Critique my Kegerator build eqipment list (please)

[lady_brewer]

So... being totally new to this, and mostly clueless about kegging, I am wondering if I am missing anything from this list (or have anything here I can do without.) We are looking to put this in the living room (with a bar build around it) and for the most part want to do it right, but for as little as possible.

As I am in Canada I am planning on ordering from Ontariobeerkegs.com, since customs charges can often be the same as the price of what one orders in homebrew supplies (or so I have heard) at least this way there are no surprises.

Right now I have an old fridge (Kenmore, with 2 freezers on the left hand side?) and 5 old pepsi kegs (not refurbished.) DH will be looking into getting a CO2 tank through work. Inside dimensions of the fridge are 22x16x55. Will need to be cleaned (serious mold problem) so bleach? Or other suggestions? And would like to paint it (black enamel? Or some sort of appliance paint?)

We are thinking of running 2 taps, with 3 kegs in the fridge and the CO2 on the outside.

List of what is in my cart:

10 sets of Orings $22
12ft 3/16x5/16" beer line $6
18ft 5/16x9/16" gas line $18
4 way gas distributor $45 (only slightly more than the 3 way? so we thought it was worth it?)
Duel gauge regulator $50
5 sets of ball lock disconnects $60
5 cornelious poppets (do I need 10 for 5 kegs?) $15
keg lube $4.50
2 chrome faucets with shank (and handle) $52

Any help is appreciated... not really inclined to pay a bunch, wait for an order and then find out that we missed some small thing.

(Not on the list: hose clamps... DH says he can get them cheaper.)

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, if that 55" starts from a flat 22" x 16" space, you can fit four ball locks on the bottom, have two or even three of those kegs hooked to faucets, and have the height to stack one or two kegs upon the unconnected keg(s).

Anyway...

- for the keg o-rings, check out this thread first. You could be swimming in o-rings for your $22.

- make that 20 feet of beer line. You'll thank me later.

- add stainless steel clamps for all of your tubing connections. If you keep four kegs on gas and serve from two, you'll need around 14 clamps.

- make sure the shank length you order is actually long enough

- A four way manifold but five pairs of quick disconnects? Is that for spare QDs?

- You'd need 10 for five kegs, but why are you ordering poppets? There is no "standard" poppet valve, indeed there's at least a half dozen different poppets used on ball lock designs alone, and so far I'm not a fan of the so-called "universal poppet", certainly not enough to arbitrarily replace all the poppets on my fourteen kegs...

Cheers!

 

[lady_brewer]

How do I know what shank length I need? This one is 4 1/8".

I was told a pair of QD's per keg, but maybe misunderstood and that was keg hooked to gas? Four sounds good to me...

I was told to replace the poppets as part of the reconditioning... but there was debate on it, and part of me would be happy to skip it (unless it means when my stuff gets here it turns out I have no pressure-holding kegs) - still they just came out of a restaurant 3 months ago, so they *should* be okay?

O-Rings - McMaster Carr won't ship to us (DH checked for something else) I will make him check his alternate source for the parts...

 

[day_trippr]

For the quick disconnects: if you're only going to serve from two kegs, you just need two liquid QDs. If you want to be able to carb up to four kegs and use up all four ports on the manifold, you'll want four gas QDs. And double check the amount of gas line to get from the tank outside to the 4-way then to the four QDs.

On the poppets, wait 'til you get the kegs all cleaned and sanitized, o-ringed and on gas. Then you can check each keg carefully for leaks and fix whatever needs fixing. I've actually never had to replace a poppet...

Cheers!

 

[lady_brewer]

How do I know how much line I want for the gas? I have upped both my gas and beer lines to 24 and 20 feet respectively... since that should give me a bit more freedom of where my CO2 tank is placed outside. That would give me 4 feet x 4 from distributor to keg as well as 8ft from CO2 canister to distributor and 10ft to work with for each of my keg to tap lines.

And another QD question - I was looking at ordering these do I also need these?

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

20 feet of 3/16" ID beer line will give two 10 foot runs, which is a good place to start if you want to avoid foamy pours. As for the gas line, four feet from the splitter sounds good, leaving 8 feet to get through the wall to your tank.

You only need those if you buy these.

If you buy these, the tubing connects directly to the stem, so you don't need the barb and swivel nut.

I recommend getting the QDs with the MFL connections and buy barb/swivel nut sets to match. More expensive, but an easier system to maintain over the long haul...

Cheers!