So, I just bought this...

[flushdrew42]

http://grandisland.craigslist.org/app/3025320902.html

it's an older gibson fridge w/ a CO2 bottle, beer and gas lines, tap, and budweiser taphandle...
for $50 bucks. plus the bottle is 1/2 full!

the seller says the fridge works, which is a bonus to me b/c the bottle, lines, tap, and keg connector are worth way more than that.

so. what am i, the never before kegged guy, going to need/buy/do now?

i now know i will need to upgrade my equipment a bit. (i presently brew 1.5gallon batches on my stovetop)

i just this weekend built a brewspace in my garage, i have a fermentation fridge (with temp controller) already built and running.

so, help me find my pitfalls and landmines before i even get started.
like, i know everyone likes cornies, is that the way to go?

Thanks!

Drew

 

[hopsalot]

cornys, ball locks, replace beer line, fill tank, brew larger batches, remove all bud memorabilia

 

[mklojay]

Throw out those old lines and buy new ones, buy some kegs (ball lock preferably) and disconnects, clean the heck outta that tap (pbw), and start brewing.

 

[sctocinci]

You may need to get that co2 bottle certified as safe before anyone will fill it. I believe it's supposed to be inspected every five years.

 

[texasbrewer73]

remove all bud memorabilia

+1

Sell that "vintage" Bud tap handle on ebay. You might make all your money back from some unsuspecting victim...

 

[hopsalot]

$30 on ebay for same tap handle

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Bud...236?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc2975484

It would be wrong to pour homebrew with that thing

 

[flushdrew42]

so, an awesome craigslist find might just end up being super expensive...

ok. questions to be asked.

how many BTU's do i need for a 5 gallon boil? or even a 3? if i do partial boils.
i have a burner that's 11K (from a camp cookstove)
i'm doing BIAB at the moment, so i'll just "upsize" my set up. i have a cooler i could convert for an MLT, but i really like the bag brewing.

new lines, check. ordering them from NB as we speak.
pbw soak on connectors. check.
sell taphandle to make de monays. check.
remove bud propaganda. check.

would a welding supply place be able to certify my tank?

 

[hopsalot]

there shoud be a date on the sticker. Not sure if they will recertify

 

[flushdrew42]

cool. i will check for a date.

the seller is 1hr 15 mins from me. so i will have to pick an evening and go get it.

it will cost almost as much in gas to go get it, as it did to buy it. but even still i feel like it's a steal.

 

[Clann]

Why say "Ball lock Preferably"? Pin locks are darn near identical. Get whatever kegs are readily available. New lines and get to brewing!

 

[Raenon]

Why say "Ball lock Preferably"? Pin locks are darn near identical. Get whatever kegs are readily available. New lines and get to brewing!

When height is not a concern, you can often squeeze in more ball lock kegs in the same space than you can pin locks, simply because they're a bit narrower, and that might mean the difference for that one last keg squeezing into a tight space.
Plus, ball lock kegs typically come with pressure release valves in the lid, whereas many pin-locks do not.
All things being equal, I'd prefer ball lock.

But, if I can get a pin-lock for $20, and a ball lock for $60... I've got a couple of bucks for some new disconnects

 

[flushdrew42]

this response, by the OP, will seem completely noobish and uninformed...
can you get pin locks for $20?

if so. where, and how.
i've found ball locks used for around 44+ship.

if not, i'm a noob and disregard. however, i wonder where y'all are getting your equipment, b/c i have been searching CL here in nebraska quite a while to try to locate any kegs, let alone cheap ones.

 

[hopsalot]

I have never heard of a pin lock for $20, I think he was just making a point

 

[Dgonza9]

this response, by the OP, will seem completely noobish and uninformed...
can you get pin locks for $20?

if so. where, and how.
i've found ball locks used for around 44+ship.

if not, i'm a noob and disregard. however, i wonder where y'all are getting your equipment, b/c i have been searching CL here in nebraska quite a while to try to locate any kegs, let alone cheap ones.

Sometimes you get a hookup, although pin locks are cheaper.

www.cornykeg.com is reasonable. $31.95 for pin. 39.95 for ball lock

 

[Dawnhulio]

It would be wrong to pour homebrew with that thing

Indeed!

 

[krazydave]

I use all pin-lock, but I did get threaded nipples for my hoses and ball-lock adapters so I can use them if I feel like it. At the time, I found a place locally that was selling pin-locks for $25 each, so I bought 4, and then found two more at a swap meet. So I now have 6 pin-lock kegs and recently acquired 2 ball-locks as well for $30 each.

