My Wife Is Sick Of Me

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aStoutObserver

aStoutObserver

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... She's sick of me bottling. I know there are plenty of resources around to help me start kegging, but I was hoping some of you all could give me an ideal setup. I figure if she will let me, I should do it right.
 
I knew absolutely nothing about kegging when I started. So I bought a two tap kegerator ready to use. It works great. But if I could do it all over again, I would definitely build my own.

If you read prior threads, you will find all the information you need. Take heed to the advice about cheap faucets. Start with Perlicks because you will end up buying them anyway.
 
My Honey looked at me one day and asked if we could 'please start kegging' since empty bottles were taking over the laundry room! She was my capper prior to kegging, now she just sits and wonders how many times I slipped downstairs to refill my glass.

This is beautiful!

She is beautiful!!!
 
Thank you very much chawn. I will just subscribe to this forum for the next week and do the right research.
 
aStoutObserver said:
... She's sick of me bottling. I know there are plenty of resources around to help me start kegging, but I was hoping some of you all could give me an ideal setup. I figure if she will let me, I should do it right.
Click to expand...

How much space can you take up with your setup? How strong is your back? How much beer(and how many taps) do you want to keep on hand? How handy are you? And what are you willing to spend?

Many of us convert a chest freezer and add a collar to be able to fit an extra keg on the hump (and prevent from having to drill through the wall of the freezer). Some use the same chest freezer and build a coffin type of assembly on top for the taps. Others take an old spare upright fridge(or freezer) and drill out the door for the shanks. Both have their positives and negatives.

The DIY section has many examples of kegerators/keezers as well as some resources like the how many kegs can you fit in X frigde/freezer thread.
 
Many options. Depends on what you want to look at and how much beer you need it to hold. Look at the kegerator builds here, or do a Google search. See what you like and then come back for advice on the system you've chosen. I'm sure you will get some VERY detailed instructions and suggestions.
 
bradpoff said:
My Honey looked at me one day and asked if we could 'please start kegging' since empty bottles were taking over the laundry room! She was my capper prior to kegging, now she just sits and wonders how many times I slipped downstairs to refill my glass.



This is beautiful!



She is beautiful!!!
Click to expand...


This! Some nights I wonder myself how many times I've refilled my glass.
 
You have come to the right place for ideas/inspiration/guidance on kegging. You can get just about as simple or complex as you want, depending on your desire to tinker and spend, and your level of handiness. My first Kegerator was an old upright fridge. I ordered a kit for the conversion, and the actual work of it after I had the fridge in place was maybe 30 minutes. I upgraded this year and painted and nicely outfitted an old 1947 fridge- that was a week and a half of solid work. Cool part is, though, I took the guts out of the original unit, so that didn't cost me anything extra.
Upright fridges work for me because of the reduced footprint, but there are plenty of awesome 'keezers' around. Like other have said, depends on what you want to put in.
Whatever you choose, you won't miss bottling day.
 
bradpoff said:
My Honey looked at me one day and asked if we could 'please start kegging' since empty bottles were taking over the laundry room! She was my capper prior to kegging, now she just sits and wonders how many times I slipped downstairs to refill my glass.



This is beautiful!



She is beautiful!!!
Click to expand...


I think my wife wonders the same thing!
 
I started kegging two years ago and knew nothing I got a $25.00 fridge then set it up for a commercial tap when I started then got four corny's off Craig's list and haven't looked back--just do it you won't regret it--way easier than all them bottles & you'll be drinking your product way quicker than waiting on bottles
 
I want to start kegging, but cannot justify the cost just yet.

If I keg, I am going to want tonic water in one, seltzer in another, and 3 for beer. Then I will will need one of the bar guns, and include water to it. Then the chest freezer, lines to run to my porch for the summer, (so three perm taps installed on my bar) + another 3 taps to dispense in the winter. By the time I figure out the setup I want the price scares me (and have not priced out one of the BIG co2 tanks, the 5LB are not going to work for me unless I buy 5 of them and cascade them together.

Thus bottles....
 
You can get a list of ideal setups. It really comes down to what you have space for and such, just like @drunklejon said. So perhaps you can give a little more info and then we can guide you.

For me, ideal was having at least 4 different beers available to me. I like variety. I also wanted a soda tap, ergo I got one. I did a chest freezer and I hate lifting kegs up above my chest basically (due to the casters and collar and height challenged), but i do it. Otherwise, I like my decision. I thought it would look better in the living room than an upright.

