Just gave away all of my empty bottles

[Gatorchip]

A friend gave me an old freezer... moving on to kegging!

Anyone have some tips to avoid early mistakes?

 

[wartyOne]

A friend gave me an old freezer... moving on to kegging!

Anyone have some tips to avoid early mistakes?

Ball lock instead of pin lock. Ball locks are a bit more expensive, but they come with pressure relief valves (you bleed off pressure constantly; you carbonate at a higher pressure than you serve).

Don't drill through the side of freezer (cooling elements). Build a 2X6 collar around the top of freezer with redwood (or pine if you don't care what it looks like) to attach the top of the freezer to. Drill your shank holes in this. Here's a perfect example: Keezer - Imgur.

Get a temperature controller so you can set your temp to the desired degree. Here's More Beer's: Analog Temperature Controller | MoreBeer. You just plug your freezer into this, put the lead in the freezer and set the temp to where you want it (this is an awesome tool for lagering as well).

Make sure your CO2 lines are long (6-9 feet). This will prevent overfoaming. Beer lines don't need to be as long, but it doesn't hurt.

Get cleaning equipment and chemicals, and be prepared to clean your lines from time to time. This sounds like a hassle. It isn't. The first time you clean a keg and line, you'll wonder why you ever bothered with bottles in the first place.

PBW is a great cleaner, and what the breweries typically use to clean lines (followed by polyacrylic acid to sanitize the lines). Or, you can run StarSan through your system. PBW is a quicker agent, as StarSan is supposed to contact for 1-2 minutes (not a problem, you just have to let it sit in your lines for a few minutes before pulling through with hot water to remove foam). Basically, when you blow a keg, just clean it, and put a gallon of cleaner/water in the keg. Hook it back into your system, and run it through your lines. I recommend taking your faucets off and brush cleaning them, especially if you had two drastically different beers coming out of the same tap.

Which brings me to faucets. Don't skimp and buy the cheap ones. Get these: Perlick Faucet - Stainless | MoreBeer. They're totally worth the extra money. By process of how the faucet works, these will never gum up and stick (that doesn't mean they never need to be cleaned; it just means they perform better than the bullet design).

Finally, you're probably going to be buying used kegs. I know lots of people with kegs. I don't know a single person who bought one new. Be sure to inspect the kegs when you buy them. Spend a few more dollars and buy them locally, where you can test to see if they hold pressure. Some lids will have bent legs that don't seat perfectly all the time. You can lose an entire CO2 tank due to a slow leak, so make sure your kegs seal airtight. They should be pressurized in the shop. If they're not, you could run into problems. This isn't the end of the world. I have a keg that won't seal unless I jam a hex key (thanks China) in between the leg and the clamp loop.

Dented kegs should not deter you. The most important piece of that hardware is the lid. Get kegs with tight sealing lids.

I may have forgotten some things in that novel, but that's a pretty good start. Kegging is awesome. You'll love it immediately. Plus, you can now start clarifying your beers with fining agents (can't do that with bottle conditioned beer). We use gelatin (keep the temp between 150-160, or you end up with jello) to drop out the proteins. Biofine works about as well, but it's much more expensive.

Oh, and throw the first pint away. That's all the garbage that settles out. You can drink it, but it'll be like a beer milk shake.

 

[Gatorchip]

Some great advice there. Thank you sir.

 

[wartyOne]

Some great advice there. Thank you sir.

Word.

 

[757Hokie83]

i'll add in, that when buying your kegs, get some replacement O-rings, only a couple bucks and who knows how old the ones that will come on the keg will be, or if they will create a seal or not
Used Keg Seal Kit - Kegging - Brewing : Northern Brewer

the kegerator that warty posted is basically exactly like mine, except mine only has 2 kegs at the moment, i'm going to fit a 3rd in there eventually, and i might be able to squeeze a forth

this guy posted up how he built his, a pretty good instructional guide (what i went from when making mine)
MikeBeer - Chest Freezer Kegerator

 

[wartyOne]

i'll add in, that when buying your kegs, get some replacement O-rings, only a couple bucks and who knows how old the ones that will come on the keg will be, or if they will create a seal or not
Used Keg Seal Kit - Kegging - Brewing : Northern Brewer

the kegerator that warty posted is basically exactly like mine, except mine only has 2 kegs at the moment, i'm going to fit a 3rd in there eventually, and i might be able to squeeze a forth

this guy posted up how he built his, a pretty good instructional guide (what i went from when making mine)
MikeBeer - Chest Freezer Kegerator

Yeah, that's pretty good advice about the O-rings. Your HBSS should have two different kinds. Get the fatter, softer of the two. You'll pay a few more bucks, but they're better for sealing.

Finally, I think pictures of the final product are in order.

 

[fordman84]

Man, this is the stuff I can't read! I'm always looking for a new hobby to try out, and building a kegerator is in itself enough reason for me to get into this. I've avoided home brewing for a long time, but with cool toys like the links here...might have to rethink it.

 

[wartyOne]

Man, this is the stuff I can't read! I'm always looking for a new hobby to try out, and building a kegerator is in itself enough reason for me to get into this. I've avoided home brewing for a long time, but with cool toys like the links here...might have to rethink it.

DO IT!!!! Best hobby I ever adopted. Turning into a career as I type this.

Nothing in the world is better than drinking your own beer on tap.

Llama.

