Anybody else this lazy and cheap?

[yowzers]

So, ten years ago I set up this kegerator with the intent of adding taps and handles to the door. You can see how that turned out...... Still works just fine, but I really need to get on that project.

 

[gunhaus]

NOPE - It is just YOU Yowzers!

 

[gunhaus]

I have my keggerator in the house, but i wanted something to hold a keg in my work shop. I found a free for the taking fridge that worked, tore out shelves, and bought one of those regulator/keg/picnic tap set ups. I popped a keg and some six packs into the fridge and tweaked the temp till I got where i wanted to be. It was my intention to install the gas lines, and a nice faucet. A buddy came over and while I was otherwise occupied, he took a big Silver and Demming bit and bored a couple big holes in the side of the fridge so he could force feed the gas line, connector and all through the hole (Instead of just uncoupling it and feeding the line in and reconnecting!) The keg was already carbed so he hooked her up, set the regulator, and helped himself. For a temporary fix, we stuffed the hole around the gas line tightly with blue paper shop towels. I ain't saying it is STILL like that and that I ain't gotten around to fixing it up proper - But then again I ain't ain't saying it ain't.

 

[JDXX1971]

Oh the shame , yep mine looks like that too! On the other hand I have been collecting parts to finish it.

 

[joegbeer]

All my kegs are picnic taps on lines laying in a freezer with a temp controller. I'm into designing recipes and not into the hobby for fancy brewing sculptures or contraptions. I admire the work done by others, but that's not for me. I suck at mechanical DIY projects.

 

[yowzers]

I'm starting to feel better!

 

[bleme]

I only use picnic taps as well. I like not worrying about warmer taps and foamy pours. I have considered building some kind of rack to hang that taps from though...

 

[bbohanon]

I only use picnic taps as well. I like not worrying about warmer taps and foamy pours. I have considered building some kind of rack to hang that taps from though...

Same here..I actually have taps and just dont use them in lieu of in freezer picnic taps. Easier to clean, replace, etc. as well as the foamy pours previously mentioned.

 

[gunhaus]

The really beautiful thing about our hobby: If your laziness, or half finished projects, or jury rigged systems EVER make you feel guilty . . . You have ready access to a magical, glorious, and tasty beverage that possesses the wondrous properties of being able to relieve these terrible feelings.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I'm the opposite, I'm all for simple brewing but having to open my fridge every time I want to pull a pint with a crappy plastic hanging tap seems unenjoyable on every level. So much so if I had a setup like that I probably wouldn't be brewing

Theres something about pulling a tap like at a bar in your house that magnifies the fun level of homebrew.

 

[gunhaus]

What happens when you have bottle beer?

 

[Toejam792]

I tried picnic taps and got sick of opening the keezer every time I wanted a cold one after a couple weeks. So much more convenient to just walk up to it and pour. Get your self a 20lb co2 tank to save money on gas and use savings to get some all stainless taps and shanks from aliexpress. I spent $30 on a intertap clone with 4" shank and hose barb, all stainless. It's way cheaper for me to buy gas in bulk, my 5lb fill up is $20 and my 20lb fill is $30.

 

[gunhaus]

I have 5-20#, 5-5#, and i think we have 4 100# around the shop. My in home Keezer/keggerator, has nice faucets, with snazzy handles I turned on the shops lathe. THAT said, the one keg set up in the work shop, is NOT being hurt in anyway by just being a picnic tap. And I doubt i am using a whole bunch more gas in my 6 foot picnic tap than I would be in a fixed 6 foot line. If i am i will just have to sacrifice the extra what? .00004 cents per year? And the same question still applies - If it is so horrendously time consuming, frustrating, and emotionally stressful to open the door to get a beer - HOW EXACTLY do you deal with bottle beer? I tired to magic them up from fridge to table, like I Dream of Jeannie, and I tried to magic them from fridge to table by Tom Sawyering the SWMBO into getting them for me. But neither one works! So if i have bottle beer in the fridge, I STILL have to go and open the heavy, burdensome, vault like door AND get one the old fashioned hard on the back, arm, neck, and psyche muscle way. What's ya'lls secret for bottles? Am I being dissed on some no-open-door-bottle-retrieval method?

I have been running on the theory that if i possessed sufficient strength to fetch a 12oz from the INSIDE of the fridge - I MIGHT still retain sufficient mechanical facility to press the heavy old lever on the picnic tap, and fill my jar!!!! Maybe I am missing something?

But I am gonna go ahead an not worry too much - and i am betting the other fellers who are too lazy to screw a shiny silver handle to the outside of our cooling device will find a way to salve their conciseness as well.

One thing though - I had a keg of Mild in my in house keezer, that I was pouring from a Perlick Faucet, and a 3/16 ID 5 foot line, that i pulled out and took to the shop. When hooked up to the tank out there and set at the same PSI, and poured from my cheap picnic tap . . . . . .It tasted exactly the same!!! What does that mean?

Excuse my sarcastic tenor - but i find it odd that the taste, quality, and satisfaction of a good home brew is dependent on the sparklyness of my service hardware. And i find it hard to believe that opening a door for a draft beer is somehow a greater strain than opening the door to get a nice cold bottle! I have both in the same unit though as we speak and i am gonna run out RIGHT NOW and run a test! Maybe ya'll are right and the draft is harder to do! I'll be right back . . . . . .

 

[JDXX1971]

Dude didnt make it back, maybe his arm locked up on the refer door or the cheap party tap. You ok @gunhaus ?????

