Beernik
Well-Known Member
I need some advice on building a kegging system from scratch. 3.5 years ago we moved from SLC to Lopez Island, WA, for my work, so we could live near the ocean, and because we all were tired of the cold & snow.
We downsized from a 2000 sf house and my wife’s 1000 sf shop to a 1000 sf condo. Because of the size reduction, I gave away all my bottles with the plan of transitioning to kegs after the move.
The size reduction ended up being harder than anticipated, living on the island was more expensive than anticipated, but the main thing was my time lost to ferries was much greater than expected. When you live on one island and work on another, your life revolves around the ferry schedule and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.
Last year, I took a job on the mainland. It was a sizable pay bump and now we are making the move to another island, but it’s connected to the mainland by a bridge. This way, we can still enjoy living on an island but I can stop giving 2 to 4 hours of my life to the ferryman every workday.
The new house is twice as big as our condo plus a 2 car garage. The garage will become my wife’s shop and I’ll get a corner of it for brewing.
Some of the proceeds from selling the condo are going into buying new appliances for the house and this includes finally getting a kegging system.
Here’s the question: if you were starting over and could build the setup you want, how would you do it? I’d like to do something nice and do it right the first time. I don’t want to piecemeal something together over years like I did with my brewing & fermenting equipment.
I don’t brew more than 8 gallons or back-to-back 5 gallon batches at a time. So I’m thinking a 2 keg system with the ability to expand to 3 is what I’m looking for. The 3rd keg would be for rotational purposes or soda water.
We downsized from a 2000 sf house and my wife’s 1000 sf shop to a 1000 sf condo. Because of the size reduction, I gave away all my bottles with the plan of transitioning to kegs after the move.
The size reduction ended up being harder than anticipated, living on the island was more expensive than anticipated, but the main thing was my time lost to ferries was much greater than expected. When you live on one island and work on another, your life revolves around the ferry schedule and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.
Last year, I took a job on the mainland. It was a sizable pay bump and now we are making the move to another island, but it’s connected to the mainland by a bridge. This way, we can still enjoy living on an island but I can stop giving 2 to 4 hours of my life to the ferryman every workday.
The new house is twice as big as our condo plus a 2 car garage. The garage will become my wife’s shop and I’ll get a corner of it for brewing.
Some of the proceeds from selling the condo are going into buying new appliances for the house and this includes finally getting a kegging system.
Here’s the question: if you were starting over and could build the setup you want, how would you do it? I’d like to do something nice and do it right the first time. I don’t want to piecemeal something together over years like I did with my brewing & fermenting equipment.
I don’t brew more than 8 gallons or back-to-back 5 gallon batches at a time. So I’m thinking a 2 keg system with the ability to expand to 3 is what I’m looking for. The 3rd keg would be for rotational purposes or soda water.