeungling (wanted something easy to start).

Click to expand...

You would benefit from an aftermarket controller.

boykin said:

As for temperature goes I have not had freezing problems, and I was told 36-40 degrees with anything over 40 causing problems.

Click to expand...

If water is icing over, then you just haven't had freezing problems yet. If you freeze a keg of beer you're going to destroy the keg, ruin the beer, and make an enormous mess inside your keezer.

Whoever told you anything over 40 degrees will cause problems probably doesn't know what they're talking about. Mine is set for about 42.

boykin said:

What does the aftermarket controller do?

Click to expand...

It allows you to control the temperature with a much finer precision and accuracy than the one the freezer came with.

Also, if you keep a keg at 5 psi for extended periods of time, its eventually going to go flat. Going with a longer line is probably going to be your best bet to keep the keg at carb pressures but still get a drinkable pour. Or you could just cut the regulator up and down as needed (down for serving, back up after), but ain't nobody got time fo dat.

Ill work on that after market temperature regulator, however it's not a keezer it's a kegerator, I'm new but I believe the difference is one is a freezer and ones a fridge? I think, anyway on the longer line, people usually go with a 10 foot line, is that correct? From what I heard although ten is a little long, it usually helps keep enough drag to reduce foaming issues.

Lastly, what is a minimum psi needed to keep my beer from going flat?

Thanks to everyone for responding.

Here is my set up if the pics worked.

Use this chart to determine what pressure you need at a given temp to maintain a given carb level. At 40 deg you'll probably want something in the 10-12 psi range which would be 2.3-2.5 volumes CO2. I keep my system at 41-42 deg/14 psi as I prefer to be around 2.6 vols, and I need 10 ft lines to balance.

Thank you all very much, I plan on getting the line and stc-1000 on order, it appears just with those two small upgrades it should increase the consistency and accuracy of my system.

Once I get my system where I'm happy with the way it's going I will move on to the next step and start my home brewing and keging.

What a great chart, thank you!

Let me know if you need any help wiring it in. Some people use a project box and wire in an outlet so they don't have to modify the fridge but I re-wire the fridge to use the controller. Since I don't change the temperature that much, I don't mind putting the controller where the compressor is.

I planed on using the project box...however I only need the regular for the cooling effect, to regulate the fridge for consistent temperature regulation is your way or the project box the best way to go?

I ordered a cleaning kit, 11 ft line (can trim if needed), module box and all parts I saw on a nice project box setup today all should be in tomorrow for the stc-1000 and next week my line and cleaning kit will be in.

The rule of thumb I've been using is:
- 20+ psi for at least 24 hours, or more
- shake the keg while at 20, you can feel the beer charging
- back it down to 10-12 psi, for a wheat beer that should be pretty fizzy, and more like 50 degrees. Wheat beers are typically served cool, but not cold.

This is all new to me.. Funny I considered myself a beer drinker and always thought the colder the better, even with hefe's anyway, def learning a lot keep it coming.

Right now I'm using commercial kegs but that's just for now.

Beer is a lot like unmixed liquor (tequila, bourbon, etc.). The lower the quality, the lower you want the serving temp to make it palatable. You have a $12 handle of bourbon? Store it in the freezer. An $80 bottle? Serve just below room temp (whiskey stones help).

You need drinks to be a little warmer to get the full effect of the flavor, so if it has good flavor and few or no unwanted flavors, serve it a little warmer.

boykin said:

I planed on using the project box...however I only need the regular for the cooling effect, to regulate the fridge for consistent temperature regulation is your way or the project box the best way to go?

Click to expand...

I can't say which is the best way for you. For me, my approach is the best because I'd rather do what's quick and easy and works. I don't really care as much about aesthetics as others might.

Do you have a diagram?or a how to for your way??

You'll need two large (usually red) wire nuts and a couple 8" pieces of 14-gauge wire. If you don't have 14-gauge wire, you can buy it by the foot at a hardware store. It may come in the form of 3-conductor household wire that you would find inside the walls of your house. I recommend that you get a cheap volt/ohm meter (~$5) and a pair of wire strippers. You would need all of these things if you were building a project box too.

