Well I did it I pulled the trigger and went into kegging

I read a thread last week where someone was deciding between kegging and AG. I am already AG. But he peaked my interest with a Midwest Supplies listing. 2 tap system with dual regulator and CO2. Simple system but it is a good start.
I have also ordered 4 more kegs for a total of 6 kegs. Does anyone know if the Home Depot Magic Chef 4.4 CF fridge would do nicely for my chiller. I'll be getting the tower for my birthday. And I will be having a Crawfish Boil in April with multiple kegs on tap plus some aged beauties which should be coming of age nicely right around there.

congrats on moving to the keg world. I'm currently trying to figure out my setup.

One thing i think others might suggest (but i admit upfront that i haven't done) is to consider a chest freezer with a collar. A magic chef 7.2 ft chest freezer from home depot isn't too much more expensive and you can fit 3-4 kegs. I don't think it's footprint would also be that much larger.

Also, when you discover you need a 7/8ths wrench or a 12-pointed star wrench, auto zone has a cheap one. Home depot only seemed to have the deep sockets, which would work as well. You'll need one for breaking down your kegs, well there is a good chance it will be that size, but you get the idea.

Just yet another part of this all consuming hobby. Two stories out of this search.

I started out looking for a way I get a chest freezer that would fit into my basement. The max width could be 19" to get into the basement. Couldn't find anything. Finally I found the mini fridges. The frigidaire the magic chef and the Sanyo that could actually fit in the basement. My wife saw me looking at those and said if you can get one in white to match our kitchen we could probably squeeze one into our kitchen. Woo hoo, (my basement is more a root cellar in a 200 year farmhouse.)

Suddenly I have permission to buy a 2 tap system for the kitchen witht the one rule that I get my kettles off the fridge and the conditioning bottles in the basement.

So I have questions for keggers. Say you brew a batch of 9.5 % dark strong. I don;t know about you but I just don't want to drink 5 gallons on tap of that. I could see spreading out that experience over 2 - 3 years. Also, what if you just get tired of a beer after a few days of pulling on it. Can you just pull it and put a new one in its place? and come back to the old one later. Or would I have to bottle the remainder amd just empty the keg. I assume this is common.

This whole topic is what has been keeping me from doing this kegging thing sooner. I often seem to get tired of beers after 3 or 4 six packs. I always come back but I like to take breaks from a particular beer for a while

As far as the strong ales go...I bottle those in 22/24 ouncers. Same as what you are describing, I just don't want to drink all night off of a big beer like that. Ahem, let me rephrase that; I don't want to wake up in the morning after drinking a big beer like that all night . So, as much as I hate bottling, bottling 24 big beers is better than bottling 48 small ones. Plus, I free up a keg for something that will be pouring a lot more frequently; like a hefe, brown, or IPA. If money and cellaring space was unlimited I would just buy a crapton of kegs, but I've got 5 kegs now so I try to keep stuff in them that will move quickly. Another plus to the bottles is that it's very easy to stash 4 or 5 away for a year...but it's pretty damn hard to save a keg with less than a gallon in it. When a keg gets light I get this odd desire to float it! :rockin:

I made the leap to kegging after my first bottling experience!
I opted for the chest freezer in the unheated garage. Had to go with a dual mode, heating/cooling t-stat and a season switch. Anyway this allows me to store 5 cornies at temp and have room to lager a primary.

I recently built a kegerator for my buddy. Now I don't have to drag everything out to his place for the game day parties. The problem that I ran into building his was that the small fridges didn't have enough height clearance because of the ice tray compartment, which can't be removed as the evap coils run through most of them. I wound up using a small chest freezer. The problem with that is you have to move it away from the wall so the tower clears when opening it. This turned into a Frankenstein project. Used freezer was too ugly. Wrapped in wood, trimmed out and added a counter top + True Beverage t-stat + Tower and cobbled together Co2 system.

After the whole thing was said and done I would have saved money just buying a HD kegerator and making corny adapters!

So I guess I am saying to make sure that there is enough clearance(height) in the fridge for the keg + connections/hoses.

The trouble I'm having building a Kegerator is finding one that will hold 3 kegs. The way I see it I want 2 kegs taped so I can enjoy 2 flavors. But I want one ready to go so I don't hit a brick wall when one or both float at the worst time. My first thought was a Keezer but I also want a tower and a tower on a Keezer would be a PITA that the War Department would never approve. So my search goes on for a mini fridge that will hold 3. I would appreciate any pointers.

I did my kekerator last summer and I used the Oster 5 cu. ft. mini fridge. It dosn't have a freezer sections so the kegs fit fine. It was a very easy conversion and it holds two kegs and a 5lb. Co2 tank. I love to have more taps but I just don't have the space for a large chest freezer.

