How to Evaluate Sanyo Conversion Kits (plus a couple other questions)

Quick background since this is my first post. I used to brew beer/wine a while ago and lost all my brew stuff in a moving accident. For Christmas this year my parents bought me what I need to get started again and I am getting my first batch of beer going....When I last brewed I vowed that I wasn't going to bottle ever again, so now I am thinking kegs.

I live near the warehouse of a guy that does fridge conversion "kits" and the price seems reasonable, but I am not sure how to evaluate the quality of the parts.
When at his store I picked up a porter kit to brew today and he seems to do everything right (all high quality ingredients put together into a kit by him, not just off the shelf box kits), so I am guessing this conversion kit is the same, but I am not sure where corners may get cut.

Also if you guys could give me a sanity check that my understanding is correct it would be helpful. (I have read a lot of threads, but can't find any answers to these questions, just people doing different things) I am trying to keep costs as low as I can on a two faucet setup, but not get into trouble missing something crucial:

- From what I am reading a fridge conversion with a tower is cheaper, but a little less space than a small chest freezer with a collar...is this true? Is there anything I am missing on why the chest freezer and collar would be better to do? I have a table saw etc... to do woodworking, so that isn't a big concern of mine.

- I am planning on going ball lock for the cornies as they seem more readily available and widely used.

- I am planning on moving up to front sealing faucets vs standard ones ($30 extra), but wasn't sure if its worth $40 to get independent regulators for the two kegs.

- I am planning on using the built in thermostat since this is just for serving an not brewing is that going to cause me problems?

- I will be homebrewing a fan to circulate air up into the tower, not sure if it is going to run all the time or if I am going to tap into the fridge power lines to run when it runs. This will likely not get done right away as the garage where the kegerator will be is cool enough now, but in the summer I think it will be a must.d

I'v just recently starting building a chest freezer build because from what i could tell it is cheaper than converting a mini frig. I got a 5 cu. foot freezer on craigslist for $60 where finding a mini frig that is suitable for a kegerator can be a pain and buying one new will be around $200 bucks. Also building a collar for the freezer is going to be a lot cheaper than buying a tower.

But of course some people feel like the tower looks better and worth the extra expenses, and you can always just make a tower out of some pvc pipe if your on a budget. So there are a lot of different factors.

I have checked craigslist a couple times with no luck, so I was thinking it would probably end up being ~120 for a new freezer + 60-80 for a temp controller. Which, by that time you are in the range of the new fridge cost.

We will see though, I am still crunching numbers/scenarios and trying to see if the particular kit I have found it good enough to get me through at least a while and maybe upgrade later.

Thanks for the response and help
-Jon

I think you're talking about the KegKits store. I ordered from there and it's a good kit for a very good price. Only problem I had was getting it shipped, he didn't seem too motivated to get my order out. If you're picking it up from the warehouse, that solves the problem!

Yeah, that's the place -- of course after an entire Sunday of reading and near bleeding eyes I am thinking keezer now.... I may still go with a kit from him though and do a tower

Thanks for the review, much appreciated.

Jonnio said:

From what I am reading a fridge conversion with a tower is cheaper, but a little less space than a small chest freezer with a collar...is this true? Is there anything I am missing on why the chest freezer and collar would be better to do? I have a table saw etc... to do woodworking, so that isn't a big concern of mine.

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The answer to this can vary. You may be able to find a good deal on a used chest freezer making them about the same in cost. It really depends how many tape you want to have and where you want to have your beer. I wanted mine in the house so a chest freezer was not an option for me (yet).

Jonnio said:

I am planning on going ball lock for the cornies as they seem more readily available and widely used.

Click to expand...

Ball locks are standard.

Jonnio said:

I am planning on moving up to front sealing faucets vs standard ones ($30 extra), but wasn't sure if its worth $40 to get independent regulators for the two kegs.

Click to expand...

I put Perlicks in mine from the start, so I can't speak to how much better they are than a standard faucet but I'm pleased with my decision to upgrade. I also went with dual regulators initially and I can't imagine not being able to set different pressur on each keg. I can carb one and still pull from the other. Well worth the $40, IMO.

Jonnio said:

I am planning on using the built in thermostat since this is just for serving an not brewing is that going to cause me problems?

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Nope. I did not install a temp controller in my Sanyo and I'm not having any major issues. If you're going to go the chest freezer route though, a controller is mandatory.