interested in kegging

hey guys, Im really new to homebrewing (have my second batch in secondary right now) but am getting really interesting in kegging and think it would be cool to have my own home made beer available on tap in my apartment.

However, I feel like this might be insanely expensive to get started. All I have is my brewing equipment and a mini fridge that could be converted into a kegerator. Im just wondering if someone could give me a ball park cost as to how much I would be in the hole once I had a full keg system set up?

I just bought this set up and found it to be a great deal.

Brew Logic Dual Tap Draft System- with Reconditioned CO2 Tank :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

With shipping it was about $220.

The kit just comes with the picnic taps and if you want to either mount faucets or a draft tower, that would be more. Faucets are the cheaper route, but the draft towers look nicer. Its hard to give a price range for these because there are so many options, but just search for faucets, shanks, and draft towers to get an idea on what you will need/want.

Also, you may want to get a temp controller for the kegerator too. Its not necessary, but its nice to keep your beer at the temeperature you want. Personally I keep mine in the mid to upper 40s. A temp controller can run from $50 to $100, depending on what features you want and if its prewired.

Also make sure your mini fridge will fit 5 gallon corny kegs. It is keg height plus an inch or two for the connectors. Most mini fridges are a few inches short due to a freezer compartment.

I got a used fridge for $40, and my kegging gear was about $220. I added an extra keg (three total at that time) for a total of around $270 with shipping. I later bought faucets to go through-the-door, like well over a year later, when I had the money!

It helped that I won a football beer pool at HBT a couple of years ago, and my winnings paid for my kegging gear.

Anyway, you could get started with a fridge, one or two gets, a regulator, and a tank. You could also start with picnic taps, which work fine. I have two mini-fridges and my kegs don't fit in them, so make sure that you try any fridge you plan on buying.

Ball Park, I paid about $500 for a mini-fridge from Best Buy, CO2 tank, regulator, two kegs, tower, faucets, connections, everything.

I didn't get the best deal, with a little research I could have brought that down by $50-$75. The fridge was worth $200 to help you with the math. You don't need a tower or faucets, picnic faucets are cheaper and you can add other stuff later. I think with a little bit of work and not including a fridge you could do it for $200-$250.

Good luck!

Seeing that you are in New Brunswick, I think prices may go up a little. When I'm in Canada for school I've noticed that somethings are irrationally more expensive (granted that is in downtown Montreal.) I dont know if you've tried Craigslist or Kijiji, but you may be able to pick up a co2 tank/regulator locally. That will save you a bundle. Shipping things/importation taxes may hurt as well. I

f you have any homebrew shops locally check their prices. Again, my LHBS in Montreal has outlandish prices (I think he charges $50 or so for a keg).... Good luck!

Kegging doesn't have to be super expensive to start. CO2 bottle, regulator, keg, some hose, a cobra tap and a fridge to put everything in can all be had for little dinero.

Corneys at typically around 20-25.

The CO2 tank and reg set is the big one, and the one you are most likely not goign to be able to find used.

Any used fridge would work fine, but you had better measure that mini fridge you own to make sure it will work. There is a link on here somewhere with keg dimensions that you can work off from. I'm thinking keg height might be like 29 inches.

Homercidal said:

There is a link on here somewhere with keg dimensions that you can work off from. I'm thinking keg height might be like 29 inches.

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Draft Beer Keg Size Dimensions

it depends on your patience level. peice it together over time as you find bargins or buy it outright. Ive been peicing mine together, $75 for for almost new 4.6 cf freezer, 5lb co2 bottle with dual regulaterful of gas $30, 10 lb aluminum oxigen bottle $5, faucet tower with faucet $20, old wooden keg tap, for tap handle, $2, johnson temp controller $25 There are bargains to be found if you have the patience and time

I just bought this sucker today:
2 Keg Basic Keg Kit, DUAL BODY REG, Standard Kit

$215 shipped to my door. Some people elect to not get the tank, but tanks here in town are about $85 plus the cost of the fill, and KG will only take $55 off the purchase price w/o a tank, so I got the tank.

I'm thinking of going with the freezer/temp controller setup, so now i'm on the lookout for that.

Oh, and I should mention, this is my first post, so HI everybody...

(and I've never brewed beer before...that's right, I'm jumping right into the Kegging Big Leagues!)

Hello from Nova Scotia! Corny kegs in the maritimes are hard to come buy for cheap unless you're willing to wait a long time and do a lot of looking. A refurbished corny costs $50 + tax at my LHBS in Halifax, which is The Noble Grape btw. I believe their "complete" system includes a corny keg, a full 5 lb. CO2 tank, a regulator, and all the connections/hoses you need if you're happy with a 2' beer line, which I doubt many on HBT would be... All of that for $249~$269 + tax I believe which, IS CRAZY.