First step is to identify which wire is the hot and which is the common in the power cord. If you look at an electrical outlet (not the plug!) and the ground pin is on the bottom, the hot wire is the one on the right. The common wire is the one on the left (assuming your house is wired correctly). Use your volt/ohm meter on the ohm (resistance) setting to verify which wire is which in your power cord. If the resistance is 1, electrons are not flowing between the two probes. If it drops to near zero you found the right wire.

Then start cutting. Snip the power cord off close to where it's wired into the factory controls, leaving as much to work with as you can. Strip the ends of it and grab two pieces of black wire. Twist the hot wire and your two pieces of black wire together in the wire nut. Make sure that you can't pull any of the wires out. You should have two free wires sticking out of the wire nut. One goes to the hot side on the STC-1000 power input and the other goes to the cooling circuit on the STC-1000 (it doesn't matter which individual connector on the cooling circuit you use). Run another wire from the other side of the cooling circuit to the hot wire on the compressor.

Now take the other wire from the power cord (this is the common) and use a wire nut to connect it to another 8" piece of white wire and also the common wire for the compressor (three wires total). Your white wire goes to the common connector on the STC-1000 power input.

Connect your temp probe and it's done. I can get this done in under 15 minutes and I've done it twice.

Here is a wiring diagram.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Wow, you went through some time, I really appreciate it.. That indead looks more basic, I just got it from amazon and getting parts from home depot tomorrow! My line and cleaning kit will be here tuesday, I'll be about halfway done with my keg by then, so I'll hopefully get it performing at a much higher level by Wednesday of next week! Definately excited and hope my beer doesn't go flat till then, I have been putting it to 14 psi when not serving and when I am ready to drink back it down to 6 psi to get some decent pours.

Once again thanks lovesipa and all others for your time and help, this is been a very welcoming forum, but hey were all drinking and making beer, we are happy lol

Well have my stc-1000 wired and installed.. Turned out pretty good and most importantly works properly. Just waiting on my beer line, my question is and I know all systems are different, is there much difference with say a 5 ft line compared to a 6 foot? I bought an 11 foot and will probably trim it, my question is if I planned on running 8-10 ft how much different is the 11 ft? The obvious answer is 1-3 foot but what's the other answer? lol

I just wanted to give an update and thank you for all the people who helped me. I got my line in, and am now at 3.4 degrees celcius at 13 psi and the system runs flawlessly. I was going to trim my 11 feet line to 10, but it works fine with out. Unless someone tells me that 11 feet will cause some type of problem I am unaware of I will leave it there. I also took the time to try out my new cleaning kit, worked awesome, and barely was dirty, the only part that even had any dirtiness or funk was at the coupler.

One question, I am running low on my first keg and I wanted to see when an appropriate time to get my second keg in preperation of running out? I have plenty of room in the fridge, I was thinking as long as I don't tap the second keg it should be good for a while, correct?

And once again thanks so much, my system works flawlessly at appropriate temperatures and pressure and my poor is fast and has just enough head. I believe 1-1 1/2 inch of head is appropriate correct?

bump please

If 11 ft is working leave it alone.

Not sure what you mean by an appropriate time to get the second keg ready. Are you asking if you can you carbonate in advance even if not planning to tap soon? Definitely, that's fine. I often put lagers and other beers that I plan to cold condition for a while on the gas as soon as they go in the keezer. Even tapped, though, the kegs will last indefinitely. There are of course some beers that are meant to be drunk young, but the kegs shouldn't go "bad".

Hope that answers your question. Glad you have your system up and running!

chickypad said:

Not sure what you mean by an appropriate time to get the second keg ready. Are you asking if you can you carbonate in advance even if not planning to tap soon? Definitely, that's fine. I often put lagers and other beers that I plan to cold condition for a while on the gas as soon as they go in the keezer. Even tapped, though, the kegs will last indefinitely. There are of course some beers that are meant to be drunk young, but the kegs shouldn't go "bad".

Hope that answers your question. Glad you have your system up and running!