 

[757Hokie83]

here's how mine turned out

no inside shots as of now, but if you guys want to see i can take some

oh and since this shot was taken i've replaced the cheap-o tap handles

 

[Sleepy T]

here's how mine turned out

Nice kegerator 757!! I haven't been doing this long but I am already tired of bottling beer and cleaning up the bottles. They take up too much space..more space = more beer. Been buttering up the Mrs. to go ahead and get going on some of this stuff the next 6 months. I think I am just going to go ahead, bite the bullet and get set up for something like what warty posted above. Something that can hold 6-8 cornies. May not keg that many at first but am gonna try to get the one of the Co2 systems that you can expand on a little bit. I have found in the past to always go a bit bigger than what you think you need or want...more is always better..and more expensive though. Cheaper up front going bigger than buying individual pieces later. I have also looked into getting an inline type filter for filtering the beer, when I get the kegging system going (I think an extra 60-150 bones depending on what you get). Any of you guys have experience/thoughts on those??

 

[757Hokie83]

thanks, yeah i think i can squeeze in 2 more kegs into that one, but it will be tight. i think having 4 beers on tap at any given time should probably do me, probably going to scrape some $$ together before too long and go ahead with the 3rd keg

 

[fordman84]

Was joking around in a drunken state a few months ago with the wife and some friends and actually came up with the name of my beer. Now that the hard part is over, I just have to brew a beer that doesn't taste like crap. Only time I ever tried was when I was 21 and my college roommate got one of those Mr Beer for christmas. We half assed it, and it showed. I think the directions said that the amount of sugar we added would affect the alcohol content. NEVER tell a college kid that. Don't remember the specifics, but we dumped way more sugar in than we should. After the weeks or whatever it was we let it sit we emptied it into a clean 2 liter bottle. Looked like Dr Pepper or something, was almost black. I never tried it, my roommate did and threw up. Haven't tried since then.

 

[wartyOne]

Nice kegerator 757!! I haven't been doing this long but I am already tired of bottling beer and cleaning up the bottles. They take up too much space..more space = more beer. Been buttering up the Mrs. to go ahead and get going on some of this stuff the next 6 months. I think I am just going to go ahead, bite the bullet and get set up for something like what warty posted above. Something that can hold 6-8 cornies. May not keg that many at first but am gonna try to get the one of the Co2 systems that you can expand on a little bit. I have found in the past to always go a bit bigger than what you think you need or want...more is always better..and more expensive though. Cheaper up front going bigger than buying individual pieces later. I have also looked into getting an inline type filter for filtering the beer, when I get the kegging system going (I think an extra 60-150 bones depending on what you get). Any of you guys have experience/thoughts on those??

I'm not a big fan of plate filters. You get clean beer, but you also strip out flavor (that's just the process). We're using gelatin in the kegs, and it works really well to drop the proteins out of suspension without degrading your beer. Whole new ball game once you stop bottling, and so much more brewer-friendly.

I'll try to get some pictures of my kegerator in here in the next few days. I just modified a platform inside the fridge so I can get a fourth keg and the CO2 tank in there.

Mmmmmmm. Breeeeeewwwwwwwing.

 

[wartyOne]

here's how mine turned out

no inside shots as of now, but if you guys want to see i can take some

oh and since this shot was taken i've replaced the cheap-o tap handles

Really dig the Avery flyers. Especially the one about Zombies.

 

[757Hokie83]

yeah i thought they were a nice addition, here they are a little more clear:

i like these two also

 

[fordman84]

DO IT!!!! Best hobby I ever adopted. Turning into a career as I type this.

Nothing in the world is better than drinking your own beer on tap.

Llama.

Ok, I have out grown the half assing phase of my life and now am in the "over research" phase.

Rather than spending the normal week researching stuff online, what would you recommend for a noob? I doubt keg brewing is where I want to start. I don't want a cheap set up, because you normally get what you pay for. I also don't think I need top of the line in case this peters out like so many of my other hobbies. Is there a good site for learning that you guys know of, or a good all-in-one starter kit?

 

[757Hokie83]

Ok, I have out grown the half assing phase of my life and now am in the "over research" phase.

Rather than spending the normal week researching stuff online, what would you recommend for a noob? I doubt keg brewing is where I want to start. I don't want a cheap set up, because you normally get what you pay for. I also don't think I need top of the line in case this peters out like so many of my other hobbies. Is there a good site for learning that you guys know of, or a good all-in-one starter kit?

Making Beer | Home brewing Equipment ? Midwest Supplies
Beer Equipment Starter Kits : Northern Brewer
Home Brew Starter Kits | MoreBeer

 

[wartyOne]

yeah i thought they were a nice addition, here they are a little more clear:

i like these two also

Money, 757. Money.

 

[wartyOne]

Making Beer | Home brewing Equipment ? Midwest Supplies
Beer Equipment Starter Kits : Northern Brewer
Home Brew Starter Kits | MoreBeer

And hit up MoreBeer. They've got a link on their homepage for setups.

I'm a terrible person to ask this question, though. Brewing starts simple and then overtakes your life. Find what will work for you, and go from there. If you're not interested in designing recipes, you can get by with a decently cheap setup that you'll be happy with. If you want to go insane (like me), find a woman who won't mind you spending thousands of dollars, taking up whole rooms of your house dedicated solely to brewing, and being gone two days a week. Also, if you have a friend who is an engineer that can weld, give him free beer for life. He'll save you a ton of money in the long run.

Having said all that, brewing is a constant source of joy, anger, frustration and bliss. I'm not going to quantify that. You'll see what I mean somewhere around year three. Happy brewing, and don't dwell on the bad stuff. It's minor, and when you conquer it...