Help Picking a Kegerator

[mortal888]

After some bottling sanitation issues and getting fed up with the process, I've decided to get into kegging. My wife says it has to be something that looks nice in the kitchen, so probably not going to convert something, but for what I'm wanting the prices are looking high.

I think I've narrowed it down to two, would like some input from others before I buy. As I've never even seen a kegerator, I'm flying blind here.

I need two taps, room for two rubber handle soda kegs and ball lock fittings, CO2 tank on the outside for gas efficiency.

I think I've narrowed it down to these two:

Kegco K199SS-2 Dual Faucet Kegerator
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/kegerators/dualkegerator/Kegco_K199SS-2.html

Danby DBF163SS-2 Dual-Faucet Kegerator
http://www.beveragefactory.com/refrigerators/beer/danbyssteel-2.shtml

The Danby is $100 more after shipping. Is it worth the extra money? Is $700 too much to spend on this at all? It seems steep.

Thanks for the help!

 

[BrewerBaj]

Does it have to be in the kitchen? Because I would agree about the looks but it would be much cheaper to make one.

 

[mortal888]

Yeah, unfortunately its either in the kitchen or nothing. Garage isn't big enough.

 

[b-boy]

I love Danby's quality. I can't speak for their kegerators, but I own 2 of their chest freezers. They are much better built than a lot of the other low-end brands on the market.

 

[NorthRiverS]

I got my kegerator from the Beverage Factory and I am extremely pleased with it. Would have liked a digital temp. readout, but.

NRS

 

[slarkin712]

If all things were equal between the two I'd take the Danby just because it holds 3 ball lock kegs, whereas the Kegco only holds 2. That would justify the price difference for me.

 

[StLouBrew]

I was strongly considering the Kegco 199, but ened up going with this one: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...ator/Kegco_K309B-2_dual_faucet_kegerator.html

The main reason is this one has a cooled tower and a little more cooling horsepower overall. The digital temp setting is nice too. In addition, I upgraded to the Perlick faucets and dual regulator. It got a little pricey, but I don't think I'm going to have any regrets for spending the incremental $$.

Cheers

 

[Brewtah]

I was strongly considering the Kegco 199, but ened up going with this one: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...ator/Kegco_K309B-2_dual_faucet_kegerator.html

The main reason is this one has a cooled tower and a little more cooling horsepower overall. The digital temp setting is nice too. In addition, I upgraded to the Perlick faucets and dual regulator. It got a little pricey, but I don't think I'm going to have any regrets for spending the incremental $$.

Cheers

Just bought the same 3 tap. I used it to do a lager since nothing was in it. It is really nice having a wide temp range and digital readings. It should fit 3 kegs. (cornys). I bought it because of reviews and the wide temp control, fan, cooled towers.

 

[StLouBrew]

Just bought the same 3 tap. I used it to do a lager since nothing was in it. It is really nice having a wide temp range and digital readings. It should fit 3 kegs. (cornys). I bought it because of reviews and the wide temp control, fan, cooled towers.

Hey Brewtah... Congrats on the purchase. I'm like a kid with a new toy, but still learning the ropes. A couple of lessons learned so far:

* I wussed out regarding their instructions to not overtighten when attaching the regulator to the tank. Should've done a soap bubble test, but I didn't. Lost about 80% of my first CO2 tank.

* On the digital temp setting - I've found that the actual temp inside the fridge is running about 2-3 degrees F cooler than what it's set too. No big deal.. just need to adjust.

* Just because you force carb, doesn't mean you have drinkable beer. My first batch is a Kolsch. I kegged it right at 4 weeks.. about the same time when I would've bottled. So aftter force carbing the carb level turned out perfect, but the beer clearly needs more time to develop. And I'm thinking now that I have it in the fridge the overall conditioning time might even be longer... I'll have to wait and see.

Cheers

 

[mortal888]

Ok, so I finally got the funds and went with the Danby today. After buying the kegs, upgrading the regulator, and shipping it was $840, I didn't want to breach $900 so I didn't go with the Kegco.

Hope I made the right decision!

 

[StLouBrew]

Ok, so I finally got the funds and went with the Danby today. After buying the kegs, upgrading the regulator, and shipping it was $840, I didn't want to breach $900 so I didn't go with the Kegco.

Hope I made the right decision!

Congrats on making the jump to kegging. One very minor additional investment you might consider is making sure your beer lines are 10 ft. I replaced the standard 5 ft. ones that mine came with and it made a big difference. The line itself is no more than a dollar/foot.