Kegerator - Buy New or Build?

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RoaringBrewer

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Ok, so I'm definitely going to be getting into kegging here by early November at the latest - maybe earlier. However, I'm torn between paying a little more for a new kegerator with dual taps and building my own out of the Sanyo 4912.

I figure buying the new kegerator with dual taps and a set of 3-4 corny's is going to cost me $750-850 range. Building a Sanyo 4912 with dual taps will cost me about $500. In all honesty, I'm not all about sparing expense to get this done, so if money wasn't an option, which would you do? There are things to consider like a warranty on a purchased kegerator (none on the 4912 with a hole in top!), cooling capability of the 4912 (is it up to the task?), prepurchased has the nice top with glass guards, etc. etc.

Here is the one I was looking to purchase outright - it can be purchased ready for the homebrew setup (less kegs of course). Is Summit an alright brand? They have similar ones made by Haier, Sanyo, etc. but for some reason I got the feeling that Summit was a solid brand. Total cost with shipping, plus some HB kegs is probably close to $800:

http://www.beveragefactory.com/refrigerators/beer/sbc500bv-2.shtml

Or the other option is to buy the 4912 ($200) and this ($300) double keg, double tower setup from kegconnection.com. Looks like it comes with all quality parts (less Shirron taps) - possibly better than the parts on the summit (as far as regulators, etc. go). Total cost would be about $500 and some labor:

http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=55

Like I said, not too worried about the $300 difference, which would be better quality and overall better for someone new getting into kegging!? And before i get preached to, I know you can build a 4912 for much cheaper if you buy it on sale and piece it together, but I don't have the time or patience for doing that to save $100-150... I've also been scouring Craigslist for used kegerators to no avail. All of the affordable ones are ugly and beat up. I want something nice and I want to be kegging like it's last week! :ban:

Thanks for any insights! :mug:
 
If you have the space have you considered getting a chest freezer and converting it to a kegerator? If you want to have 3-4 kegs ready to go this is the way to do it. I built a 4912 and love it but I also live in an apartment. If I had a house with a garage or basement I would defiantly get a chest freezer.
 
I can't speak specifically on the models that you might be looking at, but I've heard people complain about the quality of the "pre-made" kegerators; crappy faucets, etc. I'd be inclined to build it myself - not just to save money, but so that I knew that every piece that went into it was high quality, that there weren't any corners cut in the manufacture. If I were to buy one, I'd just be really cautious about seeing how well it's put together before plunking down the coin.
 
How much room do you have? I'd be much more inclined to start with a small chest freezer if I were building from scratch; four kegs is better than two, and it would give you room to have a couple on tap and a carboy lagering.
 
If money's not an option, get a chest freezer and convert it. You will be much happier with something that can hold more than 2 kegs. I bought a mini fridge and converted it myself, the fridge was 75 bucks used. It held two kegs. I just bought another fridge that is getting delivered today. I full size that will hopefully hold more than 2 more. Anyway, it's much nicer to have 4+ kegs on tap than just 2 :) Gives you a variety.
 
jezter6 said:

Saw these already. I believe both of these will leave much too big of a footprint for my liking... that's why I want to go with a mini-fridge sized kegerator. Thanks for looking for me though, I hadn't checked the CL in a few days! :)

EDIT: I see a lot of people asking about my living arrangements, etc. and suggesting chest freezers and whatnot. I currently rent a small house, but I don't think I want to take up the room for a full fridge (100% sure i don't want another full-size fridge)... a small chest freezer (are there any 6.0ish cf ones?!) mighhhht work.
 
What else is involved in converting a chest freezer? I really do only want two taps right now, but I wouldn't mind being able to lager a corny or two at a time also...

Are there any 6.0ish cf chest freezers people convert?
Must I build a collar?
Do I need a ranco (sp?) temp controller?

Any help would be appreciated.

Other than considering this, I suppose I will just build the 4912 and pass on a pre-built one. Then I can be sure I get a good quality unit as suggested by bird...
 
Other than likely making a collar (no big deal; a couple 2x6es, a chest freezer shouldn't be any more difficult. You'll need the temperature controller ($50 - $60 for the analog Johnson Controls). You can use a tower or put the taps through the collar (cheaper and easier). Personally, I'd go as big with the chest freezer as I had room for; maybe not one of the ones you can keep corpses in, but find one where you can keep some stuff conditioning and have a few different styles on draft.

I'm pretty sure the heart of BP's gorgeous setup is a chest freezer that he built around.
 
So, I decided to build the 4912 conversion due to its minimal footprint and a nice looking design. The 5 cuft chest freezer was also a nice design and would hold 3 kegs, but the SWMBO didn't like the looks of it... I haven't bought the 4912 yet, but I did work with Todd and kegconnection and got a pretty nice set-up of quality parts coming by way once I pay this paypal invoice. I got the following parts for $410 (plus shipping of course):

2 Reconditioned Corny Kegs
5# CO2 Tank
Dual-Body Regulator - 3 Guages ($49 upgrade - will allow different PSI per keg)
Dual Shut-off Valves
Quick-connects
All Necessary Tubing
Stainless Double Tapped Tower
Upgraded both Normal Faucets to Perlick F.S. Faucets ($48 upgrade total)
Two 6" Stainless Drip Trays (Discounted as they didn't have a 10" tray)

This thing should be pretty sweet once it is complete. IMO you can't beat a brand new, unused dual-tap kegerator with these quality parts for about $650 (figuring in the parts above @ 410, shipping of 40 or so, and 200 for the Sanyo 4912).

Heck, the 2-Tap Summit I posted in post one above would have cost me $750 delivered to my door and I would have had to purchase perlicks and hb kegs in addition - so probably $900 total to do it that way.

As I said before, I understand I could have gotten off cheaper buying a used fridge, freezer, etc. and piecing together my kit, but I'm happy with this decision and the fact I'll have all high-quality, brand-new, show-quality kegerator flowing homebrew in a couple weeks when I get around to getting and drilling the 4912.

Now to reseach tower cooling...
 
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