As everyone else said, I would replace the lines (shouldn't be too expensive!), and if that tank is too old, find the local airgas and do a tank swap. Usually when you swap tanks, they don't care what the date is on the old one. It costs a couple more dollars for a swap usually, but still cheaper than getting the tank recertified.

 

[krazydave]

Oh, and get some beer line cleaner and flush the remaining bits thoroughly with it. It does a good job at getting any dried up funk out of the faucet, etc.

 

[dbrewski]

search ebay for corny kegs or soda kegs. Some guy has millions of ball-lock kegs that he's selling for $28 plus shipping. Shipping up to 4 kegs was $40, so you get them under $40. It's about the best I have found but I am in Chicago and estate sales with corny kegs for free don't seem to pop up. Curious. Maybe in 20 years when our kind starts to kick the bucket (oops sorry...morbid!).

 

[flushdrew42]

I am heading to pick it up tomorrow. The seller doesn't know much about it and isn't sure what kind of connectors are on it, but I assume the connection is most likely a rental commercial brew keg, and will need replaced anyway. I will do all necessary cleaning, lets face it, would you drink from a glass that hadn't been washed in 5 years?

I will keep this thread alive with questions I am certain.
Thanks guys. Any additional info is more than welcome!

 

[Raenon]

this response, by the OP, will seem completely noobish and uninformed...
can you get pin locks for $20?

I have never heard of a pin lock for $20, I think he was just making a point

Sorry for the confusion, yes, I was just using what I thought of as an obviously lowball figure to illustrate a point.
If you haunt craigslist though, you will occasionally stumble upon ridiculous bargains, so I highly recommend it, especially since I did pay $60 apiece for my last 6 used ball-locks (not a fantastic deal, but got them from my LHBS, and they're good people)

 

[perogi]

search ebay for corny kegs or soda kegs. Some guy has millions of ball-lock kegs that he's selling for $28 plus shipping.

Cancel that - found them! Thank you for the heads up!!

 

[krazydave]

I am heading to pick it up tomorrow. The seller doesn't know much about it and isn't sure what kind of connectors are on it, but I assume the connection is most likely a rental commercial brew keg, and will need replaced anyway. I will do all necessary cleaning, lets face it, would you drink from a glass that hadn't been washed in 5 years?

I will keep this thread alive with questions I am certain.
Thanks guys. Any additional info is more than welcome!

The photo looks to have a sanke (commercial) keg connector on there. So if you go with a corny setup, you'll need to swap it out. I would hold on to it though, cause you never know when a commercial keg may come your way and you'll need that thing again.

 

[DirtyOldDuck]

Keep watching Craigslist. I found someone selling two "beverage containers," $20 for the complete one and $10 for the one without a lid. They turned out to be ball locks and I paid $20 for the one with a lid and $5 for the one without a lid. A fellow HBT member fixed me up with a lid complete with gasket for basically shipping cost. The deals are out there if you keep looking.

 

[Agentaaron]

Keep watching Craigslist. I found someone selling two "beverage containers," $20 for the complete one and $10 for the one without a lid. They turned out to be ball locks and I paid $20 for the one with a lid and $5 for the one without a lid. A fellow HBT member fixed me up with a lid complete with gasket for basically shipping cost. The deals are out there if you keep looking.

Good score for sure...

Several times a year, I will throw an ad up on CL that I am looking for 5 gal kegs...I have always had really good luck and can usually get them for around 20-25 a piece.

I have all pin locks in my collection, but even if someone has ball locks for sale...I buy them and my local brew supply shop will swap them out at no charge

 

[flushdrew42]

i posted an items wanted in CL just now, so we'll see what happens.

thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[wilserbrewer]

The photo looks to have a sanke (commercial) keg connector on there.

I would also look for some sanke 1/6 or 1/4 kegs for your homebrew since you already have the coupler.

 

[flushdrew42]

just realized one of my ??s got overlooked in the shuffle.

so i'll be upgrading to bigger equipment, and bigger batches, etc.
how "big" of a burner, in BTUs will i need to boil between 3 and 5 gallons?

thanks!

 

[dbrewski]

Go to Amazon, search for Bayou Classic SQ14 or SP10. Either one, about $50, you supply the propane.

 

[flushdrew42]

obviously, that's the easy answer yes.
to be more specific. i have a burner that is 11k BTU's already.
is that enough?

 

[bad67z]

If your upgrading, I would suggest that you look into a pot you can brew 10 gallon batches in.

