Questions about Kegerators

[atcguy]

Finally getting around to building my bar and got the green light from the wife to put in a kegerator (as long as I put in her wine fridge too). Been shopping around and lurking this site to learn as much as I can. However, I still have a few questions. I am looking at the dual tap Kegco 309b or the Edgestar KC3000. I will usually have a combination of homebrew and/or store bought 1/6 barrels.

I am leaning towards the Edgestar because it will hold a third sixlet that could be chilling prior to tapping or a third corny that be carbonating prior to tapping. Here's where the questions come in since I will be new to kegging. How long do I carb the homebrew and can I do it while it chills or leave it room temp? Is it better for the CO2 tank to be in the fridge or mounted on back? If inside, does anyone know if there is enough room for a second regulator for two different pressures?

As for the bar build questions, has anyone installed the tower at a different angle than facing forward? I will potentially be building in the unit into the bar (with proper spacing for ventilation) and installing the tower at a 90 degree angle for faucet access. Also considering installing the tower remotely on a bar top about 5 inches above the unit and 5 inches offset. I will seal this extension and hope it will still be cool enough inside shaft to avoid foam. Any tips on this or am I really going to regret this? Does anyone have dimensions of where the predrilled tower hole is on the surface?

Any help for this noob would be great.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Congrats on moving to kegging. It made brewing even more pleasant for me (not to mention taking up less space in the brew cave)

There are 2 ways to carb. One is set and forget. Set the pressure at the desired serving pressure and leave it alone until it carbs. For me that takes 3 to 4 weeks. The other is burst carbing. Set as 25-30 PSI for 24-48 hours, then burp the keg and reset to serving pressure. The beer is able to absorb more co2 the colder it is, so definitiely carb a chilled keg.

I like easy when it comes to kegging (that's why I made the move in the first place) I set it at the serving pressure and let it ride til it's carbed. For me it's easy, because I have 2 taps and space in my kegerator for 3 kegs. I don't run through a great deal of beer in a month, so I always have 2 kegs serving and one "on deck" carbing up.

When you set up your gas system, I would also recommend you get a dual output regulator and individual shut off valves for each gas line. I have the "serving pressure" regulator plumbed to 2 kegs and the third plumbed to the on deck keg. That means I *could* burst carb, although I never have. Switching serving kegs is as easy as swapping out the beer lines.

 

[atcguy]

Thanks for the input. Got the kegerator the other day and can't wait to get started on the bar. Still going back and forth from serving right from the kegerator and building the bar around it, to mounting the tower onto the bar and using pvc to connect kegerator to underneath bar. Wondering if I need to seal the pvc or if using foam pipe insulation would be enough.

 

[jddevinn]

You will likely need to either actively cool your section separating the bar and the fridge. Cheapest/easiest way I immediately think of is to split the "tube" you build out of PVC or insulation (easier) into two separate paths, one for air up and one for air down. Put the beer lines in the air up side and install a computer fan with either always on or temp based control.

That or pour out the first few ounces of the day from each tap.

 

[Tricerahops220]

New to the forum but I figure I would put my 2 cents in here. I personally bought the same edgestar kegerator you are referring to and love it. The only regret I have with it is, looking back now, I should have just built a keezer because I always have an extra keg sitting in the third spot you refer to, waiting to be tapped. And, then I run out of room to put my cans and bottles (first world problem I know). To answer your questions though,

How long do I carb the homebrew and can I do it while it chills or leave it room temp?

There are so many ways to do this. Force carb (high pressure) for a short period of time or you can just set and forget. There are a lot of keg pressure threads on this site, a quick search will help you a lot more than I ever could.

Is it better for the CO2 tank to be in the fridge or mounted on back?

Doesn't matter really. I have mine on the inside and I always fear of it tipping over and breaking the regulator. I wish mine was mounted on the back but I do like the clean look of it being inside.

If inside, does anyone know if there is enough room for a second regulator for two different pressures?

If your referring to 2 regulators off of one tank, yes you can do this in the Edgestar BUT not while you have that third keg in there. You have to rearrange the two kegs to allow for it, but it can be done.