I still haven't figured out how I'm going to quickly and affordably get myself into kegging, although a cornelius keg CO2 charger, a couple of connections and 6'-8' length of line with a picnic tap on top of the cost of a corny keg would be under $100 CDN I believe... You'd have to naturally carb kegs of course.

i was going to post that exact link shorty did...
thats what ill be getting in about a month er so.

today i scored big from a craigslist deal. i got 6 pinlock cornys for 100$!!
he wanted 20$ each but when i got there he threw in a extra one for free!.. I dunno what im going to do with them.. i think 2 will go to my friend but that will leave 4.. and then the two from kegconnection... ill be back to half a dozen! now i just need a freezer setup. !!!

Emyrs said:

i was going to post that exact link shorty did...
thats what ill be getting in about a month er so.

today i scored big from a craigslist deal. i got 6 pinlock cornys for 100$!!
he wanted 20$ each but when i got there he threw in a extra one for free!.. I dunno what im going to do with them.. i think 2 will go to my friend but that will leave 4.. and then the two from kegconnection... ill be back to half a dozen! now i just need a freezer setup. !!!

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Hey Emyrs,

Just note that pinlock and ball lock kegs take different liquid and air connectors, and the kegconnection kegs come as ball locks with ball lock connectors, so you'll need to get some pinlock connectors and some quick disconnects.

gluck!

All i can say is, if you want cheap, keep an eye on kijiji....and let me tell you,decent stuff doesn't last long on there. But you have to be patient....they don't always pop up...

I recently picked up a 20lb tank(full), regulator, tap, shank, and sanke coupler all for $30.....another score was 2 X 20lb tanks both full, brand new reg, and 3 ball lock kegs for $150.....Cheapest i've bought kegs were $10...and most expensive was $25 from PA..but i think they're all sold out at the moment.

P.S. I'm in freddy as well, didn't think there was that many HBers in the area but there's more than i thought..

Thanks guys, and with a little luck hopefully I will be able to piece together a pretty awesome kegging system. and yea Jmac, Im a student at STU, so you can imagine I dont have too much money to throw around. Oh and Jmac, I gotta ask you, I havent been in to check the Noble Grape yet, im currently out of province for the summer, is it only or mostly wine stuff or can you get alot of beer making stuff there as well?

oh and my mini fridge is actually pretty big, but it does have a mini freezer compartment in it. is it possible to rip that thing outa there or is that a no go

You can TRY to bend it out of the way. People seem to have about a 50/50 chance of bricking the fridge when they try this with shelves....the freezer is even more complicated in geometry than a shelf, so I'd guess your chances of success would be less than even

pivot676 said:

oh and my mini fridge is actually pretty big, but it does have a mini freezer compartment in it. is it possible to rip that thing outa there or is that a no go

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I wouldn't mess with it if you can fit corny kegs into the mini fridge without removing it; it's a good spot to frost some glasses anyways

My roommate's sister is going to STU this year and we're going up there for at least a couple of parties this year. I may not have a decent kegging system going by then but I'll bring you some bottled home brew to try out if we meet up, cheers.

pivot676 said:

Oh and Jmac, I gotta ask you, I havent been in to check the Noble Grape yet, im currently out of province for the summer, is it only or mostly wine stuff or can you get alot of beer making stuff there as well?

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I'll refrain from expressing my opinion of the local NG here on the open forum again...feel free to PM me though... But to answer you're question, its mostly wine stuff, he keeps Festa kits on hand, anything else has to be ordered from Halifax NG's.

Halifax's NG stores are excellent... btw...

SeamusMac said:

Halifax's NG stores are excellent... btw...

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Heard that as well, and i plan to stop in next time i'm down that way.....:rockin: and that other place you mentioned as well..

SeamusMac, seen this for sale.....not the best price i've seen on them, but its decent.

cornelius (soda) 5L keg for beer brewing - Halifax Hobbies & Crafts for Sale - Kijiji Halifax

Jmac00 said:

SeamusMac, seen this for sale.....not the best price i've seen on them, but its decent.

cornelius (soda) 5L keg for beer brewing - Halifax Hobbies & Crafts for Sale - Kijiji Halifax

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Yeah, I just saw that today and I'm thinking that with the 2 QD's included it's not an outrageous asking price for a corny; assuming the seals are good. I'm going to take a look at it if the corny is still available on Friday. That'd make two for me, enough to have one carbing and one serving all the time