So my kegging journey begins.......with a few questions

Tomorrow is my birthday and my girlfriend couldn't contain her excitement any longer and gave me my bday gift. She gave me a nonic pint glass with my brewery name engraved on it and inside the glass was cash. She said the cash was for me to use on getting started on kegging! Best girlfriend ever!
Now I'm online looking at kegs. Homebrewsupply has these refurbished keg kits for about $119.95. I already have this Haier 4.6 cu. ft. minifridge that I can use for the moment.

I was planning on getting 2 of those keg kits, including the 5lb CO2 tank they have, and just storing them in that fridge with a picnic tap. I don't plan on building a tower for this yet as that would require a bit more money, plus I plan to spend that money on buying a chest freezer to convert into an keezer.

Would this be a good way to start out? Anybody have any experience with this minifridge and would it be able to fit a 5lb CO2 tank and 2 corny kegs? Are there better deals for keg kits out there?

I don't have the fridge, but kegs are standard sizes. Just grab a tape measure to check your fridge.

As for the kit, it seems fine enough, but I wouldn't buy 2. You don't need 2 separate regulators, just a splitter and you can run numerous kegs off of 1.

My first kegerator was a Sanyo mini fridge. It worked well and is still in use by my brother in law. I made a small shelf that extended the compressor hump allowing the 5 lb tank to fit inside with two kegs. I did remove the inner door shelf and replaced it with a piece of dry erase board.

If you are not in a hurry I would search Craigslist and the for sale forum on this site for used equipment. These pieces pop up all the time for less money.

+1 on only needing one regulator to start.

As others have said, you don't need two regulators (in fact you can only attach one to the CO2 tank). If you want to hook up multiple kegs to a single tank you can either:

1. Get a multi-body regulator. this lets you adjust the pressure for each keg separately (this is maybe nice if you are burst carbonating or have different beer styles but certainly isn't critical)
2. Get a CO2 manifold or a Y splitter to attach multiple CO2 lines to a single regulator body

As for the CO2 tank... check around your area to find out what your plan is to fill it. Some places will only do exchanges and you might be unhappy swapping your shiny new tank for a beat-up one. There are a range of places that may swap or fill CO2, including homebrew shops, hardware stores, welding supply shops, fire extinguisher shops, marijuana / hydroponic supply shops. Also there are several common sizes (5, 10, and 20 lbs) and not all places will swap all sizes.

billl said:

I don't have the fridge, but kegs are standard sizes. Just grab a tape measure to check your fridge.

As for the kit, it seems fine enough, but I wouldn't buy 2. You don't need 2 separate regulators, just a splitter and you can run numerous kegs off of 1.

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purplehaze said:

My first kegerator was a Sanyo mini fridge. It worked well and is still in use by my brother in law. I made a small shelf that extended the compressor hump allowing the 5 lb tank to fit inside with two kegs. I did remove the inner door shelf and replaced it with a piece of dry erase board.

If you are not in a hurry I would search Craigslist and the for sale forum on this site for used equipment. These pieces pop up all the time for less money.

+1 on only needing one regulator to start.

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hvjackson said:

As others have said, you don't need two regulators (in fact you can only attach one to the CO2 tank). If you want to hook up multiple kegs to a single tank you can either:

1. Get a multi-body regulator. this lets you adjust the pressure for each keg separately (this is maybe nice if you are burst carbonating or have different beer styles but certainly isn't critical)
2. Get a CO2 manifold or a Y splitter to attach multiple CO2 lines to a single regulator body

As for the CO2 tank... check around your area to find out what your plan is to fill it. Some places will only do exchanges and you might be unhappy swapping your shiny new tank for a beat-up one. There are a range of places that may swap or fill CO2, including homebrew shops, hardware stores, welding supply shops, fire extinguisher shops, marijuana / hydroponic supply shops. Also there are several common sizes (5, 10, and 20 lbs) and not all places will swap all sizes.

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Thank you guys for your input!

So if anything, it looks like one of these kits (or the one that noggins pointed out) to for the regulator and maybe just another keg + all the parts?

I did check my local craigslist, but nothing stuck out. If anything, there was a guy about 40 miles away from me selling 4 cornys for $225 and a kegerator to fit them for $150. His post was from about 8 days ago. I emailed him anyways to see if he might still have them. The only issue is I don't have the space for it at the moment.

Thanks for making the point about the CO2 and refilling it. I'll call around to my local shops and see what their processes are.

noggins said:

https://beveragelements.com/beverag...l-lock-keg-7-lb-co2-cylinder-all-accessories/

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Whoa...$156 for an entire keg kit and CO2 tank? That's a pretty good deal. Actually, they have a 2-keg kit for a really nice price. I might have to jump on that one.

Thanks for that link!

I suggest, if you have the time/patience, to wait on a decent deal for used kegs and other equipment on Craigslist. I originally bought 2 ball locks and a 5# CO2 tank for $100. Used kegs very in price dependent on location, but IMO around $40 per keg is a decent deal. I quickly realized that I needed more kegs. Was super patient looking for an OK deal and ended up finding 5 ball locks on Craigslist for $75 total. They were in great shape, but missing the liquid out diptube. AIH has them for $5 a piece. So after new diptubes and O-rings, I was still only in each keg for about $25. I guess what I'm saying is used kegs can be cheaply rebuilt, up to a point. As long as the lid opening isn't really beat up to the point it won't seal, you can easily, and usually cheaply, rebuild a rough keg.

