Looking for an EXPERT!

Great thanks all! Thanks for all the handle info and yes the pictures help! Looks like a nice setup, so cool! My husband's gonna freak!! I know he's is gonna post pictures on here, he will be soo excited!

I second the ebay option, you can find all kinds of cool old tap handles from the past for next to nothing.

Hope your kit came together ok. I'm sure he'll love it, and put it all to good use.

Cheers
~r~

Also, I know Blackstone will fill homebrew cornies, I don't know if Yazoo does, but I don't see why they wouldn't. That way you can always have beer on hand if you run out of homebrew. And you can easily add a sankey tap reasonably cheap later so he can get any commercial beer he wants.

Cool, thanks everyone! I know he'll be on here asking questions from all you experts! Thanks so much!

I failed to mention if you want to add a sankey tap later you need to order your disconnects (gas and liquid) with the threaded ends NOT the barbed. Then you buy a barbed end with a threaded nut, that will allow you to simply unscrew the disconnects and re-attach to the sankey. Of course there's a kit to buy also that will convert the sankey tap, it sounds hard, but it's not.

Hey Guys , It's the lucky Husband who got kegging stuff for his birthday... I am one lucky son of a gun. A few years ago I showed interest in home brewing, so wifey bought me a kit. Now here we are, wifey hooking me up once again... draft beer at the homestead, kick ass! She is the bomb. Thanks to you all for helping her out.

Now it's my turn to get down to it and seek out the info I need.

First up .... large fridge vs mini fridge

Thanks again guys!

Congratz on your prezzy Rescue Brew. Couple of questions for you though. How many kegs do you now have or intend to put into a fridge? That will help folks size a simple solution for you. Most mini fridges will only hold 1 or two corneys while a garage sale over/under or side/side fridge freezer would be able to hole 3-8 kegs depending on the size. You can also convert an old chest freezer into a "Keezer" (Search this site for lots of info on Keezers) The chest freezer would require a temp controller to keep it at refrigeration levels instead of freezing levels.

My question is, how did you not see this thread and then know what you were getting?

Grimtas said:

Congratz on your prezzy Rescue Brew. Couple of questions for you though. How many kegs do you now have or intend to put into a fridge? That will help folks size a simple solution for you. Most mini fridges will only hold 1 or two corneys while a garage sale over/under or side/side fridge freezer would be able to hole 3-8 kegs depending on the size. You can also convert an old chest freezer into a "Keezer" (Search this site for lots of info on Keezers) The chest freezer would require a temp controller to keep it at refrigeration levels instead of freezing levels.

Click to expand...

As of now I only have a one keg set-up. I do drink more commercial beer than I do homebrew, so I should probably keep that in mind. Ideal would be having say two of each... four total. Mini would be out in that scenario.

I have found a TON of tutorials on converting sanyo 4912's or similar... but not much on larger refridgerators. Is the mini just more popular or are my search skills just not up to par?

Thanks :rockin:

dunnright00 said:

My question is, how did you not see this thread and then know what you were getting?

Click to expand...

My wifes name isn't Sara...

She also threatened to remove my manhood ala Bobitt, if I used her computer.

EDIT: my wifes name isn't sarafin

Ok next question for you then. You say you drink mostly commercial beer over homebrew. Do you buy your commercial beer in pony kegs (5Gal) or 1/4, 1/2 barrel sizes? This will determine your minimum size requirement for your kegerator. For commercial kegs you will most likely need a sankey tap head to despense the beer. At this point your either going for a small fridge that will basically only hold your commercial keg with one tap or will need to goto a larger fridge setup that can hold both your homebrew and commercial keg. This will add an additional spout to connect through the front door or just continue to use party taps.

This link is a through door setup addition to what you probably already have.
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/PERLICK_FORWARD_SEAL_FAUCET_WI_P1476.cfm

Do you have the room for a small chest freezer? That's the best way to go if possible.

There aren't as many "big fridge" conversion howtos because it's MUCH easier, and every one is a bit different. In broad strokes though, you:

1) remove all shelves (self explanatory...pull the suckers out!)
2) remove the veggie crispers, (they aren't strong enough to support the weight of the kegs)
3) build a simple wood platform to level the bottom of the fridge, (usually there is a compressor hump on the back of the fridge, so the platform gives you a single flat surface for the kegs)
4) Put your stuff in the fridge....usually the fridges are pretty big so you don't have to shoehorn them in...Mine can fit 6 kegs, for example, if I mount the CO2 outside, or 4-5 kegs with the CO2 inside.
5) Usually you can just mount taps by drilling holes in the doors and bolting them in.

Search for the "show us your kegerator" thread for tons of ideas.

wildwest450 said:

Do you have the room for a small chest freezer? That's the best way to go if possible.

Click to expand...

I do have room, yes. Why is that the best way to go ?

THansk

rescue brew said:

I do have room, yes. Why is that the best way to go ?

THansk

Click to expand...

They are cheaper than refrigerators or upright freezers for a given capacity.

If you ever plan on getting a half barrel commercial keg and you aren't tall and strong, I recommend against the chest freezer route. 6th barrel and corny kegs are easy to get in and out.

The reason mini-fridges are popular is that they are small.

If you have room for a full sized fridge, I like them because you get that extra freezer space for hops.

rescue brew said:

I do have room, yes. Why is that the best way to go ?

THansk

Click to expand...

Imo, yes. You would need help with a full sized keg for loading, but for sisth barrels and homebrew cornies their excellent. You would need to buy a temp controller, but there not that expensive, I have 3 freezers and temp controllers and I love them.

Do some searching, there's tons of info on converting a chest freezer, you can go as simple or elaborate as you like.

There's a sticky at the top of this forum page showing how many cornies will fit in a variety of freezers.

Great feedback fellas, thanks.

One final note .... Thanks for being so nice to the wifey, she's now a HBT believer.

And we believe in Sarafin. She really does love you.

Dang! I was hoping that was my wife! She's kind of a fae creature after all, so the nick would've been one she'd do.