Seriously looking at kegging now.

[GrantH]

I posted before about possibly getting into kegging and well...i'm completely tired of worrying about if my bottles will carb correctly. I am hoping that I can keg and carb at room remp in a corny and simply bottle from that. I plan on getting a two tape system without shanks and such, just the picnic spouts.

Can anyone recommend a good place to order from? I know Midwest has their kits, but is there a cheaper solution that is just as well suited?

 

[jaytizzle]

I ordered my keg stuff (kegs, dual tap tower, regulator, etc.) from kegconnection.com. Good prices, kegs were in pretty good shape when they showed up, fast shipping (they're based in TX). I'll be ordering more kegs from them in the future when I need more.

 

[grouperdude]

check out keg cowboy. Great service and you can snag a 5% off coupon right now.

 

[Yooper]

If you're planning on bottling from the keg, I'd try to think of a way to chill the beer first. Warm beer foams like a son-of-a-gun and bottling that may mean pretty flat beer in the bottle (due to the foaming).

 

[WickedLB]

I just did this myself. I bought my kegs, lines and CO2 from Midwest ($195):
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/kegg...ic-dual-tap-draft-system-w-pin-lock-kegs.html

2 Tap tower ($135):
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/kegg...-accessories/3-plastic-econo-towers-dual.html

Kegarator ($350): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HJVYDQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

With shipping the whole set up was under $700

Not exactly cheap, but no more bottling is priceless

 

[GrantH]

I'm slowly beginning to realize I can't afford it. I hate getting hit or miss carbing in bottles though. Nothing worse.

I dump my sugar water in (once cool) and let it sit for ~30 minutes until the airlock starts to move slowly but I always get hit or miss carbing.

 

[onthekeg]

If you transfer to the keg, and use it as a bottling bucket, it won't foam. I have put my priming sugar in the keg and racked onto it many times. If you are going to bottle from a carbed keg, Yooper is right in that it will foam. If your bottles are cold from the freezer it works okay though.

 

[WickedLB]

I definitely saved up to make this purchase. You could probably get an old fridge for cheap on craigslist and then the keg system from Midwest and be good to go for under $250.

I wanted something that I could put in a finished room so I went with the new kegarator rather than an old fridge.

 

[bige9920]

I HATE bottling and so went to doing exactly this. I carb beer up in the kegs and made a beer gun. #2 rubber stopper on a racking cane. I connect a tube to a party tap to the cane and clamp tight and set my pressure low, usually around 9 to 11 and fill COLD BEER into COLD BOTTLES. Then I leave a little room in the top and remove my stopper and immediately cap. Never any issues with carbonation or foaming over. Works like a charm!

 

[GrantH]

I'll keep that in mind bige. I'm super tempted to at least get one keg setup so I can bottle easier. It would allow me to take a round to the homebrew competition as well. Something I WILL be entering this year.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

I have similar concerns, Grant. I'd like to avoid priming sugars and siphoning by bottling from keg. Unfortunately my fridge wont be able to accommodate a keg set up for several weeks.

 

[bige9920]

I'll keep that in mind bige. I'm super tempted to at least get one keg setup so I can bottle easier. It would allow me to take a round to the homebrew competition as well. Something I WILL be entering this year.

yep. i do this and entered last fall and got good marks for CO2.

 

[GrantH]

Here is my plan, and my equipment list, so far.

I plan on fermenting in glass, carbing in keg, and bottling through a jockey box. This is not the most efficient for some...but I think i'll be okay. Please tell me other wise, if I am WAY out of sight on this.

Without the bottling wand, I have:

Corny keg setup with Faucets from Midwest
Wall Shanks for back of Jockey Box
3 Product Cold Plate
Liquid Post for line cleaning
Extra Washers and O-Ring sets.

Aside from the random lines and such, what am I missing? I need the reinforced line from the wall shank to cold plate as well...

 

[barneygumble]

OK, Im drinking my brew and my judgement is cloudy, but why bottle if you keg? Its all gotta be cold anyway. Pour to the glass and skip all that nasty dishwashing! If you wanna have portability, buy the stopper top 1/2 litre bottles, chill them, and use your party tap (buy the antifoam hose here) and bottling wand to fill them.