Anyway, that was what was ideal for me. Also, if I ever want to, I can get a nitro tap and get rid of the soda.
 
I live in the desert (Phoenix) and already have a 7 cubic freezer with an stc1000 that acts as my fermenter. I can't take up too much more space, so ideally I'm trying to work in my head a way to dual purpose it. The desert mention was to explain that nothing is able to go into the garage for my setup.

I have seen a bunch of keezer and kegerator builds over the last few years on here, so they aren't totally foreign to me.

The plan for right now is to hopefully use the freezer still as a fermenter and then once I have about 3 beers ready (kegged) , then have them going in there. I'm not sure if it will work or not and I have a 5 month old, so not much room for building stuff lately.

Thank you everyone so far for the replies
 
I ended up totally moving all my brewing stuff out of the house due to the wife constantly complaining about the space it all took up.
One brew shed later, I can retreat to it on brew day, drink, bottle, brew, clean and do anything I need to do without bothering her or leaving trails of brewing throughout the house. Its a win/win.

As far as bottling, I still bottle from time to time, but I do it from the keg when I need to bring someone some beer. I bottle less and its ready to drink as I bottle. I refill my glass PLENTY of times during this process.
:)
 
bradpoff said:
My Honey looked at me one day and asked if we could 'please start kegging' since empty bottles were taking over the laundry room! She was my capper prior to kegging, now she just sits and wonders how many times I slipped downstairs to refill my glass.

This is beautiful!

She is beautiful!!!
Click to expand...

I think I need to start leaving bottles all over the place.
 
Stop ya'll! I don't have the space for a keezer yet! One of my friends is trying to offload a bunch of cornies on me. He probably has 20 sitting around his barn.

Next you know my wife will be "twising my arm" in to kegging.

Off to bottle batch 1 of 5, I have "waiting around" for the bottle, tonight. You know, this kegging thing is starting to sound better...
 
Figure out how many kegs you want to dispense / hold first, and then find a chest freezer big enough for that. I got a new one. used are easy to find on craigslist, but who knows how long they'll last.

You don't necessarily need a temp controller on it, though the STC isn't expensive. There's a way to adjust the thermostat to get up to fridge temps on most chest freezers. You have to take the thermostat out and find the course adjustment screw. I did that for a year and it worked fine. There's a thread somewhere on HBT that shows how.

Get a keg / CO2 tank / regulator / disconnects / picnic tap. You can find a kit with all of those things for about $200:

http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon-Ball-Lock-Keg-System-w-Picnic-Tap-USED-Keg-1_p_69.html

For now, just stick the keg and tank in the freezer and dispense with the picnic tap, no need to build a collar or get nice faucets right away. Eventually, if you want you can go that route. You'll likely want a longer bev line on the picnic tap than what the kit comes with, but that stuff is cheap.
 
BadWolfBrewing said:
Figure out how many kegs you want to dispense / hold first, and then find a chest freezer big enough for that. I got a new one. used are easy to find on craigslist, but who knows how long they'll last.

You don't necessarily need a temp controller on it, though the STC isn't expensive. There's a way to adjust the thermostat to get up to fridge temps on most chest freezers. You have to take the thermostat out and find the course adjustment screw. I did that for a year and it worked fine. There's a thread somewhere on HBT that shows how.

Get a keg / CO2 tank / regulator / disconnects / picnic tap. You can find a kit with all of those things for about $200:

http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon-Ball-Lock-Keg-System-w-Picnic-Tap-USED-Keg-1_p_69.html

For now, just stick the keg and tank in the freezer and dispense with the picnic tap, no need to build a collar or get nice faucets right away. Eventually, if you want you can go that route. You'll likely want a longer bev line on the picnic tap than what the kit comes with, but that stuff is cheap.
Click to expand...

Well, you *could* adjust the control that way, but it's pretty cheap to wire an STC-1000+ right into the keezer, and it looks really cool too! :cross:
 
azazel1024 said:
Stop ya'll! I don't have the space for a keezer yet! One of my friends is trying to offload a bunch of cornies on me. He probably has 20 sitting around his barn.

Next you know my wife will be "twising my arm" in to kegging.

