Bye Bye Bottles...

[StLouBrew]

I just pulled the trigger on a Kegco K309B-2 Dual Faucet Digital Kegerator.
I've got a Saison and Kolsch on deck that should be about ready by the time this thing is delivered, I get my Corny kegs and get set up.

Like so many other aspects of home brewing, and in the words of Tom Petty.. "The waiting is the hardest part."

 

[Brewtah]

I just got the same kegerator 3 tap. Looking forward to learning kegging. Just brewed so I have to wait to use it. I have had 3 infections I am still trying to figure out. Hoping this helps. May switch to glass carboys.

 

[Ramitt]

Kegging has made brewing so much more enjoyable and my beer tastes better.

 

[cluckk]

Don't throw out your bottles. Likely, you will find a reason to bottle some of your beers. I've been kegging for over a year and still bottle quite a few things.

 

[passedpawn]

A few words of advice (that will probably be ignored, as I would have, but eventually you will appreciate).

• Don't bother with trying to force carb quickly at high pressures. You will end up with foamy messes. It takes nearly a weak to do it the slow way, but it's perfect every time.
• Bottling is easy if you use a carbonator cap on a 2L plastic bottle. If you only want to bottle 5 or 6, it's the way to go. Carb in the 2L, then pour into bottles and cap.
• Get a bunch of extra rubber seals and poppets. And keg lube. If you even suspect an issue, replace. It beats losing a full keg of beer or a full tank of gas.

 

[StLouBrew]

Don't throw out your bottles. Likely, you will find a reason to bottle some of your beers. I've been kegging for over a year and still bottle quite a few things.

I have over 100 Grolsch swing top bottles. I may give some to a good friend of mine, but I'm going to hang on to at least 40 so if I ever want to bottle a batch, I'll be able to. I'm very excited about kegging, but there's also something very cool about popping open those swing tops that I'd miss if I don't bottle a batch every now and then.

Cheers

 

[StLouBrew]

A few words of advice (that will probably be ignored, as I would have, but eventually you will appreciate).

• Don't bother with trying to force carb quickly at high pressures. You will end up with foamy messes. It takes nearly a weak to do it the slow way, but it's perfect every time.
• Bottling is easy if you use a carbonator cap on a 2L plastic bottle. If you only want to bottle 5 or 6, it's the way to go. Carb in the 2L, then pour into bottles and cap.
• Get a bunch of extra rubber seals and poppets. And keg lube. If you even suspect an issue, replace. It beats losing a full keg of beer or a full tank of gas.

I just got two corny kegs and took unscrewed the poppets and the seals look to be far past their prime. Definitely going to take care of that!

Also, I certainly would have definitely done the high pressure force carb. Given your advice, I'm going to do my best to resist the temptation of immediate gratification (something I'm not great at... ) and let it go for a week under lower pressure.

Thanks again... Cheers

 

[solbes]

I would probably keep those swing top bottles. There are a few styles that just work better with bottles. Any big beer that has high ABV and benefits from aging, most belgians for the same reason, and lambics/wild ales. I have kegs and I still bottle 1/3 to 1/2 of my batches because I don't want to tie up a keg for a year as I slowly consume a batch.

 

[Hello]

A few words of advice (that will probably be ignored, as I would have, but eventually you will appreciate).

• Don't bother with trying to force carb quickly at high pressures. You will end up with foamy messes. It takes nearly a weak to do it the slow way, but it's perfect every time.
• Bottling is easy if you use a carbonator cap on a 2L plastic bottle. If you only want to bottle 5 or 6, it's the way to go. Carb in the 2L, then pour into bottles and cap.
• Get a bunch of extra rubber seals and poppets. And keg lube. If you even suspect an issue, replace. It beats losing a full keg of beer or a full tank of gas.

Just want to weigh in on this great advice. I didn't know about the 2L bottle idea. I would be worried about oxygenation though but given your experience, I assume if done right that isn't a big issue.

OP I envy your keg setup! I really want to keg my beer. My plan was to bottle some of the bigger brews that I do or bottle a gallon and pour the rest in the keg. I bought a 2 gallon bucket with a spigot to rack a gallon into that and the rest into the keg when I do keg.

 

[Stauffbier]

bottle a gallon and pour the rest in the keg..

This is what I do. That way I can still share and trade homebrew while still enjoying the benefits of kegging at home.

 

[SPR-GRN]

Kegging is the best investment I've made to date; it's soo much nicer to have beer on tap instead of in bottles.

also to echo the suggestions above: don't do the quick prime method - it's better to set it and forget it, not to mention if you've got multiple kegs going you don't have to screw with your serving pressure every time you rack in a new keg.