Awsome! You'll love kegging. It's so much simpler you'll wish you'd done it sooner.

As for kegging and bottling, you can get yourself a beergun and bottle some off of the keg for storage if you like. It also helps for when you want to send bottles for competition.

dontman said:

Can you just pull it and put a new one in its place? and come back to the old one later. Or would I have to bottle the remainder amd just empty the keg. I assume this is common.

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This should not be a problem, Warming up and cooling down won't have any negative effect on the beer and it will hold pressure, assuming good seal, until you're ready to put it back in. You'll also notice a different beer most likely depending on how long you wait to put it back in. But I also agree with bottling such monsters in bombers as apposed to kegging them. I have 3 taps and once I build my pipeline up I plan on keeping Ales 7% and under on tap and anything over that in bottles.

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

When a keg gets light I get this odd desire to float it! :rockin:

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Same here. I have a keg of Apfelwein I'm trying to float right now. I lift the keg and do not undertand how Apfelwein is still coming out the tap! Though it is foaming a lot more now. I'd say it's about done. But that gets me into trouble with the "okay, one more pint should do it" mentality. Then I wake up in the back yard with no clothes on and a superman cape on my back. And there's STILL apfelwein in the D*mn Keg!

RonRock said:

The trouble I'm having building a Kegerator is finding one that will hold 3 kegs. The way I see it I want 2 kegs taped so I can enjoy 2 flavors. But I want one ready to go so I don't hit a brick wall when one or both float at the worst time. My first thought was a Keezer but I also want a tower and a tower on a Keezer would be a PITA that the War Department would never approve. So my search goes on for a mini fridge that will hold 3. I would appreciate any pointers.

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You can always carb kegs outside the fridge while storing them, then just leave them in over night to cool. I've not seen in mini's on here that will hold 3 kegs. But you can build them out. Depending on your DIY level you can make a cabinet that the fridge attaches too supplying the cold air and essentially have room for as many kegs as you want.

delarob said:

As for kegging and bottling, you can get yourself a beergun and bottle some off of the keg for storage if you like. It also helps for when you want to send bottles for competition.

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Don't spend $100 bucks on one of those. Spend the 5 dollars and make Biermunchers version. It cost me 39C and does the same thing. I already ahd everythging laying around besides the bottle size stopper.

Nice GOING!!!:rockin:

I took a look at the thread "show me your Kegerator/Keezer" Took DAYS to get through all the pages. I was amazed a the Compexity of some keg systems and the simplicity of others.

I ended up building a Kegerator with a 5.0 Oster fridge. Fits 2 kegs with slight door modification and added a tower and cooling shaft for the lines up the tower with additional insulation to prevent condensation on the tower exterior.
Cheers

If you have extra kegs, you can just take it off line. I just put back on tap a Belgian dark strong that I took off tap last May. It is quite fine! I'm going to get some more kegs soon so I can have more beers aging.

delarob said:

Awsome! You'll love kegging. It's so much simpler you'll wish you'd done it sooner.

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Ya know, I hear people say this all the time. But all four stickies in the bottling/kegging forum are about kegging and the thread is constantly full of:

* drilling / buying kegerator problems
* co2 refilling problems
* hose length/diameter/resistance problems
* tap problems
* arcane regulator problems
* all my beer ran out of my keg problems
* ball lock v. pin lock problems
* my kegs are frozen problems
* beer guns/counterpressure filling problems
* force carb "how long do I shake it at what PSI" problems

Seems to me that kegging is like picking up a new, sexy, and very high-maintenance girlfriend. Everybody is jealous but it turns out she's just not that much fun to live with on a day-to-day basis.

I am not inherently anti-kegging, and I'm giving serious consideration to fermenting in cornies. But for me, for now, bottling is simple, predictable, and doesn't require me to lay out another $500.

Talk me down, here. Maybe I'm way off base. Maybe I'm over-reacting. Maybe I just haven't seen the light. Maybe I own stock in bottlecap fabrication.

There are pros and cons of each system. One thing about a lot of those problems you mentioned is that they are all on the learning curve of kegging.

All of those are things people encounter, but as you get most accustomed to kegging, you learn how to deal with and avoid many of the problems. Once you establish your gas lines and line lengths most of the time you don't have to worry about it again.

It's just like getting good at bottling. You find your system and you use it. Many of the things you mentioned could just as easily be found in a thread like the one revvy started about tips for bottlers.

Kegging isn't easier initially, but many consider it easier in the long run.

