Been bottling homebrew for a year and a half. What money I have put into the hobby thus far has been to improve my brewing (Mr Beer kit as a gift > 5 gal extract batches with buckets > tukey fryer and full wort boils > yeast starters > all grain (converted 10 gal rectangular cooler, batch sparge) > temp control (1-stage temp control using a fermwrap).
All the while, I've bottled. While I've been very happy with the continued improvement in my beer, I've tried to limit the $ spent to improve the beer.
Now, I'm going to be getting the fridge from my folks' house (now in assisted living). It's old, but works fine. Got space for it in our basement. Figuring I could use it to ferment lagers, something I've never been able to do. But I think more useful at this point would be the ability to keg and finally stop bottling.
Money's always tight (married, kids, etc) so I don't like to blow a lot at once on anything that's a hobby. How much can I expect to pay if I want to build a 2-tap kegerator out of the old fridge? Everything I see online makes it seem to be a reasonable DIY project. A drill with the correct size hole bit. A couple holes in the door for the shanks. So then I'm looking at a regulator CO2 tank, tubing, facets, and 2 corny kegs.
Austin Homebrew Supply (for example) has a 2 keg setup for $485 and that's w/o the co2 tank. 5 gal tank is another $85. Yikes.
LHBS has use corny kegs for $50. Is that average pricing?
If I go the kegging route, can I buy the regulator that would serve 2 kegs, but only set up one keg at this point, and buy another one later, thus spreading out the expense over time?
All the while, I've bottled. While I've been very happy with the continued improvement in my beer, I've tried to limit the $ spent to improve the beer.
Now, I'm going to be getting the fridge from my folks' house (now in assisted living). It's old, but works fine. Got space for it in our basement. Figuring I could use it to ferment lagers, something I've never been able to do. But I think more useful at this point would be the ability to keg and finally stop bottling.
Money's always tight (married, kids, etc) so I don't like to blow a lot at once on anything that's a hobby. How much can I expect to pay if I want to build a 2-tap kegerator out of the old fridge? Everything I see online makes it seem to be a reasonable DIY project. A drill with the correct size hole bit. A couple holes in the door for the shanks. So then I'm looking at a regulator CO2 tank, tubing, facets, and 2 corny kegs.
Austin Homebrew Supply (for example) has a 2 keg setup for $485 and that's w/o the co2 tank. 5 gal tank is another $85. Yikes.
LHBS has use corny kegs for $50. Is that average pricing?
If I go the kegging route, can I buy the regulator that would serve 2 kegs, but only set up one keg at this point, and buy another one later, thus spreading out the expense over time?