 

[flushdrew42]

ok.
new burner purchased. (64k BTU bayou)
new SS brew kettle purchased
new fermenters purchased (1 primary 1 secondary)

for the time being, i'm going to BIAB (modified a bit...)

i plan to use my regular cooler (unconverted to a mashtun) as my mash vessel for the bag, heat my strike water, dough in the bag, in the cooler. and mash. i already use this method(pic below), only but i place my 2gal brew kettle inside the cooler, with water around the kettle. so, how different could it be to BIAB inside the cooler, just with the bag in the water? yes, i plan to stir adequately... then, drain wort into my brew kettle with the drain plug.
then, later, i plan to convert the cooler to an MLT.

just need a keg. or 6.

i'm holding off on ordering the beer lines and keg connectors until i know what kind of keg i'm getting. a guy from 90 mi away has a listing for a kegerator w/ 1/6B sanke's but he won't sell them without the $200 kegerator.

 

[flushdrew42]

it's in the garage now. fridge is HEAVY. gets mega cold. the fridge itself will need some mega cleanup, but seems quite solid.

a CL listing from about an hour away provided a potential keg (but it's a 1/4 keg) for $25 bucks.

the taphandle is pretty rusted, but it's just the handle. the faucet is quite shiny. i disassembled the whole setup last night and started a multi step soak scrub clean in PBW.
tank is in really good shape, regulator and valves are all freely moving and show no wear. i think i really did well on this one.

can't wait to put out my first batch!

 

[flushdrew42]

Parts are completely clean as of tonight's cleaning. I need to buy a couple rubber washers, one for the top of the tap handle assembly, and one for the shank beer line nut. No pics tonight but I removed the big Budweiser stickers and one of the bud man ones. The Bud Man stickers are incredibly difficult to remove, very brittle. Like removing old wallpaper.

I plan to paint the whole thing black and use the detail on the freezer door as a red accent. But that is for another day, and most likely a ways out. I think I will keg the batch I have brewing now, just to try it out... Keg comes tomorrow. I will need to clean it and use it to run star san through my gear.
I might need a tutorial or two on using the regulator but I think I can get it.

Man, this hobby is addicting.

 

[flushdrew42]

Here's my keg. It is a 1/4 and while the handle rim is bent, it is in okay shape. I am quite pleased with it for $25!

 

[krazydave]

Sometimes you have to wonder what people do to these kegs to make them look like that. Especially a 1/4bbl keg like that. Given the decrease in weight from a full 1/2bbl keg, you'd think it would take one hell of a drop to bend that stainless that much. Plus, it's on the top of the keg, so did someone drop a full keg on it??

 

[flushdrew42]

i'm betting it fell from a shelf or something like that.

it still has enough beer in it i can hear it swish around inside. (8 mo old bud light, about to go down the drain tonight) but i need to get inside of it. i tried the screwdriver in the slot method, didn't work. i'm going to attempt to drill holes in it, so i can use an O-ring pliers to remove it and replace it each time i refill. any tips?

 

[Zeus1120]

I had to fight to get the keg spear out of the sanke I bought to make my keggle. It's teh suck, but I eventually got it out with a small pick from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-pick-and-hook-set-66836.html

I'd keep trying to get it out w/o drilling, if possible.

 

[flushdrew42]

i'll go pickup a set of those picks tonight.
thanks for the heads up.
is there a specific tool that the distributors use to remove those? or do they fill through a tap type set up?

 

[krazydave]

I use a pick and a smaller tipped flathead screwdriver. Make sure you get whatever pressure is in there out also if you haven't already. Do so by tipping it on it's side and pressing in the steel ball in the middle. Not only is it dangerous as heck to try and pop a spear out of a pressurized keg, but it'll also press against that ring and make it much harder to get out.
Once the pressure is out, push down on the part surrounding the ball to relieve pressure from the ring and see if you can turn the ring so that the end of it is near that little groove on the top. Then you can use that groove to stick your pick\screwdriver in and start popping out the ring.

 

[flushdrew42]

Well, several runs of hot water and cleanser later, the keg no longer smells like someone buried a dead rat in a ham bag in it. Man, 8mo old bud light is nasty!!!

Getting the spring/washer deal back in was an adventure, but after 3x (1 for cleaner, 1 for star San, and 1 for beer) I have gotten pretty good at it. Keg holds pressure, and dispenses nicely. Spear pulls all but about 1/2 a glass out of the keg.

I sanitized and racked a batch of my porter to it, and it's on to carb up now.
Here it is!