First Kegerator Purchase..

[Baulz]

even the DIY cost of a kegerator scares me.
that, and having beer. on tap. in my house.

do you guys ever use your kegerator as fermentation chambers to control the temp (conditioning/lagering/etc?)

I bought a used fridge so that helped keep the cost down.

I was afraid of beer on tap at first, but in the end it works out better. Sometimes you only want a half glass, or to sample a few different kinds. Obviously it can be a problem when you just pour a sip, then another, and another...

[markaberrant]

In my basement, I have a small chest freezer for fermentation, a large chest freezer that holds 6 kegs and 20lb CO2, and a large fridge/freezer for commercial beer, yeast, hops, and homemade sausage, pastrami, bacon, etc. Then I have a seperate "closet cellar" for beers worth aging.

No such thing as too much storage space when it comes to food and beer.

[TheBeeraholic]

even the DIY cost of a kegerator scares me.
that, and having beer. on tap. in my house.

What is DIY cost?

[markaberrant]

What is DIY cost?

To setup a single tap system:

used fridge - $0-$200
co2 tank - if on rent/lease, about $50-$80 per swap
co2 regulator - $80
sanke coupler - $50
hoses, tubing, clamps - $10-$20
picnic tap - $5

Would need more parts and a fancier tap if you want an actual mounted faucet.

[Baulz]

The kit from Ontario Beer Kegs is $105 for all that, or $170 with a tank. Add another $40 for a proper tap.

[markaberrant]

The kit from Ontario Beer Kegs is $105 for all that, or $170 with a tank. Add another $40 for a proper tap.

Hmm... guess I don't have a proper kegging system.

Seriously though, $105 + co2 tank and a fridge (which you may already have) is a hell of a lot better than shelling out $600-$800 for a kegerator... and with picnic taps, you don't have to drill holes in the fridge, which scares a lot of newbies.

And by using a fridge, you can easily add more kegs and taps.

[grub]

even the DIY cost of a kegerator scares me.

meh, you can do it cheap. for the first many years I just had cobra head taps (~$15) running from corny kegs (~$15 then, $30 now) in a used fridge ($0)... spending $75 on the co2 setup was the most expensive bit. I started with 1 line, slowly picked up parts until I had 3. after many years and an unused ($0) chest freezer, I started building it out into a bigger one with proper taps. started at 3 lines again, slowly buying taps/shanks/etc until i could run all 6 i had room for.

that, and having beer. on tap. in my house.

i don't understand...you say that like it's a bad thing... a variety of tasty homebrew options without the hassle of bottling, plus the occasional commercial keg. gotta say i'm loving walking downstairs and pouring pints (or pitchers!) of Founders Breakfast Stout right now.

do you guys ever use your kegerator as fermentation chambers to control the temp (conditioning/lagering/etc?)

when I upgraded to the chest freezer, I started using my old fridge for lagers and extra beer storage. turned as warm as it goes it's in lager primary range, then i can turn it down for lagering. fridge part stores tons of pop, beer, and yeast. freezer part stores all my hops.

my basement stays a steady 63-65F year round, so it's perfect for most ale fermentation, and i've got things like a heating belt if i need to get them warmer. i can make smaller temp adjustments by leaving things on the cement floor vs propping them up on a stand. and whenever i can, things like saisons and beriners ferment in the nice warm mid-summer garage.

[dale cannon]

My setup is:

chest freezer with temperature controller for fermentation chamber
full size fridge with temperature controller for lagering chamber
fullsize fridge keg fridge with 5 taps/kegs and CO2 inside

It is an effort, and there is up front consts involved...but I highly recommend building your own keg fridge. It's quite gratifying.

[atomeyes]

that, and having beer. on tap. in my house.

i don't understand...you say that like it's a bad thing... a variety of tasty homebrew options without the hassle of bottling, plus the occasional commercial keg. gotta say i'm loving walking downstairs and pouring pints (or pitchers!) of Founders Breakfast Stout right now.

a polite question: you married?

my wife was relatively supportive with me converting an unused basement closet into a beer cellar and was impressed with the shelves i've installed. but the brewing equipment and the beer have taken up a nice portion of our basement. i would need to install shelving units to take care of the mess i've created; instead, when we finally reno our basement in 2 years, i'll just tear down a corner of the basement and build a proper climate controlled wine/beer cellar. mmmm.....cellars...

but when i talked to her about making or buying a kegerator, she was a little concerned. bloody easy to go down to the basement and pour beer. think that's the part that scares her. the ease of access.

also, one can argue that kegging takes as much work as bottling. cleaning kegs, sanitizing lines, etc etc.

in the end, even if i got the ok (which i really don't need, but it is nice when your wife is cool with your decisions, especially when your decisions may result in beer bellies, meaning that she'll either tell me i'm getting fat or i'd have to listen to complain that she's getting a belly), i'm not in the mood to crush $$ into a kegerator. money is money. they aren't cheap, but bottle cleaning costs only man hours.