I still bottle occasionally, like if I do a 6 gal batch I'll bottle a twelve pack, but that's all; I did keep enough bottles to do 10 gallons, but haven't really used them since I started kegging.

 

[orj]

Buy a backup co2 bottle! You will always run out of gas at night or on a day when everything's closed.

 

[beersk]

I have over 100 Grolsch swing top bottles. I may give some to a good friend of mine, but I'm going to hang on to at least 40 so if I ever want to bottle a batch, I'll be able to. I'm very excited about kegging, but there's also something very cool about popping open those swing tops that I'd miss if I don't bottle a batch every now and then.

Cheers

Absolutely. This is one thing I miss about bottling. I get my bottling opening fix often enough with commercial beers, so it's no big deal. Kegging is so much less stress, but don't be fooled into thinking it saves a TON of time. It really doesn't with cleaning lines, purging kegs, etc. The beer gets into its final package quicker, yes, but overall, there isn't really that much time savings, in my opinion.

 

[hmmmbeer]

I just got the same kegerator 3 tap. Looking forward to learning kegging. Just brewed so I have to wait to use it. I have had 3 infections I am still trying to figure out. Hoping this helps. May switch to glass carboys.

I've been using glass carboys for a few years now and have recently decided to switch to a 10-15 gal plastic fermentation chamber as I just had my 6gal glass carboy break full of my sweet nectar all over the driveway! Plastic is lighter and wont blow out... just a thought.

 

[Thundernick]

Would you mind giving me a review of the kegerator you bought? If you use ball lock kegs, I'm going to guess you have to use the "Select Ball Lock Home Brew Keg Tap" option right?

Is this option worth it? Upgrade to 2 Product Premium Pro Series Double Gauge Regulator w/ Two Product Out +$15.00. What benefit does it provide?

Which draft tower is the best?

Whats the Optional Beer Y Splitter Fitting?

Sorry I'm the opposite of a handy man. I work in IT

Just trying to figure out what all this stuff is for.

Here's the one I'm looking at: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...tor/Kegco_K309SS-2_dual_faucet_kegerator.html

Thanks!

 

[danorocks17]

A few words of advice (that will probably be ignored, as I would have, but eventually you will appreciate).

• Don't bother with trying to force carb quickly at high pressures. You will end up with foamy messes. It takes nearly a weak to do it the slow way, but it's perfect every time.
• Bottling is easy if you use a carbonator cap on a 2L plastic bottle. If you only want to bottle 5 or 6, it's the way to go. Carb in the 2L, then pour into bottles and cap.
• Get a bunch of extra rubber seals and poppets. And keg lube. If you even suspect an issue, replace. It beats losing a full keg of beer or a full tank of gas.

Can't speak in regards to #2 but 1 and 3 definitely!

 

[StLouBrew]

Would you mind giving me a review of the kegerator you bought? If you use ball lock kegs, I'm going to guess you have to use the "Select Ball Lock Home Brew Keg Tap" option right?

Is this option worth it? Upgrade to 2 Product Premium Pro Series Double Gauge Regulator w/ Two Product Out +$15.00. What benefit does it provide?

Which draft tower is the best?

Whats the Optional Beer Y Splitter Fitting?

Sorry I'm the opposite of a handy man. I work in IT

Just trying to figure out what all this stuff is for.

Here's the one I'm looking at: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...tor/Kegco_K309SS-2_dual_faucet_kegerator.html

Thanks!

First, let me preface all this by saying that I'm brand new to this too and I'm waiting for my unit to be shipped. With that in mind, here's the info that I think may be useful too you.

I went with the ball lock instead of the pin lock options because there are more ball lock corny kegs floating around out there. But.. They're beginning to get scarce. The place I bought them from had 6 the morning I called and I got the last 2 when I rolled into the store just after noon on the same day. Because of supply/demand he recently raised his priced by $7/keg.

I did get the double gage regulator upgrade. This allows you to know the both the pressure in your CO2 tank as well as in your beer keg.

I also got the rather $ignificant upgrade to the Perlick faucet. I did this based on research on this site and others.

One last bit of advice. Call Beverage Factory's 800 number and let them help walk you through the order. That's where I ordered mine. I had a bunch of questions when I was getting ready to buy mine and the gal on the phone knew her stuff and was very helpful.

I hope that helps.

Cheers!

 

[Brewtah]

So far I like the kegerator, but don't have any beer ready yet. I got the ball lock couplers and one system D coupler. I also upgraded to the perlicks, stainless tower. Also got the dual gauge regulator. Ball lock corney's were not hard to find here.

 

[Thundernick]

Another question, if someone bought a kegerator from beverage factory.. could they reuse parts like the CO2 regulator in a homemade keezer if they wanted to scale up?