Home Beer Dispensers

[Gonz]

Well, I finally broke down and got my undercounter keg fridge. I only got the single tap model, however I may get an upgrade kit once I get a feel for how often we actually use this thing. And of course we picked up a 1/4 barrel of Summit Extra Pale Ale. It's just so much easier to pour a beer into a nice cold pint glass than it is to pry those damn caps off :sign:


And if you do the math, a 1/4 barrel serves up around 100+ 12oz beers, which in the case of Summit EPA would run over $100. And the keg is about $65 so after about 10 or so kegs we'll have this thing paid for!


Anyone else have one of these?

 

[AVB]

Will you drink 100+ beers before the keg turns?

 

[Hillbilly Steaks]

beer on tap leads to way more beer drinking.

It sure is nice though.

 

[Gonz]

Will you drink 100+ beers before the keg turns?

[snapback]289655[/snapback]​

We should. Under pressure with CO2 the keg should last several months, and doing the math using the rate at which we go through a 12 pack (easily one/week) we should have no problem. I've heard of kegs properly refridgerated and under pressure (CO2 is the key, O2 will cause it to bad in days) lasting 4 months or longer.

 

[Mr Peat]

I have a kegerator Gonz but its just a tad bit bigger than yours. It can hold 5 kegs aka Cornelius Kegs at 5 gallons each. Plus the variety is so much better. But what would you expect from a Home brewer?

 

[Gonz]

I'm planning on switching over to a double tap tower, and then storing two 1/6th barrels at some point. That way we can have something light and dark on tap.

 

[Ralph]

Will you drink 100+ beers before the keg turns?

[snapback]289655[/snapback]​

We should. Under pressure with CO2 the keg should last several months, and doing the math using the rate at which we go through a 12 pack (easily one/week) we should have no problem. I've heard of kegs properly refridgerated and under pressure (CO2 is the key, O2 will cause it to bad in days) lasting 4 months or longer.

[snapback]289850[/snapback]​

I've been researching this for a while. A good friend keeps a half-keg of Bass(12 gallon) on tap at all times in a top of the line, All-Stainless, True TDD-1. He says that between 4 and 5 weeks the beer will start to turn.

He suggests buying an extra tank so you always have back-up when a tank needs refilling. Also find out if the place that fills the CO tanks has an exchange program. Some places might take your nice new shiny tank and might try to give you an old rusty crappy one. You may want to look for a place that fills your tank as you wait.

 

[Gonz]

Unfortunately the two places in town (Welding supply stores) only exchange tanks, but since it sits inside the fridge where you really shouldn't be looking anyway I don't care if the tank looks crappy. As long as the gas is clean. The other thing I realized is the numbers I was basing my predictions on were based on 12oz beers when now I'm filling pint glasses instead, which are perhaps 2-4 oz larger.

Either way it seems to be working good right now and we're enjoying nice cold tap beer!

 

[Mr Peat]

1 lb of CO2 will generally push 5 gallons of beer so you know. It takes more if you have to carbonate the beer but since you are buying commercial beer, that isnt a problem. And if you really want to have fun with beer and change the psi on it aka carbonation. Take this... Say hose from ket to dispensing unit is 5' and you want 2psi. You need to get the co2 to 10psi generally depending on how cold the fridge is. But if you want 4 psi that for a 5' hose you would need to set the tank at 20psi. Generally speaking...some other factors can change this slightly, but not by much.

 

[Tenpin]

Unfortunately the two places in town (Welding supply stores) only exchange tanks, but since it sits inside the fridge where you really shouldn't be looking anyway I don't care if the tank looks crappy. As long as the gas is clean. The other thing I realized is the numbers I was basing my predictions on were based on 12oz beers when now I'm filling pint glasses instead, which are perhaps 2-4 oz larger.

Either way it seems to be working good right now and we're enjoying nice cold tap beer!

[snapback]295280[/snapback]​

I noticed that my local Ace Hardware store had a sign out for paintball participants saying that they refill CO2 cartridges. You may want to see if you have the same.

Jim

 

[symyn]

Where did you buy your kegorator? And how much did you pay?

 

[Ralph]

This is the one I'm going with.

It's a top of the line model with a stainless steel interior. The plastic interiors can break easily after a few kegs are thrown around in there.

http://www.morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=18952

 

[Mr Peat]

This is the one I'm going with.

It's a top of the line model with a stainless steel interior. The plastic interiors can break easily after a few kegs are thrown around in there.

http://www.morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=18952

[snapback]297739[/snapback]​

You can make one way cheaper than that. WAY cheaper and its so easy too. I love Morebeer but that price is way to high.