ezzieyguywuf
Well-Known Member
Hey homebrewtalk.com . I'm a first-time poster, short-time reader, but am very enthusiastic about building a kegerator. I found a Black and Decker mini fridge on Craigslist for $35 that I will be using. I had the lady measure the inside for me, and the measured the height at ~29'' and the width at ~12''. It has one of those ice things in the corner, but I'm hoping to take that out.
First question, is this the proper forum to be posting this in? I saw the sticky "show us your kegerator" in here, so I figured it was the right place to go.
Second question, to those of you with (vastly) more experience than me making/talking about kegerators: do you think this fridge will be too tight of a fit for a 1/6 barrell commercial keg? My whole excitement about building this thing is that my favourite beer, which is brewed locally, is no longer being sold in six-packs since another one of their brews won an award, so instead of buying it in growlers (which don't stay fresh very long), I'd like to buy a 1/6 barrell keg of it and be set for a few months. I do want to try and put the CO2 tank inside the fridge with the keg, so I'll be going with a 2.5 lb tank, as these look to me to be just the right size, and (from what I've read), will provide enough juice for about 7 of these kegs. From what I've seen, I can expect to spend ~$50 here for an empty tank. If I can find one for $30, or even less, that'd be great.
Anything blaringly wrong so far?
My next question is in regards to the hardware needed to complete this build. I am on somewhat of a tight budget here, so I'd like to know where I might be ok going second-hand/obscure-website-that-has-very-cheap-stuff (haven't found one yet), and where I absolutely must not sacrifice quality. For example, I'm rather certain that the CO2 regulator needs to be of good quality, to prevent leaks and to keep the beer at just the right pressure. But do I have to buy a 'CO2' regulator, from a home brewing store/site? Will it potentially be cheaper to go to some welding supply store and buy a generic 'gas' regulator? Will this still accompish what I need? My research shows me dishing out about $80 for one of these, but maybe there are better, cheaper options that I havent found? Again, I defer to the board's experience here.
Also, what about the keg tap? I'll be going with a low-profile one more than likely, but why are they all similarly priced to the non-low-profile? I would expect to have to pay a premium for space-savings. Is there a loss in quality, or reliability going the low-profile route? The taps I've seen are in the $50 range, but again, cheaper is better.
And then there is the spout. The one's I've seen are in the $40 range, but this seems rather high to me for such a simple piece of hardware. Thoughts?
Finally, what types of tubing will I need for interconnecing the tank to the keg and the keg to the spout? 12-14psi is a respectable amount of pressure, so I'd imagine certain considerations need to be made here.
So, any advice you guys can give me is greatly appreciated. I'm not afraid of working with my hands or getting dirty, and I'm also confortable taking things apart and fixing them (if its feasible), so if there are any do-it-yourself hacks/mods that can potentially make this cheaper, I'm all ears.
Thanks!
Wolfgang
First question, is this the proper forum to be posting this in? I saw the sticky "show us your kegerator" in here, so I figured it was the right place to go.
Second question, to those of you with (vastly) more experience than me making/talking about kegerators: do you think this fridge will be too tight of a fit for a 1/6 barrell commercial keg? My whole excitement about building this thing is that my favourite beer, which is brewed locally, is no longer being sold in six-packs since another one of their brews won an award, so instead of buying it in growlers (which don't stay fresh very long), I'd like to buy a 1/6 barrell keg of it and be set for a few months. I do want to try and put the CO2 tank inside the fridge with the keg, so I'll be going with a 2.5 lb tank, as these look to me to be just the right size, and (from what I've read), will provide enough juice for about 7 of these kegs. From what I've seen, I can expect to spend ~$50 here for an empty tank. If I can find one for $30, or even less, that'd be great.
Anything blaringly wrong so far?
My next question is in regards to the hardware needed to complete this build. I am on somewhat of a tight budget here, so I'd like to know where I might be ok going second-hand/obscure-website-that-has-very-cheap-stuff (haven't found one yet), and where I absolutely must not sacrifice quality. For example, I'm rather certain that the CO2 regulator needs to be of good quality, to prevent leaks and to keep the beer at just the right pressure. But do I have to buy a 'CO2' regulator, from a home brewing store/site? Will it potentially be cheaper to go to some welding supply store and buy a generic 'gas' regulator? Will this still accompish what I need? My research shows me dishing out about $80 for one of these, but maybe there are better, cheaper options that I havent found? Again, I defer to the board's experience here.
Also, what about the keg tap? I'll be going with a low-profile one more than likely, but why are they all similarly priced to the non-low-profile? I would expect to have to pay a premium for space-savings. Is there a loss in quality, or reliability going the low-profile route? The taps I've seen are in the $50 range, but again, cheaper is better.
And then there is the spout. The one's I've seen are in the $40 range, but this seems rather high to me for such a simple piece of hardware. Thoughts?
Finally, what types of tubing will I need for interconnecing the tank to the keg and the keg to the spout? 12-14psi is a respectable amount of pressure, so I'd imagine certain considerations need to be made here.
So, any advice you guys can give me is greatly appreciated. I'm not afraid of working with my hands or getting dirty, and I'm also confortable taking things apart and fixing them (if its feasible), so if there are any do-it-yourself hacks/mods that can potentially make this cheaper, I'm all ears.
Thanks!
Wolfgang