Hey everyone! I've read a lot on this forum and done a lot of research...you guys are crazy smart and I'm jealous!!! I've been looking to add a kegerator to my sports room for quite some time and am ready to take the plunge, but am still not quite sure of the brand, where to buy, etc. I've watched craigslist constantly, but no luck. From what I've read, everyone says you need to spend extra to get one with a cooled tower, no chrome, etc. Help! lol Where would be the best place to buy, what extras, what should I be looking for... I know I want a dual tower. Thanks for everything in advance!!!
Take a look around beveragefactory.com. You can add a tower cooler for around $30 to any unit. Like everything else, you get what you pay for. $400 units from a home goods store will not work without a lot of fighting.
what is your budget? a lot can be done. there are plenty of options and upgrades. if you want good draft beer at home it is really not too difficult. Cheers
I would like to spend less than a thousand and get good draft beer at home. I need some expert advice
two faucets for less than a thousand is ambitious. one faucet and you are golden but add that second faucet and it might be difficult. continue to look at CL, and post any finds. we will evaluate.
I recommend you review some of the previous posts on this forum. You can read about what is a must have in a kegerator (tower fan), what other features are nice to have (s/s) what you should be getting for your money (CO2 tank) etc. A lot of us have answered these open ended questions in detail. If you want someone to tell you how to spend your money the answer is simple. Buy a Beverage Air BM-23. It is not the right choice for you but I am certain it will work. Cheers.
Thanks for everyone's help! After looking around, I ended up ponying up the funds and buying a dual tap Beverage Air BM-23. It should get here next week. Now for the set up and fun
I am remodeling my bar area. I am looking for a built-in under counter kegerator. The 2 that I am interested in are the Marvel ML24BT and the Summit SBC590. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? Its going to be close to my living area so noise would be an issue. Another question would be how tall is the tap tower? I haven't been able to find this on any of the spec sheets. Thanks for your help!
https://www.summitappliance.com/catalog/model/SBC590 - Height with Tap 49.88" http://www.agamarvel.com/wp-content...rs-Twin-Tap-ML24BT-English-French-Spanish.pdf See page 9 for dimensions on the ML24BT. I don't have any experience with either unit but I don't mind some googling to find specs.
A wise choice. Since you will have some minor assembly to do, I would suggest to use 8-10 ft of beer line. My unit came with 6 ft and it was not enough, causing me excess foam. I get perfect pours every time now at the right temperature & co2 settings. Others may have been okay with 6', but many have not. This was a must have fix for me. Hopefully you bought a top of the line regulator. It is the heart of the whole operation. I had bought (unknowingly) a bottom-shelf regulator for a top shelf kegerator (BM-23); both from Beverage Factory. The regulator failed soon after startup, but Beverage Factory gave me full credit for the bad unit towards a much better one. Very cool to deal with. The t-handle (co2 pressure adjust) works great compared to the pain-in-the ass knob/dial. Lastly, Perlick faucets are the way to go. They do not stick during periods of un-use;NEVER. Operational stuff: I leave my settings at 37.5 degrees/13 psi. Works for the kinds of beer I drink (Fat Tire, Sam Adams, Stella, Heineken, etc). Know how to take the BEER'S TEMPERATURE. Room temperature glass/pour 1/drink immediately/pour 2/take beer temp- avoid touching sides of glass with probe. Good luck.
I have one of those $400 home goods store kegerators (went to the store with my wife to buy a new fridge to store beer in 2 Thanksgivings ago and she saw the kegerator and said let's get it so how could I disagree? ). You can definitely make it work but as mentioned you will run into pain points. Eventually I'm sure I'll replace it for several reasons but as a starter kit its not a bad option, I had no knowledge of them until now. When I upgraded it to a dual tower I had to hack it to get it to work since it came with a non standard tower. I recently upgraded my faucet on my side of the tower to a Perlick faucet, as mentioned it is the way to go. The cheapo faucet that came with the tower was showing signs of the coating coming off after only 8 months of usage and the perlick never sticks. I bought the flow control version so it makes it easy to pour smaller glasses and it offsets the fact that I haven't yet upgraded my regulator to a dual regulator (just have a splitter and the two kegs need different pressures). One other great thing about the BM-23 is the number and size of kegs it can fit. I can only fit two sixtels in my kegerator. Being able to fit either 2 slim quarter kegs or 1 slim and 1 sixtel is very convenient. I can't get a quarter without leaving my wife's side empty and I've run into a few beers I've wanted which aren't available in sixtel such as some of the Firestone beers. All that being said I have zero foam problems and its used pretty constantly. Someday I'll upgrade to something that will fit 3 sixtels and it will either be a custom build or something like the BM-23.
