Kegerators: What is your dream setup?

[RidingDonkeys]

So I've been brewing for a few months now. I absolutely love it, and have really jumped right in. When my wife and I figured out how much time we were spending bottling, she agreed to let me get a kegerator. A little patience and some ninja skills landed me a True TDD-2 on the cheap. It came outfitted with everything I needed, but somehow I want more.

I like variety, so I like my 5gal batches. I have roughly three bottled and three fermenting at any given time. So my intent is to run 4 taps. But wouldn't 6 be awesome? Especially for parties. I'm set for sankes right now, but could I run both sankes and cornies in the same system?

So that brings me here trying to get ideas to pimp my kegerator. Assuming money was no issues, what would your dream setup be?

How would you run regulators to handle several different kinds of beer?

What kind of couplers would you choose?

How large of a CO2 bottle would you run?

What kind of lines would you run?

You get the point...

 

[RidingDonkeys]

What id like to do is run the entire system off one CO2 bottle, but with several regulators. Assuming I was running 4 to 6 taps, would a 5lb bottle be able to handle it?

 

[badbrew]

Get 2 bottles so that when the first runs out you have a backup. 1 should work though.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

What id like to do is run the entire system off one CO2 bottle, but with several regulators. Assuming I was running 4 to 6 taps, would a 5lb bottle be able to handle it?

Sure a 5lb tank will suffice, but it depends on how often you want to refill it. Running out on the weekend when you can't get it filled kind of sucks. I think the best thing you could do to "pimp your keggerator" would be to get a 20 lb tank for carbing/serving and a 5 lb tank for purging and back up.

 

[G_Brew]

also aside from regulators and such.... if you want 6 taps... I would suggest a flash coolling system rather than storing 6 keggs in the fridge.. perhaps have all the kegs and gas tank/lines in a closet with beer hoses runing through the wall to your tap fridge... maybe have the lines run through copper coils dunked in a 5 gallon tub of cold water sitting inside the fridge? should work.. . not sure if anyone's done this... i'm sure you'd be able to dispense 5-6 cold pints one after the other.. maybe more... otherwise you're looking at a pretty big keezer...

 

[copyright1997]

Sure a 5lb tank will suffice, but it depends on how often you want to refill it. Running out on the weekend when you can't get it filled kind of sucks. I think the best thing you could do to "pimp your keggerator" would be to get a 20 lb tank for carbing/serving and a 5 lb tank for purging and back up.

+1. My tank has never emptied when it is convent. Now I have 3 tanks, a 10, 5, and 4#. What's nice about the smaller ones is that they are easy to cart around and fit easily in my keezer.

 

[RidingDonkeys]

So for you guys with multiple taps, do you regulate each line or just run splitters off a single regulator?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

A home with a matching pool house. The pool house has a built-in hosable brewery and full storage capacity for everything I need while brewing. One side has a bar with seats, a set of taps (the number is not super important). The other side of the pool house has my shop and all my tools in it. Second floor has a full suite for visitors.... I'd probably have to put locks on the taps.

MC

 

[RidingDonkeys]

A home with a matching pool house. The pool house has a built-in hosable brewery and full storage capacity for everything I need while brewing. One side has a bar with seats, a set of taps (the number is not super important). The other side of the pool house has my shop and all my tools in it. Second floor has a full suite for visitors.... I'd probably have to put locks on the taps.

MC

A man with a vision!

 

[Airborneguy]

I'm looking at something like that also. My wife wants to move to a town that will require me to commute about 1.5 hours each way, so I said no problem as long as we get a house with a barn or large detached garage and it's mine! I can't wait.

My goal is a loft with a few beds for visitors (or me if I can't make it back to the house ), a pool table, a poker table, at least 1 flat screen, and a 3-4 tap bar. I prefer to have less taps so that I can rotate different beers more often. I want the place to have an old west vibe. I'm also going to have at least 50 bottles of tequila and bourbon, my two favorite spirits.

 

[duckmanco]

So for you guys with multiple taps, do you regulate each line or just run splitters off a single regulator?

I run one regulator that goes to a 5 way air splitter. I thought I'd want a regulator for each beer style, but in honesty (blasphemy warning) I like about 2-2.5 volumes for beer.... That means just about any beer. I don't like heavy carbonation in anything except Belgians, so one regulator has not been an issue.

One of these days I'll get another one and use it for styles that really do benefit from extreme carb levels, whether low (miles, English styles) or high (Belgians, American Stout) but for now, I'm happy with one regulator.