2nd Street Brewery said:There should be quite a few threads on that here, I know as I've been looking into the same thing. Haven't found much of a deal on ebay, they're cheap but the shipping will kill you I've been bugging my local bar but the only ones he's thinking of getting rid of are real nasty and would probably require more work to clean than it is worth. I'm also going to check out at my fire station as we use corney's for the soda there and I might be able to score one or two.
Driftwood said:For a complete kit, I recommend Ebay. I looked around for a few months and eventually settled on a guy selling systems through Ebay.
Tony said:Tom Hargraves eBay kits are priced pretty accurately for the equipment, but shipping could be high depending on your area. $185 for the kit, $43 for shipping (Alabama to Massachusetts) for a total of $228.
I use a 5 pound tank which was last filled back in February. Now granted, I don't guzzle beer, and only keep two kegs running at a time, but I'm on my fourth keg with it now, and when I weighed it, I still had half the CO2 left. Even if I notice the pressure on my single gauge dropping, it's just a quick trip down to the fire extinguisher service shop for a $10 refill, done while I wait. Inconvenient? For me, no, but I made sure I could get easy refills BEFORE I bought my kegging gear.tnlandsailor said:Here are some things to think about before you buy a complete "kit".
1) Most kits come with a 5 lb CO2 tank. This is fine, but if you plan on kegging a lot and force carbonating, you will be filling up your 5 pounder a lot more often. Get as big a tank as you can find or can fit in your space. Filling your CO2 tank is the last thing you want to worry about.
2) A lot of kits come with a single gage regulator. Again, this is fine, but a dual gage has it's advantages. The single gage reads only the outlet pressure from the regulator (typically 8 - 15 PSI). The second gage reads tank pressure. Since CO2 tanks contain liquid, this gage will read a consant 800 PSI at 70 F (give or take) until all the liquid is gone, then the pressure will drop below 800 indicating that you will soon need CO2. Without this gage, you won't know until your outlet pressure drops below your desired serving pressure, by then it's too late. The cost for the second gage is usually minimal and I think the added flexibility is worth it.
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