 

[cyclonite]

Kegging is great. However, bottling from a keg, IMHO is not so great due to the foaming issue (this can be mitigated a bit with cold bottles). It is fine for bottling a few to take along somewhere, but you definitely don't want to try to bottle a batch from a keg - it will take much more time in the long run.

I keg some batches and bottle other batches. Not sure what all the fuss on bottling is - it is easy and fast with the right equipment (bottling bucket, bottle tree, vinator). Does it take longer than kegging? Yes. However, if you rinse your bottles after you pour a beer (so they are ready to sanitize for the next batch), then it becomes VERY close to the time it takes to keg (once you consider cleaning and sanitization of the keg). An entire batch can be bottled, start to finish, in a little over an hour. The key is the equipment and clean bottles.

But, to each their own! Cheers!

 

[tektonjp]

I'm slowly beginning to realize I can't afford it. I hate getting hit or miss carbing in bottles though. Nothing worse.

I dump my sugar water in (once cool) and let it sit for ~30 minutes until the airlock starts to move slowly but I always get hit or miss carbing.

Um, maybe that is why you are getting hit or miss. Are you using a bottling bucket, not your primary/secondary? It doesn't seem like you are stirring in the sugar well. A real good stir without whipping in air is important for consistent carbing. And no reason to wait for activity. Just bottle it.

 

[GrantH]

OK, Im drinking my brew and my judgement is cloudy, but why bottle if you keg? Its all gotta be cold anyway. Pour to the glass and skip all that nasty dishwashing! If you wanna have portability, buy the stopper top 1/2 litre bottles, chill them, and use your party tap (buy the antifoam hose here) and bottling wand to fill them.

That is what I am looking at doing, but not with the party tap; I'll have faucet taps.

Kegging is great. However, bottling from a keg, IMHO is not so great due to the foaming issue (this can be mitigated a bit with cold bottles). It is fine for bottling a few to take along somewhere, but you definitely don't want to try to bottle a batch from a keg - it will take much more time in the long run.

I keg some batches and bottle other batches. Not sure what all the fuss on bottling is - it is easy and fast with the right equipment (bottling bucket, bottle tree, vinator). Does it take longer than kegging? Yes. However, if you rinse your bottles after you pour a beer (so they are ready to sanitize for the next batch), then it becomes VERY close to the time it takes to keg (once you consider cleaning and sanitization of the keg). An entire batch can be bottled, start to finish, in a little over an hour. The key is the equipment and clean bottles.

But, to each their own! Cheers!

It's not so much bottling is a pain, it's that I never ever get consistent carbonation through out my batch.

As far as bottling from a keg, i've read mixed reviews and opinions from this. None the less though, I can (and probably will end up) bottling 20 or so from each batch and kegging the rest. Is this okay to do? I don't see why it wouldnt..

Um, maybe that is why you are getting hit or miss. Are you using a bottling bucket, not your primary/secondary? It doesn't seem like you are stirring in the sugar well. A real good stir without whipping in air is important for consistent carbing. And no reason to wait for activity. Just bottle it.

I have always been under the impression that introducing any oxygen into the beer is a bad thing?

 

[GrantH]

I simply would like a way to bottle a few and keg the rest, so that is what I am looking to do. If it means to introduce the sugar into the keg, swirl it around a bit, and siphon a few off, that's fine. I'm guessing this would still allow me to carb the rest inside the keg and enjoy my draught system.

If that is in fact doable...is my little fairly full to get going? I realize tubing and such will need to be had, but as far as hard parts... The liquid post is for a DIY Line Cleaner.

 

[HeavyKettleBrewing]

I'm slowly beginning to realize I can't afford it. I hate getting hit or miss carbing in bottles though. Nothing worse.

I dump my sugar water in (once cool) and let it sit for ~30 minutes until the airlock starts to move slowly but I always get hit or miss carbing.

I keg and bottle. I keg my "A" movers and bottle my special brews. I hate tying up a keg with say, a stout. I found the best way to prime my beer for bottles is to add primer solution gradually to my bottling bucket as I transfer. I brew five gallon batches so for every gallon that gets transferred I slowly add 4 oz of primer. The way I have my transfer hose setup creates a whirlpool so I don't even stir. The only thing I have bottled from the keg are my growlers I bring to functions for sampling, so can't comment on efficient system to bottle from keg. Seems futile if you brew 5gal or smaller.