 

[BroomVikin]

I've got a 5cf chest freezer/ fermentation chamber that can hold 2 5g corneys and a 2.5g on the hump with out need for a collar. All three kegs use picnic taps and I can't see the need to ever change. They are easy to use, cheap to replace if something happens, and they work absolutely fine.

 

[gunhaus]

GOOD TO GO! The tests were not conclusive so i had to run them more than once! My biggest fear is that the pressure i apply to the lever with my thumb, could at some point hinder the pressure i apply with the same thumb on my church key when opening bottles! Research research research!!!

 

[MizzouFermentationScience]

10 years is pretty impressive. I spent about 5 years on picnic taps before making a collar for the freezer. My shed has been the recipient of equipment for three of my quitter friends- so I had to stare at a bucket of faucets every time I got the lawn mower out and they finally broke me. About a year later I lost the freezer to breast milk and had to start bottling again. 1.5 liter champagne bottles have eased the pain, but newlyweds beware. It’s ok, I’m coming back with a vengeance- my plan is to run taps upstairs to the kitchen pantry when the kid is old enough.

 

[mongoose33]

Did those kegs come over on the Mayflower?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

What happens when you have bottle beer?

I don't..keg beer only..if I'm not kegging..I'm not drinkin, Unless at a party and then I'm digging through a cooler filled with ice which is just as fun

 

[yowzers]

Did those kegs come over on the Mayflower?

That's funny. The one in front left came from a buddy who was homebrewing back in the 80's. It's a true Cornelius and I love it. It's still spotless on the inside and seals perfectly.

 

[Bigfly]

The setup looks very familiar to me except the regulator feeds 2 kegs in my fridge.

 

[gunhaus]

EEEEeeeeeeaAAASY JOHNNY! How sad for you! My pity! To miss out on all the different styles, and new offerings, and interesting adaptations sounds terrible. I cannot imagine isolating myself to my own little world of brews and never trying anything from anyone else! Even plain old standards Like Guinness offer some cool things from time to time. The holiday time 200th anniversary packs had several neat styles I had never tried, and can now attempt to mimic - Never would have known if it were not for those horrible little agitating, back breaking, nerve wracking, low brow, unwashed swine, carpel tunnel inducing, pedestrian, bottles we fly over country types occasionally utilize! BUT - we apologize for it . . . .and the little picnic taps as well . . . .RRRrreaaaaallllly we do!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

EEEEeeeeeeaAAASY JOHNNY! How sad for you! My pity! To miss out on all the different styles, and new offerings, and interesting adaptations sounds terrible. I cannot imagine isolating myself to my own little world of brews and never trying anything from anyone else! Even plain old standards Like Guinness offer some cool things from time to time. The holiday time 200th anniversary packs had several neat styles I had never tried, and can now attempt to mimic - Never would have known if it were not for those horrible little agitating, back breaking, nerve wracking, low brow, unwashed swine, carpel tunnel inducing, pedestrian, bottles we fly over country types occasionally utilize! BUT - we apologize for it . . . .and the little picnic taps as well . . . .RRRrreaaaaallllly we do!

Apology accepted

 

[gunhaus]

NOW we're talking!!!

 

[lablover]

What are those little orange beads on your kegs?

 

[day_trippr]

They're level indicators. There's a floating magnet inside each keg...

Cheers!

 

[jcav]

I use those floats to. They work great and I can always tell how much beer is left and when I need to get ready to bring the other companion keg of the same brew out of the fridge in the garage and tap it! Or when it's getting close to kicking and then I need to get ready to clean the tap line before hooking the next brew up to it!

 

[Horseflesh]

I used picnic taps inside a junk fridge for over a year, but I hate those things... Bit the bullet and bought Perlick 630s with attached shank, and a fancy drill bit to go through metal the fridge door. CO2 is still inside the fridge.

If I can do it, anyone can.

If I had it to do over again, I'd get Intertaps with flow control, folks around here say they are great.

 

[yowzers]

What are those little orange beads on your kegs?

Those are Keg Level Indicators. I got them from Ball and Keg on line. They are pretty darned handy actually.

 

[SanPancho]

I only use picnic taps as well. I like not worrying about warmer taps and foamy pours. I have considered building some kind of rack to hang that taps from though...

Me too. Still looking for good solution. Best ive found so far is some aluminum upanor channel for radiant heating systems. I cut about four 2” pieces and if you pinch them down just a bit a 3/16 line will snap in and stay. Nw the pícnic tap heads are all accessible in front.

Still think theres a better solution tho.

 

[lablover]

Those are Keg Level Indicators. I got them from Ball and Keg on line. They are pretty darned handy actually.

Thanks, those sound like a great idea. I will try them out. I've read good things about them.

 

[crane]

Theres something about pulling a tap like at a bar in your house that magnifies the fun level of homebrew.

+1000

When I first got my kegerator all I wanted to do was pour pints. Then when I finally upgraded from the mushy perlick 625s to intertaps. They feel so much more solid. Picnic taps remind me too much of college house parties. Why not just ditch the CO2 tank and pump air? If we really want to be cheap and lazy. Haha

 

[yowzers]

I love it, air pump like the college days. Remember having he buddies over the next morning to kick the keg before it totally oxidized?? Now I only day drink in Mexico! Ah, the good 'ol days.

 

[homebrewer_99]

What are those little orange beads on your kegs?

Baby Tribbles...

 

[homebrewer_99]

FWIW, if you don't want to be labeled "lazy" just put up a sign: WORK IN PROGRESS.

It reminds me of a comic where State workers/contractors were filling potholes. They put up a sign: 25 YEARS AT THE SAME LOCATION. What a hoot.