I would also suggest not cheaping out on a regulator. I bought a dual body Tap-Rite for my setup, and it works great. There are nicer/more expensive regulators out there, but also cheaper/crappy ones. I'd stay away from the cheaper/crappy ones.

BigTerp said:

I suggest, if you have the time/patience, to wait on a decent deal for used kegs and other equipment on Craigslist. I originally bought 2 ball locks and a 5# CO2 tank for $100. Used kegs very in price dependent on location, but IMO around $40 per keg is a decent deal. I quickly realized that I needed more kegs. Was super patient looking for an OK deal and ended up finding 5 ball locks on Craigslist for $75 total. They were in great shape, but missing the liquid out diptube. AIH has them for $5 a piece. So after new diptubes and O-rings, I was still only in each keg for about $25. I guess what I'm saying is used kegs can be cheaply rebuilt, up to a point. As long as the lid opening isn't really beat up to the point it won't seal, you can easily, and usually cheaply, rebuild a rough keg.

I would also suggest not cheaping out on a regulator. I bought a dual body Tap-Rite for my setup, and it works great. There are nicer/more expensive regulators out there, but also cheaper/crappy ones. I'd stay away from the cheaper/crappy ones.

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Definitely. I'm not in a rush to get a keg since I don't have anything to keg at the moment. What I have in my primary and will have in a primary will be bottled. So I've got some time. I just wanted to make sure those online deals for entire kits are good enough to get right now so I don't miss out on it.

There was a guy on craigslist a week or so back that lives about 35-40 miles away from me who was letting go of his homebrewing stuff. 4 cornys for $225 and the keezer for it for $150. The only thing he didn't mention in his post was if the kegs included all the connections and there was no mention of a CO2 tank. If anything, I wanna see if he'll repost his ad and I'll contact him then.

I too started my kegging of beer and now have a couple on tap. I did screw up by get tap lines that are too short, my cider is a little too foamy so I will be hitting the LHBS for longer lengths this weekend- lesson- read the HBT before spending good money on equipment . Do shop around for taps and regulators. I found a 4 gauge regulator with Kegerator.com way cheaper than everyone else as them and Moorebeer has good prices on Perlicks and they have free shipping .

My kegging journey just began a couple months ago too, I'm still working out all the kinks; just today I came home to pour myself a fresh delicious glass of stout and found I was out of gas. I guess I have a leak after installing the second line on my 4 way manifold last night. I just bought a backup 7lb tank from bevelements and will be taking apart my manifold tomorrow to fix the leak.

Heed what was mentioned above, regarding hose lengths, ( heh heh), and the many threads on foamy pours.

Start with excessive length, and trim to suit, which usually ranges anywhere from 6 to 10 ft.

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/for/5269424312.html This guy might part out his kegging stuff for you. Craigslist is your friend when it comes to kegging. Especially co2 tanks as many places will just swap your empty shiny tank for a used one rather than fill on demand.

I just wanted to thank all who have responded to this thread for all the helpful information you've given me.

Over the past few days, day and night, at work and at home, out of pure excitement, I shopped around to figure out the best way to get started kegging. Homebrewsupply really had a great deal, but ultimately, I went with beverelements.com and I want to that @noggins for pointing me in their direction. I contacted their customer service to ask if I can get their 2 keg kit, but without the CO2 tank, and their rep said they can definitely work that for me. That rep also went above and beyond to figure out the best way I can go about buying a kit for 2 kegs without a CO2 tank and an extra regulator. Awesome customer service right there. In the end, I just went and ordered their 2 keg kit with the CO2 tank as I ended up finding a place locally that refills CO2 tanks. In the end, it comes out cheaper to purchase a new tank than it does to get a used one from my local shops. One shop has a first tank fee of $100 for a 5lb + $25 for the gas and then it's $25 to refill thereafter. The CO2 tank from the website, brand new, was about $80. In the end, with the kit that beveragelements turned out to be cheaper with all that they included. BTW, if anyone on this site works for beveragelements, I give kudos to Carolyn in customer service. She was very helpful throughout the entire process.

For now, I'm only going to be using picnic taps and storing the kegs in our 4.6cu.ft mini fridge. My ultimate kegging goal is to have a 4-tap keezer set up.

Anyways, thank you all again! I can't wait to finally have some brews on tap!

Stealthcruiser said:

Heed what was mentioned above, regarding hose lengths, ( heh heh), and the many threads on foamy pours.

Start with excessive length, and trim to suit, which usually ranges anywhere from 6 to 10 ft.

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Luckily, the kit I bought includes 10ft of beer line and 11ft of gas line. Most other kits only included 6ft and I figured 10ft would be the safer bet.

jekeane said:

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/for/5269424312.html This guy might part out his kegging stuff for you. Craigslist is your friend when it comes to kegging. Especially co2 tanks as many places will just swap your empty shiny tank for a used one rather than fill on demand.

Click to expand...

Actually, a few posts back, I had mentioned seeing that ad, but it was back on 10/6/15. I didn't see the seller reposted it. Shucks. But when looking over the ad, the kegs seem like it would come to about $56 each. The site I got mine from sells theirs for about $38. So if I got 2 kegs from him with all the other accessories I would need from him, it turned out to be about the same price, if not a bit more compared to the kit I bought.