[TheBeeraholic]

My fiancée was the one who asked if I wanted one.

[atomeyes]

My fiancée was the one who asked if I wanted one.

is she taken?

[JeffPorter]

My fiancée

Ah...those are the key words....

Seriously, though, atomeyes makes a good point. I think what works for me (and my wife) is keeping the brewing stuff really simple and small batches so the bottles don't take up too much space. And frankly - I have too many full bottles of stuff that I'm trying to work my way through and not buy too much more stuff. It's nice to have a crawl space to keep all my stuff in, but I think she's a little annoyed when she goes in to get the Christmas decorations or the camping gear. In fact, I want to go to one gallon batches to make everything more clean and simple. And I like bottle conditioning. I think it was atomeyes that talked me out of kegging and I think he's right: no less complicated than bottling (especially if you've been building up a supply of the Howe Sound bottles!)

Ask yourself if it's what you really want to do: invest the time and space and money.

[zaireeka]

My fiancée

Ah...those are the key words....

Seriously, though, atomeyes makes a good point. I think what works for me (and my wife) is keeping the brewing stuff really simple and small batches so the bottles don't take up too much space. And frankly - I have too many full bottles of stuff that I'm trying to work my way through and not buy too much more stuff. It's nice to have a crawl space to keep all my stuff in, but I think she's a little annoyed when she goes in to get the Christmas decorations or the camping gear. In fact, I want to go to one gallon batches to make everything more clean and simple. And I like bottle conditioning. I think it was atomeyes that talked me out of kegging and I think he's right: no less complicated than bottling (especially if you've been building up a supply of the Howe Sound bottles!)

Ask yourself if it's what you really want to do: invest the time and space and money.

A 3g carboy works well for small batches. I have one on hand for high gravity & experimental batches. It lessens the work and you still get a decent amount of beer.

[beeton]

"... talked me out of kegging..."
Wow, just wow.

[grub]

a polite question: you married?

yup! but my wife is pretty spectacular.

my wife was relatively supportive with me converting an unused basement closet into a beer cellar and was impressed with the shelves i've installed. but the brewing equipment and the beer have taken up a nice portion of our basement. i would need to install shelving units to take care of the mess i've created; instead, when we finally reno our basement in 2 years, i'll just tear down a corner of the basement and build a proper climate controlled wine/beer cellar. mmmm.....cellars...

i'm probably taking up half of my basement between fermenters, cellaring beer, barrel, kegs, kegerator, bulk grain, etc... but what else would i be doing with the space? as hobbies go, it could certainly be worse.

but when i talked to her about making or buying a kegerator, she was a little concerned. bloody easy to go down to the basement and pour beer. think that's the part that scares her. the ease of access.

why is that scary? don't you have a stockpile of beer/wine/liquor that's equally as accessible now? what's the difference between walking down for a couple pints vs a couple bottles? especially if it's your homebrew... 5gal of beer is 5gal of beer, regardless of the container it's served from.

also, one can argue that kegging takes as much work as bottling. cleaning kegs, sanitizing lines, etc etc.

i can only imagine someone who's never kegged saying that. there is no way the two are even comparable. filling a keg takes 15min and requires no intervention (ie: i can be working on other beer chores while it fills). cleaning and sanitizing takes 15min tops. then you're at 30min end to end to package 5gal. oh right! don't forget 5min to clean/sanitize your lines, so call it 35min.

if i'm bottling, first i need to prep my bottles. there's at least the one-time cost of label removal that's a minimum of an hour for a batch worth. already double the time for a keg, but you don't pay that every time. generally they always get a rinse and check for cleanliness if i'm reusing, so call that an easy 15-30min/batch... definitely longer than cleaning a keg.

assuming i've got clean bottles ready, they need to be sanitized. probably 15min to get them rinsed and on the tree. comparable to the combined clean+sanitize time for a keg.

before you can actually bottle, you gotta figure out your priming, boil up some sugar, cool (possibly), and add to your beer. 15min boil plus the bells and whistles, probably 30ish end to end.

now we're on to filling. first lose is that the bottle filling is totally interactive. solo bottling 5gal is going to take you an easy hour, slightly faster if you've got someone else to cap while you fill, but that filling is always going to be slower than filling a keg.

add that all up and i don't think you'll find a way to convince yourself that kegging is "just as much work" as bottling.

in the end, ... i'm not in the mood to crush $$ into a kegerator. money is money. they aren't cheap, but bottle cleaning costs only man hours.

meh, fair enough. you can do it cheap, but as you say, money is money. time is money too though, and if i can fill 4 kegs in a couple hours (actually less since you can be doing things in parallel) and the same would take me all day to bottle, my time is worth the one-time cost to get kegs going. plus if you start small and build on it, you're just doing a little cash here and there (and bonus if you can get folks to contribute $$ for birthdays/holidays/etc).