Good Karma!

[Reno_eNVy]

So a couple amazing things happened in the last two days (Sorry for the incredibly long post!)

Finally, after being patient and waiting all year until my birthday to get a kegging system, I put in my order at kegconnection and everything should be in on Tuesday. We even have two batches to get started on! Here's what we got, $215 including shipping:

Then, today a friend called and said a buddy of his is moving and getting rid of his kegerator, CO2 tank and keg shell. So naturally I jumped right on it. I'm so incredibly happy I can't contain myself... I took a break from studying for my Behavioral Ecology exam to post this ^_^ Here are the goods:

Yeah, the guy was into stickers...

A lot cleaner than we were expecting

Yay insulation

Tap-rite faucet and Perlick sanke adapted for the kegerator

CO2 tank and keg shell

So I have a few questions:

1) There's already a hole drilled in order to keep the CO2 tank outside. Is it possible to send one gas line inside and have the dual regulators inside so I don't have to drill a second hole?

2) The shank didn't have a nut or anything to keep the shank/faucet solid in the door. Would Home Depot have the part or should I bank on LHBS?

3) There are far too many stickers, mostly companies I don't recognize. What is a cheap and easy way of removing or covering them? We were thinking vinyl sticker sheet but that may be too expensive

4) The keg shell is roughly 1/2 full. How do I get that (most likely) incredibly stale BMC out of there? That will likely be my new kettle!

Whew, okay. If you made it all the way through, thank you for your advice in advance.

 

[Domminigan]

1. I believe the raw gas pressure is far too high for the regular gas line to carry the pressure without bursting. I am sure there are hard line options (Such as SS tubing) but I am unsure of where you would get the proper attachments to make it safe. Drilling a second hole is probably your best bet.

3. A simple hair dryer would work well for that. Set it on high and go back and forth over the stickers you don't want and it will heat up the glue and you should be able to peel them right off. Goo Gone or Goof Off will take care of any sticky residue.

4. Go outside with the keg, and stick a flathead screwdriver in between the ball and the top so as to depress the ball. Avoid getting a nasty beer shower as best as possible. With a ¼ left, you might be able to tilt it on it's side and get mostly gas. Take a 1/8 inch screwdriver and remove the retaining ring. Then rotate the spear and pull it out. Once the retaining ring is out the spear comes out really easily.

There are lots of posts that better describe the Sankey spear removal process.

 

[camiller]

1. I believe the raw gas pressure is far too high for the regular gas line to carry the pressure without bursting. I am sure there are hard line options (Such as SS tubing) but I am unsure of where you would get the proper attachments to make it safe. Drilling a second hole is probably your best bet.

If he is running from the old single regulator that came with the fridge and wants to mount the dual inside it should work. Just need to remove the CO2 tank connector from the dual reg and replace it with an appropriate fitting like a hose barb. Alternativly, you can get a high pressure hose that can withstand tank pressure but they are kind of spendy. If seen them used to fill a small tank(5#) off a large(50#) tank. Granted you don't get the full 5# in the 5# tank but in a pinch it would work.

 

[samc]

E clips from an auto parts store could hold the shank in place. http://automotivefasteners.thomasne...ings-and-e-clips/retaining-e-clips?&forward=1

take it with you to see if it fits. Don't know if HD would have them.

If you don't take a beer shower from the keg then you can never be a real keggle brewer.

 

[shortyjacobs]

This allows you to keep the gas outside and the reg inside:
http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=291

2: Dunno
3: hair dryer and a credit card to scrape the stickers
4: You have the sanke coupler. Hook a piece of hose onto it and tap the keg. dump the beer.

You're lucky, I didn't have the sanke coupler, so I had to use a hammer, screwdriver, and take a 1 year old Icehouse shower.

 

[boogyman]

That CO2 tank looks like a deposit tank. A lot of shops won't exchange/refill/recertify those (don't ask me how I know)... You might want to ask where they got it from to save you some hassle.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Thanks everybody!

shortyjacobs, wow I'm stupid. I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks for textually slapping me staight!

But good news is LHBS had the parts I needed for the shank. In regards to the CO2 tank, it actually is about half-full (HOORAY!) and the regulator is functional enough to be able to keep the tank outside and have the dual reg inside.

Almost everything has had a good oxyclean bath and the interior cleaning of the fridge is underway. My package should come in Tuesday! We have an incredibly hoppy IPA that's just about ready to keg and we just brewed an amazing tasting punkin' ale last night. STOKED! :rockin:

 

[Reno_eNVy]

So everything got cleaned up over the weekend. I also had been studying my patootie off for a cell biology exam today and feeling really tired, so coming home from the exam this afternoon to meet the UPS guy at the door was SUCH a nice pick-me-up.

The IPA is officially our first kegged batch. I set it to 30 PSI and rolled it (like I've seen and read about... okay, obsessed over about before the kit came in) but only for about 10 minutes. I then hooked it up to beer line and set it back to serving PSI (after purging, of course.) Wasn't quite carbonated properly but still delicious nonetheless.

It's now back at ~30 PSI and will sit like that to get better carbonation. I was thinking 12 hours considering I already did the rolling technique.

On a side note, even though the CO2 tank we got for free is pretty big (15-20# probably) SWMBO and I agreed that it would just look so much better to associate the kegs with a nice and shiny new tank. Gonna fill that bad boy up as soon as possible.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

So letting it sit at 30 PSI for 12 hours (and then 8 hours on 12 PSI while I was at work) wasn't quite enough. Bumped it back up to 30 for another six hours or so and it's damn near perfect. I love how easy this is!