I will easily say that kegging is not simpler but is WAY faster. It's just way more convenient. If you take the space it takes to keep all of those bottles around it's just about as much room too.

Thanks for the feedback. I've got a lead on some used cornies in town and I'm going to grab some for doing fermentation; their form factor will allow me to have 3-4 of them in the temp control instead of one bucket/carboy.

This should get a bit of the cost out of the way in case I decide to keg later on.

I'm a big kegging fan, for a number of reasons. One is convenience- I can keg a couple of batches in almost no time and won't go back to bottling. The other is taking a growler of homebrew to a party is so easy, and no bottles to wash! I have friends who aren't homebrew drinkers usually (they say) and hate the yeast sediment. I can take perfectly clear sediment free beer to their house in a couple of growlers, and they love it. I take a growler or three out to my cottage for a weekend, and I have a small co2 tank and regulator set up I can take for a party.

I'm not mechanically inclined, so I was worried about being able to do this. It's so simple, even I can do it!

I'll have to say that I agree with the steep learning curve. But if you like to learn new things and aren't Mechanically inept.... well anything is possible once you learn enough.

My first keg was difficult, but my second keg went smooth as silk! It's all in the planning and Carbonating a keg of beer is something that you just have to DO... to realy learn. You have to experience the change in the quality of the carbonation as you add CO2 so that you can understand how much is needed to get to a certain level of CO2 content in your beer. Once you learn, it's easy to adjust and manage it faster and more acurately.

Enjoy your kegs, I love coming home and rather than finding my fridge empty of bottles and having to chill another before I can have a beer, to just grabing a glass from the pile on the Kegerator and pulling the tap and filling the glass with a beer and nice foam on top. Just like at the pub!

Now if I can just make sure I have a pipeline ready so that when the first empty comes to reality, I have one to replace it with before both kegs are empty..... That's worse than not having a cold beer in the fridge!

YooperBrew said:

and I have a small co2 tank and regulator set up I can take for a party.

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How do you chill the keg when you go mobile? Do you?

I have a bunch of mini-keg equipment. The problem with minikegs is that they are difficult to judge on their level of carbonation. So I wouldn't want to take one to a party in case it tasted flat. My plan now is that whenever I go to a party I can fill these minikegs and at the party I will tap them with my party star tap and can rest comfortably that they are fully charged.

Honestly, I have not had one of these problems at all.

* drilling / buying kegerator problems
* co2 refilling problems
* hose length/diameter/resistance problems
* tap problems
* arcane regulator problems
* all my beer ran out of my keg problems
* ball lock v. pin lock problems
* my kegs are frozen problems
* beer guns/counterpressure filling problems
* force carb "how long do I shake it at what PSI" problems

Oh wait.. scratch that. All my beer has run out only because of a mooch friend who thinks he's helping me brew and he drinks like a fish.

Figured out the force carb in one batch with a little reseach. It saves me beaucoup time, and if I'm going somewhere, I either take a growler or I have a couple 2.5 gal kegs that I use if I know far enough in advance. ie 4th July.
The Star San I use during the brewing process goes into the keg so no waste there and the keg is ready to go on kegging day. No having to do all those bottles and caps etc..

That's just me. Hey if bottles work for you, by all means.

dontman said:

How do you chill the keg when you go mobile? Do you?

I have a bunch of mini-keg equipment. The problem with minikegs is that they are difficult to judge on their level of carbonation. So I wouldn't want to take one to a party in case it tasted flat. My plan now is that whenever I go to a party I can fill these minikegs and at the party I will tap them with my party star tap and can rest comfortably that they are fully charged.

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I have an old fermenting bucket from when I first got into homebrewing that got scratched up and I don't trust it anymore. It's one of the larger (I think 7.x gallon buckets). I put a small trash bag in there, put the corney in the bag, and then fill ice in around it. Depending on the location and your bucket you might not even need the trash bag (mine has a spigot and I don't like melting ice leaking on friend's floors). It has worked well for me and is pretty easy.

Kegging makes life simpler. Keg everything and then bottle from the keg. Then your beer is carbed and ready to drink that night.

IlliniSox4Life said:

I have an old fermenting bucket from when I first got into homebrewing that got scratched up and I don't trust it anymore. It's one of the larger (I think 7.x gallon buckets). I put a small trash bag in there, put the corney in the bag, and then fill ice in around it. Depending on the location and your bucket you might not even need the trash bag (mine has a spigot and I don't like melting ice leaking on friend's floors). It has worked well for me and is pretty easy.

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I've got a wheeled Ice Cube cooler. I pop off the lid, and put my keg and ice in there. I use picnic taps. It works fine and the beer can stay cooled all weekend in the cooler on the porch.