Click to expand...

I wasn't even gonna carb it, I was just gonna buy it and store it in the fridge until the second one is out. I havn't started brewing yet, but that coming soon.

Well if you're buying it, its already carbed, but yeah, never hurts to have one in reserve. I sometimes have to take kegs out of the kegerator (only holds 2) if I have something new coming on I want to drink, and I have stored them at room temp. and put them back in the kegerator a month later with no problems.

Awesome very helpful, so if in a pinch ever, storing it at room temperature for a little while, probably wont ruin a keg.

Nope, def. won't ruin it. I wouldn't recommend doing it for long periods of time, especially not with something like a big IPA or IIPA thats meant to be consumed young as I think you're going to get quicker hop degradation at warmer temps, but otherwise you'd be good in a pinch.

right now i am just storing my everyday drinking beer. soon ill add another tap for some nicer beer and my home brew when that time comes!

One thing I noticed is that switching from the normal faucets to the Perlick faucets really improved my pours overall. I run my commercial beer at 6 PSI and have not had any issues. The key with commercial beers; however, is to ask the distributor/brewery what the best PSI is to pour from their kegs.

Very nice tip...

I also have a refrigeration tip... I have my stc-1000 set to 3.5 and I watched it get down to3.5 shut off and then within a minute the temperature is at 4.5, after 2 minutes the temperature is at 5.3 degrees and after 3 minutes the temperature is at 5.8, at this point my compressor kicks on, I assume this is the 3 minute compressor delay? Is this bad am I loosing too much cool air and dpi need to adjust some if my settings?

Tip=questions sorry had a few beers lol

boykin said:

Very nice tip...

I also have a refrigeration tip... I have my stc-1000 set to 3.5 and I watched it get down to3.5 shut off and then within a minute the temperature is at 4.5, after 2 minutes the temperature is at 5.3 degrees and after 3 minutes the temperature is at 5.8, at this point my compressor kicks on, I assume this is the 3 minute compressor delay? Is this bad am I loosing too much cool air and dpi need to adjust some if my settings?

Click to expand...

Where is the temperature probe located in your kegerator? Is it hanging free or is it submerged somewhere or is it taped to a keg? I tape mine to the fullest keg and insulate with an old beach towel and my compressor stays off for an hour/hour and a half easy between cycles. The thermal mass of the beer is a more accurate indication of the temperature in the kegerator (and the one that really matters) and just measuring the ambient air in the kegerator will wildly swing like you are seeing. Also, it being on for only a minute makes me think that the probe may be touching the wall of the kegerator/keezer and as soon as it starts getting cool the probe registers it and shuts off the compressor. You can wear out your kegerator by cycling it so much.

My suggestion, either tape it to a keg and insulate somehow or place the probe in a cup/can/something full of water so that you are getting a better indication of the temperature of the beer.

Ya it was in the air after reading this among other post I put the probe in a gallon jar of water and am now just waiting for it to get down to temperature.

A million time better in the jar, it is down to 3.5 celcius and will stay between 3.5 c to 4 c since i have my difference at 0.5 and i put my compressor delay at 10 for longevity. it stays at the 3.5-4 for at least an hour if not more.

thanks a bunch

do these settings seem adequate? and if the difference between water and beers temperature worth adjusting for?

Having it in the water rather than the beer actually tightens up the range by a little as the beer will not swing in temperature as quickly as the water will due to its thermal mass (amount of the liquid) Also this makes it so that since the volume does not change that you will not have to worry about measuring the stainless of the keg when there is no beer in it. Additionally your settings sound fine to me. I keep mine at 4-4.5 degrees C with a .5 degree swing, 10 min compressor delay and 0 for the other adjustment. Works great for me.

Edit: Do be sure to seal the water container/put a little bleach or something in it to prevent it from growing hair or spilling. You may consider sealing it to keep condensation down as well.

It was actually a old pickle jar I used, I drilled a hole big enough for the probe in the lid of the pickle jar, tried to put the probe as close as I could to the middle (without getting carried away) and then sealed it with a temporary silicone.