 

[GrantH]

I think i'll try it as i've seen people talk about bottling just fine.

 

[Hauntedyards]

With shipping the whole set up was under $700

Not exactly cheap, but no more bottling is priceless

I managed to sneak in a bit less I think... $220 for the Danby fridge at walmart (same one their kegerators are made out of I think), $69 for a 2-tap tower on Ebay, $30 for a 5lb CO2 filled (extinguisher place local), $39 per keg, luxury item was the 2 beverage regulator from Ontario beer kegs @ $109.

Around $500(ish) for everything including 4 kegs...

 

[Rbeckett]

I got my kegging kit from Beveridge Elements. Quick ship, reasonable freight, good price on the kit. 144 bucks including one keg, regulator, hoses, tank and spare o-ring kit. I added anothe spare keg for an extra 29 bucks I think. Freight is freight and they try to keep it as low as possible. I am very happy with my kit so far. 'Bout the only downside is I would have liked a bigger CO2 cylinder but that is an easy fix.
Bob

 

[GrantH]

The only place I can find a kit that has the faucets and shanks included in the price is Midwest. There pricing is also incredibly cheap, coming in at just over 20 bucks.

I just need to double check my parts list.

I'm looking at:

2 Keg System w/ Faucets and Shanks
3 Product Cold Plate with 3/8 barbed fittings (may need other fittings, still)
2 Extra O-Ring sets
2 Extra Neoprene Wahers
1 Firestone Liquid Post for DIY Line Cleaner


I'll be drilling out for the rear lines and not using a wall shank, just seems easier and just as well.

The one thing I am not sure of is how I will connect the liquid lines from the keg to the cold plate and then to the shanks. Are the shanks the nipple style, or what should I plan on for connecting that end? I take it the kit comes with a way to do that...

 

[HeavyKettleBrewing]

I think i'll try it as i've seen people talk about bottling just fine.

Don't know about shipping cost but this company is relatively close to me so I will call my orders. You might want to order the small accessories to ship and try to find a corny locally via Craigslist. Beverage Factory pricing varies depending on what stock they have on hand. I bought three cornys for $45 ea.

http://www.beveragefactory.com/

Good luck with your search.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I got a kegging setup (with one faucet tower and 4# CO2 tank) from Keg Connection on sale last week for $179, including a Corny keg and extra o-rings. Shipping was about $8. Also got one extra keg, and they were both in nice condition, new seals, etc.
I also got the Nostalgia kegerator for $350, free shipping with Amazon Prime. I replaced their tower and lines with the KC set.
KC has several sets to choose from. Pin locks are $35.

 

[GrantH]

Midwest is my best bet it looks like. Homebrewing is "frowned upon" in my state, so I have to go online for my stuff. I've looked for kegs of all sizes on CL for some time now and never see anything...ever.

I'm more worried about missing some tiny piece that I should order and not having everything ready to go come time to make the jockey box.

 

[GrantH]

Not sure what to do as it seems most people don't think my jockey box idea would do well at home, and builder a kegerator (for me) is looking like 250+ for system with kegs, another 150 for tower, and another 150 for the fridge (hoping I don't break the freezer area). So, 550+ for a kegerator. A commercial one runs about that, minus kegs. Craiglist is a joke in my area.

Hopefully I can find something else to do at the home brew meeting tonight.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

Not sure what to do as it seems most people don't think my jockey box idea would do well at home, and builder a kegerator (for me) is looking like 250+ for system with kegs, another 150 for tower, and another 150 for the fridge (hoping I don't break the freezer area). So, 550+ for a kegerator. A commercial one runs about that, minus kegs. Craiglist is a joke in my area.

Hopefully I can find something else to do at the home brew meeting tonight.

I have two corny kegs and a bottling bucket for a primary. I've decided to keg condition at room temp for 2+ weeks with no CO2 (well, just a little to get rid of any oxygen). I'll prime and siphon to bottle from the keg when I feel it's time.

