I'm looking to spend between 700 and 1400 for a kegorator - I'm not a DIY kind of guy! And since we are finishing our basement the wife said Go for it. Since I make my own beer . . . . . . Any I should not look at? Any I should? I'd like two taps and I might have something built around it to hide the box ( if budget allows it - pretty big project including pool table and so forth). Recommendations? Suggestions? Comments?
If you aren't a DIY guy you should look at either True, Summit or Beverage Air, and plan on spending all of the $1400. They work out of the box. If you plan to build it in you need to get a unit specifically made for that (they breathe through the front, like a built in fridge) If you were to build in a regular unit you would be asking for trouble since you would be restricting its ability to breathe ( they need airflow all around).
yeah what Doug says. Remember, the quality appliance will cost $1200 or more. The bargain unit, sold at Bed Bath and Beyond (seriously) will cost maybe $400 sometimes even less. So there is $800 missing. That is money that should have been put into the hardware and construction. That $800 is left for you to figure out. Beverage Air BM23 is the benchmark and you will have a hard time getting a better kegerator. True and Summit are also respected brands. UBC too. Cheers.
If you can squeeze another $200 you should be able to have a bev air with all the components . You get what you pay for.
With that amount of money you could have a really nice keezer with a lot left over for more kegs etc.... I'm not a DIY person and I built an awesome keezer complete with German faucets for less than $500...but then again I had a tighter budget than you, and I wasn't a fan of any of the kegergators I could get for the price I could afford...
Some things I learned after buying a Summit (undercounter with plans to eventually build a bar): - After seeing a friend's, I wish I would have got the Bev Air BM23 (and just not worry about having a counter over it) for the extra room and the integrated tower cooler. - I wanted to run a 3 tap system (I know you said you want 2 but the following is for others). I bought a kegerator that already had a 3 line tower. I found out that you can't really fit 3 big tap handles on the columns that come with the kegerator, it works better with a T Tower. I would have just got one with no tower or a single and put my own tower on. I am looking at this now to go over the counter: http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/towers/doublefaucet/c534_double_faucet_beer_tower.shtml - I could not fit 3 kegs (homebrew or commercial) in the Summit as advertised. - The Summit came with a 3 way air distributor. I changed to a primary and 3 line secondary regulator to allow for individual pressures. But now, because I can't fit 3 kegs, it looks like I'll be switching to a dual primary regulator. - I also bought Perlick faucets, a better metal drip tray, and a fridge thermometer. If I had to recommend something, it would be as minimal a BM23 that meets your goals and build the rest up to what you want with quality parts (regulator, faucets, etc.).
Yea a Bev Air BM23 is what I WANT and hopefully once the plans come in and we have a better handle on finances we can swing it. The OTHER method is having my home brew club (Sun Prairie Wort Hogs) build one. We have a large traveling one and are now putting in a Nitro tap. So there is THAT option but of paying our guy to build one but depends how busy he is!
