Help choosing keg kit

Hey guys!

I picked up a 7 cu ft freezer yesterday to start my keezer build. I'm planning on a completely unapologetic and blatant rip-off of Jester's keezer (I should send him a case of beer or something).

The freezer can fit 4 ball locks and a CO2 tank. This morning I started shopping around for complete kits to see if buying it all at once from one place would save me some money.

Right now I'm comparing Keg Connections 4 Faucet Refrigerator Conversion Homebrew Kit, Premium Kit (http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=196) and Midwest Supplies' Brew Logic Quadruple Tap Draft System with 4-way gas manifold (
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=8083).

The main differences I see is that the Keg Connection kit only has a single gauge regulator while Midwest's is dual (which should allow me to force carb one keg while dispensing the others, right?) but KC's comes with shanks and faucets while MW's only has picnic taps. I'll take everybody's recommendation here and make sure I get Perlick taps, but I'm having trouble deciding which of these kits is the better deal with the upgrades I'll want. Are there any other upgrades I should be considering?

Thanks!

No comment on one kit versus the other but the dual gauge regulator will show supply pressure (how much gas is left in the tank) and serving pressure. To dispense multiple kegs at the same pressure you'll want a CO2 manifold.

Dual gauge is a nice perk. I'd spend the money on stainless steel shanks & faucets like the Perlick 525. Either MW or Kegconnection are good to buy from!

I'd probably be inclined to go with the kit from midwest, and use the savings to buy some perlick taps to replace the picnic taps that come with it.

I'm currently building my keezer as well. I went with a single gauge regulator and am planning on using the same force carbing and serving pressure (assuming I can get away with all my beers having similar CO2 volumes). For my temperature, I am going to just use 12 psi for serving and force carbing over 1-2 weeks. I'm going to control my nozzle pressure by varying the hoses to my faucets.

Good luck!

I went with the Midwest kit above. No complaints with it. Its worked great and all came preassembled. Liked it so much we purchased a second one.

The only issue I had was the face of the regulator was bent on the first kit and the needle wouldn't read correctly. I contact MW about it and they sent out a new regulator.

Both kits have the same gas setup: a dual-gauge regulator and a four-way manifold. Both will only allow for one pressure setting at your kegs.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

What would I need to keep the kegs at different pressures? Is it worth the additional expense?

One more question for those of you that got kits from Midwest: did you get ball or pin locks? The freezer I got won't fit 4 pin locks but ball locks will fit. Thanks!

When I set up my Kegerator, I bought a Dual Regulator thinking I would like to set 2 different pressures to force carb and what not...
I ended up changing back to the single regulator with a distributor to split the lines. I carb buy the set and forget method now, and don't need the different pressures. I tried the shaking thing on the first beer I kegged and it came out over carbed.
Depending on what kind of beer you like and carbing to style, setting at one pressure my be all you need.
If you are planning on upgrading to SS shanks and Perlicks, call the guys at kegconnections and see what price they will give you, they are good guys! Then price the midwest kit with the same... See which is cheaper.