Until I can get a smaller CO2 tank (My current one is 5ft tall, and heavy) to place in my fridge, this will have to do. I plan to do only two kegs, and as such I'm going to clear out my food fridge, get everything brew related in there, and and then figure out a shelf for my food. My fridge is 1/8 food 7/8 empty anyhow.

 

[GrantH]

Here is my last idea, to get started kegging and such.

The Nastalgia that was mentioned earlier seems to work well for those reviewers on Amazon. Free Shipping makes it 350 for a brand new, 1 tap kegerator. This is perfectly fine to start me off I feel. All things considered, it is perfectly fine to go back and forth between 2 kegs, correct? Say I start my Saturday enjoying my recent Red Ale but want to drink an IPA in the afternoon. Does it really do any negative to swap back and forth so long as it's not a continuous back and forth occurance?

 

[zachattack]

There are a lot of good reasons to keg, but if your only reason is inconsistent carbing you just need to change your bottling method a little bit. Pour the priming solution into your bottling bucket and siphon gently on top of it to get a slight whirpool going. That's all it takes to properly mix the two.

Your problem is easily solvable, I've never heard of anyone that bottles that way!

 

[Yooper]

Here is my last idea, to get started kegging and such.

The Nastalgia that was mentioned earlier seems to work well for those reviewers on Amazon. Free Shipping makes it 350 for a brand new, 1 tap kegerator. This is perfectly fine to start me off I feel. All things considered, it is perfectly fine to go back and forth between 2 kegs, correct? Say I start my Saturday enjoying my recent Red Ale but want to drink an IPA in the afternoon. Does it really do any negative to swap back and forth so long as it's not a continuous back and forth occurance?

No, but it's sort of a pain swapping out the keg connections and then hooking them up again. If there is any chance at all that you want more than one beer on tap at a time, I'd skip the kegerator above and get a two tap (or build your own out of a small cute chest freezer). You could get a small chest freezer, build a collar for it, and still have it be under $350 and have more than one beer on tap at a time.

Also, each time you move the keg, you resuspend any sediment that may have settled out so it's not ideal if you have to move the kegs around to swap the lines.

 

[tektonjp]

I keg and bottle. I keg my "A" movers and bottle my special brews. I hate tying up a keg with say, a stout. I found the best way to prime my beer for bottles is to add primer solution gradually to my bottling bucket as I transfer. I brew five gallon batches so for every gallon that gets transferred I slowly add 4 oz of primer. The way I have my transfer hose setup creates a whirlpool so I don't even stir. The only thing I have bottled from the keg are my growlers I bring to functions for sampling, so can't comment on efficient system to bottle from keg. Seems futile if you brew 5gal or smaller.

Surely you aren't adding 20oz of sugar?

 

[GrantH]

No, but it's sort of a pain swapping out the keg connections and then hooking them up again. If there is any chance at all that you want more than one beer on tap at a time, I'd skip the kegerator above and get a two tap (or build your own out of a small cute chest freezer). You could get a small chest freezer, build a collar for it, and still have it be under $350 and have more than one beer on tap at a time.

Also, each time you move the keg, you resuspend any sediment that may have settled out so it's not ideal if you have to move the kegs around to swap the lines.

I need to measure my closet, but a "keezer" was pretty much ruled out for size problems. With a freezer being (new) 160, keg setup for about 325 (from midwest for the 2 tap with faucets), and a johnson controller, i'm looking around 600 regardless. I guess it's more of a do you want a fridge or a freezer? Fridge needs the tower, freezer just costs a touch more.

 

[nanofreak]

I'm slowly beginning to realize I can't afford it. I hate getting hit or miss carbing in bottles though. Nothing worse.

I dump my sugar water in (once cool) and let it sit for ~30 minutes until the airlock starts to move slowly but I always get hit or miss carbing.

I put my sugar into the bucket first then rack into the bucket with the sugar already there. Never in 3 years have I had a carb issue. I don't even wait after the bottle bucket is full.

 

[HeavyKettleBrewing]

Surely you aren't adding 20oz of sugar?

3/4 cup of corn sugar dissolved in 2 cups of water.

 

[tektonjp]

3/4 cup of corn sugar dissolved in 2 cups of water.

Ah, 4 oz of that at a time. I'm slow.