Better deal to buy a kegging equipment kit or piece meal?

[Contradiction]

Hi everyone,

So I'm getting ready to make the leap into building my first keezer and starting to keg for the first time.

A friend of mine in the local home brew club has offered some useful parts (3 line manifold, shanks) to me for sale that he no longer needs and it's prompting a bigger question in my mind.

I learned the hard way with buying my brewing equipment that piece meal wasn't a very smart way to go. I bought a handful of things off of a friend and in the end I spent more filling in the gaps in equipment that I needed then I would have buying a full “Deluxe” starter kit with carboys, etc.

Am I going to legitimately save money by going with an all inclusive kit from companies like Keg Connection, Adventures in Home Brewing, etc. or by piecing it together?

Has anyone priced it out to see if there really is a true discount for ordering a kit vs. selecting individual components?

If I were going to buy a full on kit can anyone recommend a particular supplier? Especially one that will let me customize the kit a bit (ex. Add a manifold, or extra beer lines, etc)?

For clarification sake I am planning on buying used 5 gallon ball lock kegs and finding my own 5# Co2 tank. I do not plan on ordering either new with a kit.

 

[cilestiok]

I think first you'd have to decide what you want. There's different kinds of beer lines, faucets, regulators, etc. and a kit is only an option if it includes the items you want. Same goes for equipment too. Some people buy kits, but if you don't like the items in the kit then you have to piece things together.

Maybe list the items you want? And link these kits you're looking at so we can help you decide what products are worthwhile or not.

 

[Bobby_M]

The biggest cost differential is going to be in the shanks and faucets. IMHO, gotta go stainless shanks and Perlick 630ss if you want the long term buy once option.

 

[Contradiction]

I think first you'd have to decide what you want. There's different kinds of beer lines, faucets, regulators, etc. and a kit is only an option if it includes the items you want. Same goes for equipment too. Some people buy kits, but if you don't like the items in the kit then you have to piece things together.

Maybe list the items you want? And link these kits you're looking at so we can help you decide what products are worthwhile or not.

Good point.

At this point I'm still researching things and I can't say that I have a formal opinion on everything yet but I'll try and break it down for what I'd like to do if I don't have a preference.

Taps: 3 taps, leaning towards Stainless Perlicks and stainless shanks

Regulator: Dual Gauge

Manifold: 3 way Manifold

Beer lines: ???? Can anyone tell me more about the different types available and pros and cons?

Co2 tank: 5 lb

Controller: May go Johnson Controls Dual Temp, need to research more if an STC-1000 is easier to setup fans etc. instead.

Freezer Used: Danby 5.5 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer DCF055A1WDB1

 

[lumpher]

another thing to consider is the length of time it takes to piece it together. if you're willing to wait and take a little time finding stuff, you can save some real money by buying used. i pieced mine together over the course of a couple months.

beer lines: try to go at least 6'. 8' is better. get food-grade lines. lhbs's and online stores have them

controllers: look at the inkbird 308 or, even better, the new 310

 

[blizz81]

If you're willing to wait around for a while, you might be able to get the best of both worlds - a used but mostly complete system that's close to what you're looking for. I had Craigslist alerts set up to my email for a while. Got a hit and bought three cornies from someone locally, and he happened to have more or less a new system that he'd assembled for a 3-keg kegerator and decided he didn't want to go forward with using it. Got pretty much everything beer-side and gas-side incl 2 Perlick 425s (and one more generic faucet) and a pre-wired Ranco for $150.


For beer lines, I did end up replacing the standard vinyl with Bev Seal ( http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/accuflex-bev-seal-ultra-barrier-tubing-3-16-id-50ft-free-shipping/ ), as I don't pull from taps every day and didn't want to worry about staling the beer sitting in the line.


I'd say in general, buying a complete, new system in kegging seemed awfully pricey. I didn't look too much into it as my preferences were:
1) Find a "used" system
2) Find used parts and assemble
3) Buy new parts and assemble
4) Buy a complete system

 

[Contradiction]

Yeah one thing I thought about is "building as I go" instead of the sticker shock of buying all 3 Perlicks, etc. all at once. I'm tempted to just buy what I need to get it up and running with at least one tap, and expand with the other parts I need later.