As for the bar build questions, has anyone installed the tower at a different angle than facing forward? I will potentially be building in the unit into the bar (with proper spacing for ventilation) and installing the tower at a 90 degree angle for faucet access. Also considering installing the tower remotely on a bar top about 5 inches above the unit and 5 inches offset. I will seal this extension and hope it will still be cool enough inside shaft to avoid foam. Any tips on this or am I really going to regret this? Does anyone have dimensions of where the predrilled tower hole is on the surface?

I wouldn't think the 10" of exposed lines would really affect the beer but I could be wrong. I wouldn't spray foam in the tower though just in case you have to replace a line. Maybe try the temporary copper pipe insulation (the black foam) and see how that goes.

One additional not I will leave you with is, I hope your house has AC where the unit goes. The condensate on the compressor drips a lot into a little bowl in the back and overflows fairly easily.

 

[jddevinn]

New to the forum but I figure I would put my 2 cents in here. I personally bought the same edgestar kegerator you are referring to and love it. The only regret I have with it is, looking back now, I should have just built a keezer because I always have an extra keg sitting in the third spot you refer to, waiting to be tapped. And, then I run out of room to put my cans and bottles (first world problem I know). To answer your questions though,

How long do I carb the homebrew and can I do it while it chills or leave it room temp?

There are so many ways to do this. Force carb (high pressure) for a short period of time or you can just set and forget. There are a lot of keg pressure threads on this site, a quick search will help you a lot more than I ever could.

Is it better for the CO2 tank to be in the fridge or mounted on back?

Doesn't matter really. I have mine on the inside and I always fear of it tipping over and breaking the regulator. I wish mine was mounted on the back but I do like the clean look of it being inside.

If inside, does anyone know if there is enough room for a second regulator for two different pressures?

If your referring to 2 regulators off of one tank, yes you can do this in the Edgestar BUT not while you have that third keg in there. You have to rearrange the two kegs to allow for it, but it can be done.


As for the bar build questions, has anyone installed the tower at a different angle than facing forward? I will potentially be building in the unit into the bar (with proper spacing for ventilation) and installing the tower at a 90 degree angle for faucet access. Also considering installing the tower remotely on a bar top about 5 inches above the unit and 5 inches offset. I will seal this extension and hope it will still be cool enough inside shaft to avoid foam. Any tips on this or am I really going to regret this? Does anyone have dimensions of where the predrilled tower hole is on the surface?

I wouldn't think the 10" of exposed lines would really affect the beer but I could be wrong. I wouldn't spray foam in the tower though just in case you have to replace a line. Maybe try the temporary copper pipe insulation (the black foam) and see how that goes.

One additional not I will leave you with is, I hope your house has AC where the unit goes. The condensate on the compressor drips a lot into a little bowl in the back and overflows fairly easily.

I have about 1' of lines outside of my keezer into a tower with about a 1' manifold in either direction. The manifold is hooked to a coolant line in the fridge that recirculates in a closed loop with a 3 gal bucket of water and fountain pump hooked to a temp controller. If I turn off the coolant supply after a couple hours the first few ounces will be warm and if the tower happens to be in the sun, warm enough that their is enough head on the first beer that it has to sit a couple minutes to settle.

 

[MeanLowerLow]

So I just got the K309 3 tap from Kegco... a few things to note is that it does fit 3 cornies, comfortably, a 5 lb co2, dual gauge regulator and co2 manifold. In addition, there is a plugged whole to run a c02 line to the rear and it comes with a bracket for a 5lb tank in case you want it externally mounted. So I installed a second tank and regulator in the back which I use for my hefe. I also am pretty certain I can get a small nitro/beer gas tank inside as well which my wife wants for the stouts/porters.

Congrats on moving to kegging, I am also a kegging newb but loving it so far!

 

[atcguy]

I was attempting to hook up my regulator last night. Kegerator came with a single stage taprite. Went to LHBS to pick up a secondary and a gauge to show tank capacity. Problem: one regulator is reverse threaded so I cannot hook the two together. Whatever happened to righty tighty, lefty loosey? Did I get the wrong regulator or is it a defect? Or just need a different coupling?

I am thinking I may take it back to LHBS and maybe swap it out for a 2 way distributor so I still have a little flexibility of running 2 different pressures, but I would rather have a hook up that is easier to work with. Plus I think I read on a thread somewhere that having dual stage regulators inside the fridge eliminates to room for a 3rd corny.