keg kit or buy in pieces

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ChrisS

I like cold beverages
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
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Location
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What is the general recomendation on how to go about getting a kegging system up and running. Buy a kit with all of the parts from your favorite HBS or to buy pieces and assemble your own. Lets assume that you are not going to use craigslist (local CL is not a hot bed of gear) and maybe ebay but I would rather stick to commercial sites other than ebay for this discussion.
 
If you are sure you are just going to have, say, two kegs then it might be better to go with a kit from a place like kegconnection.com. Otherwise I'd evaluate how much you might possibly expand the system and then purchase appropriate equipment such as the regulators. You can chain regulators together if you are going to use different pressures. Also Micromatic's premium regulators are nice and worth the extra few bucks in my opinion. I have a standard CO2 regulator with the flathead screw adjustor and it does the job but my nitrogen regulator from Micromatic seems much better made and it has a hand-adjustable knob on it which is nice.

Next issue is the cooling component. So with that comes all the equipment to convert a kegerator or keezer if you go that route.
 
I got all my equipment (actually haven't gotten it all yet, the main bulk of the equipment is coming wednesday! :D) separately for my two keg setup. Bought the sanyo 4912 at best buy for $200 and then just bought the keg kit from midwest (so i guess i really didn't piece it together huh?) for $200. Then i just bought the two tap tower to go with it. In all ended up costing less than what i would have spent for the whole setup pre-made.
 
I just finished my kegerator tonight. 4912 from craigslist ($65) - fridges are common on CL. everything else from keg connection. You should decide how many kegs and what kind of fridge / freezer you want. That should be a good place to start.
 
I also got my complete set up from kegconnection. I bought this one: http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=22

I bought it just like pictured, and added another keg to it. I've been very happy with it- and it came all "put together" for me with 6 feet of beer line. If you know you have some different needs, then you can piece it together, but I found it very convenient to get it just like the picture.
 
YooperBrew said:
I also got my complete set up from kegconnection. I bought this one: http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=22

I bought it just like pictured, and added another keg to it. I've been very happy with it- and it came all "put together" for me with 6 feet of beer line. If you know you have some different needs, then you can piece it together, but I found it very convenient to get it just like the picture.

Yooper,

(not to hijack the thread) Thanks for posting that! I think I will go with an assembled kit myself. I was wondering...are the kegs ball valve by chance?
 
I think it depends on your future needs.. Are we looking at a 2 keg system for a fridge conversion? Or a keezer project that might go into 3 or 4 kegs some day? I went a bit higher and got micromatic regulators..great product for 95$ allows me to have 2 different pressures. I also got a 10 pound tank..more flexability. I got bunch of cheap used cornys as well 15 to 20$ each. I have the ability to go to 4 for my keezer project. I do like the kits most sell..but for more bang for your buck you can do the research and get most parts cheaper. Micromatic, beverage factory and keg connection are the best prices I have seen in my searches..Micormatic has 10 gallon co2 tanks for cheaper than I have seen anywhere..just some ideas

Jay
 
well I have a Danby dar604w and I am right now looking at 1 maybe two kegs.

A big consideration is going to be the fact that swmbo wants the fridge to stay stock, so no tower or shanks through the door because of where it is in the townhouse and it maybe be a hard sell to mod the inside of the door since I think I can get at least one in there without touching the door. The one drawback about this fridge is the shape of the compressor hump, it is not a straight line hump going from side to side but rather a bowl shape.

The well definately has enough room for a keg and if I took the door off 2 kegs.

I have been looking at keg connection for quite some time and I like their stuff, I just wish shipping was less. It is something like $30 - 30 for me. I was just trying to see if I could source the parts from several online places and maybe get the kegs at the lhbs, but I might just get a kit online since the lhbs wants $250 for their keg kit.
 
ChrisS said:
I have been looking at keg connection for quite some time and I like their stuff, I just wish shipping was less. It is something like $30 - 30 for me. I was just trying to see if I could source the parts from several online places and maybe get the kegs at the lhbs, but I might just get a kit online since the lhbs wants $250 for their keg kit.

It's hard to find people to ship cornies for very cheap. However, kegconnection also lists on eBay and I found that for whatever reason their shipping on eBay is cheaper.
 
+1 to www.micromatic.com

I started my kegerator with one tap. All was well until I realized that my kegerator is capable of holding 5 cornies with the CO2 tank in and 6 cornies with my CO2 tank out. I began to expand. I now have 3 taps of the ultimate 5 or 6 I am going to have and I am shooting myself for not talking to my plumber friend first (my brewbuddy, too). I have so many Godd@mn hoses running all over the place from my tank that it's a pain in the @ss. Midwest sells both a 3 and 4-hose manifold that would reduce the tangle that is currently in my kegerator dramatically. I am going to get two 3-hose manifolds eventually when SWMBO approves. I recommend highly just for maneuverability and convenience reasons that you look into that if you are going to do more than two taps or even think that there is a possibility of it.


http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4578


that's the address for the 3-hose splitter manifold. It's only $37 and it's an s-load easier than have having T-barbs running off your main CO2 trunk hose.


:tank:
 
Keg connection shipped all my stuff including the 3 cornies for less than $40.00 I think. It was almost 60lbs - a big box. It took 3 business days for delivery. I was pleased.
 
I got the 2 tap tower kit - not sure what grade of kegs that has, they look pretty good, and they came sealed and pressurized. I added an extra keg and the perlick faucets.
 
I got a two tower kit from kegconnection, used Perlick faucets and upgraded for dual pressure regulator. Installed it last weekend and will get my beer carbonating tomorrow. I considered buying each part but ended up with a kit with upgrades that I wanted. Todd was patient in helping me tailor it, I even considered longer lines but ultimately opted for the standard.
 
Try a google search for 'beverage distributor in your city, state'. I found a kit way cheaper than I could have got it online.
 
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