Here's one dumb question, if I bought a kit like the link below could I change out the party tap off of the beer lines easily?

http://www.homebrewing.org/Homebrew-Kegging-Kit-BALL-LOCK-with-3-Way-Manifold-no-kegs_p_4473.html

Is that usually just a barb fitting on the end of those?

If the party taps are cheap enough to justify the cost savings of buying all of the lines at once I could see doing that.

 

[lumpher]

i'm probably going to catch flak for this, but you don't have to go perlick faucets. i've had 3 standard off-the-shelf taps, and they don't drip, don't leak, seal just fine, and i've used them for 6+ years. maybe i've just been lucky, but they cost $25 instead of $50 each, and i don't regret it

 

[cilestiok]

i'm probably going to catch flak for this, but you don't have to go perlick faucets. i've had 3 standard off-the-shelf taps, and they don't drip, don't leak, seal just fine, and i've used them for 6+ years. maybe i've just been lucky, but they cost $25 instead of $50 each, and i don't regret it

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

All my cheap ones either stuck shut or dripped. Needless to say they were quickly replaced. That does not mean that is always the case, but they are commonly problematic. You're right though, there is a chance of getting perfect ones.

 

[Contradiction]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

All my cheap ones either stuck shut or dripped. Needless to say they were quickly replaced. That does not mean that is always the case, but they are commonly problematic. You're right though, there is a chance of getting perfect ones.

Yeah, I've read enough bad things about generic ones sticking to make me decide to go with Perlicks instead.

If I can't afford to order all 3 off the bat I may just get the rest of the parts I need and space out ordering the rest. I don't have any kegged beer to fill it with right now anyway.

 

[Bobby_M]

A pair of stainless shanks with 630SS faucets would be about the same cost as three brass shanks with economy chrome faucets. I agree with holding off on the third if budget is a concern. I chose to sell EJ Ultra Barrier tubing for beverage lines as it's easy to work with, has good interior barrier properties with no pvc for plastic flavor, and it's not too expensive.

I put together a partial kit to get you from the faucet all the way back to the keg. https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/kegbeveragesidekitss.htm

 

[cilestiok]

I'm going to go out of my way to say that if you appreciate good customer service, you'll trust bobby. I drive way out of my way (an hour and a half drive) to pick my parts up from bobby because he has an excellent selection of parts and the best customer service of any brew parts provider I've had the pleasure of doing business with. Super friendly, extremely knowledgable and always willing to help you decide the best parts for your needs. I wouldn't deal with any other online parts source.

 

[The_Bishop]

Bobby, how does that barrier tubing rate compared to the bev-seal ultra? The sample in the shop seemed more flexible. Still need extra length compared to 'standard' vinyl beer lines?

 

[ericwilson9]

I would side towards a kit from kegconnections. They can give you a lot of options and they also allow you to remove things from the kit and thus lower the price.

I just finished my keezer build about a month ago and I bought quite a few different parts from various websites to save money (ex. I bought perlick 650ss that happened to be on sale for $40 a piece). So, you can easily buy the used shanks, regulator, taps, etc. and still customize one of their kits to pick up the other items that you are missing.

Also I would definitely consider a itc-1000 build (it's the same wiring scheme as the stc-1000 but it can output degrees in Fahrenheit). Wiring it is a piece of cake and it ended up costing me around $40 (because I wanted it in a nice box). Here's a good thread to help https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=333680

 

[spank13]

I'm 90% done with my keezer build. Started with 3 lines from keg connection. Great customer service, really easy to use website. Built the collar myself to use with a craigslist chest freezer and an inkbird. I'm adding two more lines with stuff from brewinternational, because now that I have the base I have a solid understanding of the components I need for expansion to 5 lines and their pricing was better (but not too dramatically so.) Hope that helps.

 

[mjpeisher]

Skip the temperature controller. It is entirely unnecessary. That will free up money for other things.

 

[mjpeisher]

This time with the link.

Coarse Temp Adjustment Guide