Off to bottle batch 1 of 5, I have "waiting around" for the bottle, tonight. You know, this kegging thing is starting to sound better...
Click to expand...

Well, you could always accept those cornies and store them at my house. I have plenty of room for them.
 
DrunkleJon said:
Well, you could always accept those cornies and store them at my house. I have plenty of room for them.
Click to expand...

If I end up getting a bunch from him, I'd be more than happy to offer you any extras I get. You aren't that far from me (realistically, I could use 3, maybe 4).
 
Sweet. And you say that now. I started out with a 3 tap setup and 3 kegs. Then I bought 3 more. Now I have 8 in my rotation and want more. I may have a problem.
 
DrunkleJon said:
Sweet. And you say that now. I started out with a 3 tap setup and 3 kegs. Then I bought 3 more. Now I have 8 in my rotation and want more. I may have a problem.
Click to expand...

The only problem is you obviously aren't inviting me over to help you draw it down faster so you can brew sooner.

I lucked out and managed to pawn off almost an entire case this past weekend between two birthday parties and my LHB club meeting. Means I get to brew that much sooner :D

At least until I put an addition out the back of my house to expand my kitchen and dinning room, I really don't have room for a kegerator. At best I MIGHT be able to manage to 4.5cu-ft minifridge conversion for two taps, but it would need to live in my basement storage room. 2 kegs is not nearly enough variety for me. I might be able to manage 4, especially if I am bottling off the keg for 1-2 6-packs to cellar away for a rainy day so I have at least a small amount of variety in the bottle for when kegs get killed and rotated.
 
azazel1024 said:
The only problem is you obviously aren't inviting me over to help you draw it down faster so you can brew sooner.

I lucked out and managed to pawn off almost an entire case this past weekend between two birthday parties and my LHB club meeting. Means I get to brew that much sooner :D

At least until I put an addition out the back of my house to expand my kitchen and dinning room, I really don't have room for a kegerator. At best I MIGHT be able to manage to 4.5cu-ft minifridge conversion for two taps, but it would need to live in my basement storage room. 2 kegs is not nearly enough variety for me. I might be able to manage 4, especially if I am bottling off the keg for 1-2 6-packs to cellar away for a rainy day so I have at least a small amount of variety in the bottle for when kegs get killed and rotated.
Click to expand...

Yeah, unfortunately I dont have much currently on tap. Had a 5-6 month dry spell of no brewing. Just got into it again with 10 G of a pale ale. Trying to finish off a keg of 6 month old cream ale is killing me, along with an equally old somewhat funky stout which isnt so bad. Hopefully the pipeline will be full soon, then the offer is on the table.
 
DrunkleJon said:
Yeah, unfortunately I dont have much currently on tap. Had a 5-6 month dry spell of no brewing. Just got into it again with 10 G of a pale ale. Trying to finish off a keg of 6 month old cream ale is killing me, along with an equally old somewhat funky stout which isnt so bad. Hopefully the pipeline will be full soon, then the offer is on the table.
Click to expand...

I've got almost too much variety right now. I need to move back to brewing in smaller batches.

I've got about 8 bottles of a Belgian Porter I brewed back in December still, a 6-pack of holiday Dunklewiezen left both of which I am trying to drink ASAP so I can free up the bottle cap colors (because I only have about 10 different colored bottle caps, my wife has limited me as that is all we have room for on the chalkboard "in bottle" list). I also have about a case of Berliner Wiesse I bottled a couple of weeks ago, about a case of Peach Berliner Wiesse I bottled last night (the other half of the BW batch, this part aged on...well, you get the idea), a couple of 6-packs of IPA left, a few bottles of Dopplebock still in the fridge, a couple of 6-packs of Raisin nut brown ale, about a case of steam beer, about a case of German Pilsner, and I am probably forgetting something.

I currently have 2.75G of English Pale Lager, 2.75G of Schwarzbier lagering away and will be ready to bottle in about 1-2 weeks. I have 3.5 gallons of RIS that is probably also about 2 weeks away from being able to be bottled. I have 5 gallons of Beglian Single that needs the H2S to be cleaned up a little more, but is otherwise ready to be bottled.

Already planning my next brews (a Mild for big brew, probably a 5 gallon batch, but already thinking maybe I should shoot for a 2.75G batch, maybe an English dry stout after that, a Heffe, Cherry Wheat and maybe a Kolsch or Blonde Ale and that'll probably conclude my summer brewing).

