My latest project

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

Now that the water is getting colder I've turned my attention away from wakeboarding and towards home brewing. To get ready for the fall/winter months I figured what better way to enjoy my home brew than to have it on tap! I bought a mini fridge from Lowes's and the soda kegs, Co2 tanks, and fittings from Kegconnection.com. I found the tower/faucets on e-bay and the railings on top are actually drawer pulls that I found at Lowes's.

dbismyname · Posted: Nov 06, 2009 7:32 am Post subject:

That's a classy lookin setup. Good job.

Is that moisture inside normal? Do you have to seal around the hoses going up to keep everything insulated well?

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

that moisture is pretty normal because he's been opening and closing it, i'm sure.

VERY nice setup nauty! ^5!

dirtysparks · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 07 Jul 2004 Posts: 2428

I would pour a glass for breakfast if I had that sitting around!

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

The moisture is normal, but it is increased because the freezer tray had to be removed in order for the kegs to fit. There are coolant lines that run across the top ceiling of the fridge. These lines contribute to the condensation.

The hoses are insulated, but an issue you will run into is that the beer left in the lines above the ceiling of the fridge will tend to get warm. You can't see it, but there are copper pipes that I added inside the tower/faucet that the beer lines run inside of. However, they are not long enough and I will be adding to them this weekend. The idea is that if the copper pipes run down into the fridge about six inches or so they will get cold and help to transfer the cold up into the tower. Again, I just didn't get long enough pipes.

STPHNSN23 · Guest

pretty sweet. i know nothing about making beer, but i'm wondering how you get your beer into a keg to hook up to the fridge.

andrandre · Soul Rider Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Posts: 258 City: Toronto

I'm no expert on keggorators and such, but shouldn't the co2 system be on the outside?

I was under the impression that co2 does not work properly when cold which is why you can't use a paintball gun running on co2 in cold weather.

I thought, co2 is liquid inside of the tank, and when it comes out it expands into a gas, but I didn't think that expansion could happen when it is cold.

School me...

Hollywood · Posted: Nov 06, 2009 8:47 am Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Broccoli B · Posted: Nov 06, 2009 10:23 am Post subject:

Remember CO2 has to hit like negative 110 to freeze (and become dry ice) You can keep it in the fridge no problem. All your at home kegerators work this way.

TnR6Rida · Posted: Nov 06, 2009 10:29 am Post subject:

Looks like a pretty sweet setup.

Wazzy · Addict Joined: 01 May 2003 Posts: 706 City: Illinois

>>would pour a glass for breakfast if I had that sitting around! <<

That made me think of Founders Breakfast Stout....mmmmmmm beer...

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

I can't comment on pub set ups with Co2 because I have no idea why or why not they store their Co2 where they do. However, the majority of kegerator set ups I saw on www.homebrewtalk.com had the Co2 stored inside the kegerator. The ones that did not generally kept it out because their particular fridge did not have the room for both the kegs and the Co2 tank.

I do know that beer absorbs Co2 faster when the beer is cold as opposed to warm, so perhaps the absorption is better when the Co2 is cold as well? I really don't know though? The label on the Co2 tank says that it is safe to operate between 0-110 Fahrenheit. I keep my kegerator at 38 degrees, so it should be fine.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Nauty, i would think that most home setups are like that because it's a cleaner setup w/ the co2 tucked inside the fridge, while i know for a fact at the bars that you aren't getting a co2 canister inside w/ all the kegs that get crammed inside. wouldn't be smart w/ all the moving around that a barback needs to do anyway.

Broccoli B · Posted: Nov 06, 2009 11:43 am Post subject:

jt09, That and at a bar cold space is at a premium, why waste the space cooling things that don't need to be cooled.

Hollywood · Posted: Nov 06, 2009 12:25 pm Post subject:

jt09, i meant the CO2 inside the keg is just as cold as the cooler that the keg is in

turbohoje · Outlaw Joined: 14 Aug 2008 Posts: 117 City: thornton

nice setup,
i'm on my second keggerator. you can get 1 more 1/2 barrel keg out of a co2 bottle if you leave it outside and another one still if you put it inside the cooling fins of the fridge pump to warm it a little.

its worth it imo to keep it all in one small concise cube for rolling it around and such.

not sure what altitude you are at, but if you are findind that your getting excessive head, run more hose from the keg to the tap. dont ask me why but that fixes it. i'm at 5,400 ft and i run 11 ft of hose and keep blue moon at 15 psi and its perfect.

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

Well I've yet to tap my first keg, but that should happen next week. I have an IPA and a hard cider aging in kegs as we speak. Both should be ready to go next weekend. I've read a lot about foaming issues and as you said it appears that a longer beer line seems to be the answer. Both of my lines are 10 ft, so I should be good to go.

This weekend I went ahead and brewed a clone of Seirra Nevada Pale Ale. This way I can always have another keg in waiting. Very Happy

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

So you are using Soda Kegs for the beer? Any prep work needed to clean them?

Where did you get them from?

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

The place I got them from cleans them before the sell them, so there is no soda smell or residue left by the time I get them. I still have to sanitize them before I use them though.

To sanitize them I use Idophor. It's an iodine based solution that requires no rinsing. You just mix 2 cap fulls with 5 gallons of water, let it sit for 2 minutes and then dump it. You then add your beer while the keg is still wet from the Idophor solution. It is soooo much easier than the old days of using bleach and water that required tons of rinsing.

You can get any type of keg set up you want at www.kegconnection.com

Click on the homebrew keg link for the set up I'm using.

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

CO2 location does NOT matter from my experience. But I cannot fit the canister inside when I have a 1/2 barrel in there. Looking to step it up to a 20+ cu/ft Keezer so I can have at least 4 1/2 barrels on tap or 8+ corny kegs.

I have 2 of those bad boys but route the taps through the side of my detached garage.

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

Nauty, do you homebrew? Noticed the pin/ball-lock keg.

Nauty · Addict Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 827 City: Lake Dallas

Why yes, I do. I've been brewing off and on for the last 15 years, but I just recently started getting into it again. I'm not quite into it enough to do all grain batches, but I've done a couple of partial grain batches in the last few weeks.

One thing I didn't have when I started 15 years ago was the internet. Now, thanks to the greatness of www.homebrewtalk.com I have learned so much and realized all the things I had been doing wrong all of these years. My homebrew used to be hit or miss. Now, judging from the samples I tasted when I was kegging my last two batches, they are right on the money!

I will say that homebrew ingredients have gotten much more expensive than they used to be. Years ago I could brew 5 gallons for under $25. Now for a partial grain recipe it's running me around $45. It still works out to be cheaper than store bought beer (craft beer that is), but not by much.