Help.
 
Oh, and my LHB club is dangerous. One of the brewers had a Kentucky sour there that was awesome as well as a Wee Heavy. Now I want to make both. Also would love to try my hand at a kettle soured Oud Bruin (in part because I only soured a 2l starter for my BW instead of the whole batch and it just wasn't sour enough, so I had to add some lactic at bottling. The batch is fine, but I really want to see what a full kettle souring will do).

No darned clue if I'll get to any of those this summer or not (though I might squeeze in a 2.75G batch of Wee Heavy or Our Bruin).
 
Wow. I am jealous. I need to cut back on my batch sizes because although 10 gallons at a time is just as easy as 5 gallons, I find that it is hard to keep up with drinking it as fast as I brew it without too much help.

Hello, my name is DrunkleJon, I have a brewing problem.
 
DrunkleJon said:
Wow. I am jealous. I need to cut back on my batch sizes because although 10 gallons at a time is just as easy as 5 gallons, I find that it is hard to keep up with drinking it as fast as I brew it without too much help.

Hello, my name is DrunkleJon, I have a brewing problem.
Click to expand...

It is why I used to brew 2.5G batches, then switched to 4-5G batches and now I am moving to 2.75G batches. I think I am safe with the occasionaly 4-5.5G batch of something if it is LIGHT. As in 5% ABV or less, because I really can easily drink a lot more of that, and my wife often helps out. My 6-8% beers though, I think I need to brew exclusively as 2.75G batches, unless I know it is destined for an event where I can clear a case of it in one go. I am very seasonal in what I like to drink. I prefer my beers 3.5-5.7% in the summer, 5.7-8% in the winter and a mix in the spring and fall (with some exceptions, like a nice 6.5% IPA or 9% DIPA in the summer can occasionally hit the spot, but I don't like hoppy beers in the winter).

Some of my higher ABV beers, even though it is a pain for BiaB with my setup to brew a lot, 4-5G is actually better in some ways, because that is the kind of stuff I love brewing 3-4 times a year, and then drink a bottle of it occasionally all year long and in general the season doesn't matter to me for when I drink it (or over a couple of years for something like a good Barley Wine or RIS).

So I mostly need to start moving to "brew only what you can consume within 3-4 months, unless it is a "special" batch, that you are going to want to enjoy over 12-36 months).
 
Worth highlighting, and as has been said before, and will again on here:
The list above includes the SS Perlicks, and I would highly recommend springing for them now. I know they are more expensive, but you'll be buying them anyway in a year or two.
You can save the difference in proce between them and the standard faucets by waiting on a good CL deal for a fridge.
 
Howhownow said:
Worth highlighting, and as has been said before, and will again on here:
The list above includes the SS Perlicks, and I would highly recommend springing for them now. I know they are more expensive, but you'll be buying them anyway in a year or two.
You can save the difference in proce between them and the standard faucets by waiting on a good CL deal for a fridge.
Click to expand...

+1 in forward seal faucets. For a taproom they aren't much advantage since beer is poured most of the day.

For homebrewers who pour less often, or might skip a couple of days between pours on a faucet, they really help keep them form sticking.
 
Homercidal said:
+1 in forward seal faucets. For a taproom they aren't much advantage since beer is poured most of the day.

For homebrewers who pour less often, or might skip a couple of days between pours on a faucet, they really help keep them form sticking.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have forward sealing faucets and my kegerator went unused for months(and yes I am properly ashamed of that fact). No leaking or sticking.
 
You can keg without refrigeration such as a keezer or dedicated refrigerator, however, imo it is a much more pleasurable experience if you have one of those.

For several years when I first started kegging in the mid-90s I used a jockey box I made from a small cooler designed to hold about a 6-pack, a cold plate, some tubing and keg connectors, a 5# CO2 tank and regulator, and a cheapo beer tap I bought at a yard sale.

If I filled the jockey box with ice it would take room temperature beer down to below 40. The whole dispensing setup probably cost me less than $100 with the most expensive parts being the CO2 tank stuff (~$70) and the cold plate (~$20) but you have to have C02 for any kind of kegging. It was nice at the time because I could take it to the lake or other people's houses and serve kegged homebrew.

I still use that jockey box 20 years after I made it and it still works great though I tend to use it now with kegged wine and argon instead of beer and C02.
 

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