Good Kegging Deal?

I think like everything in brewing, it's a matter of knowing how big you want to get with kegging. Do you already have a chest freezer or fridge, and you know how many taps you want to run, and at what pressure? Those are the first questions to answer. Lots of us like to play around with your ideas if you want to spell them out for us.

I did a little digging around, and it looks like several places are trying to sell paintball setups for kegging. I'm not sure why. It's great if you want to throw a 2 gal keg in a water cooler and rig up a to-go beer setup. It's not good for home setup and you'll run through a dozen of those bottles every year. (I would, anyway). Both kits seem pretty steep in price for what you're getting. craigslist would be a good way to score $50 used ball lock kegs and maybe some of the other stuff you'd need. Any time you can get your hands on a used keg, don't buy it unless it's pressure sealed.

Off the cuff:

I have a dual regulator, and recommend these to EVERYONE. I only run one pressure for all 6 beers, but I use the other one for a workhorse line. I use it to pressurize kegs, purge equipment, etc. It lets me crank up the pressure to 35psi without messing with the pressure that goes to the beer.

Buy a big CO2 tank and leave it outside of the fridge. It will save you having to make multiple trips to the CO2 store every year. refills are cheaper per pound.

Buy distributors They are connections that you run the same pressure as the regulator through multiple vents for multiple kegs. I have a 3 way and 4 way distributor in my 6 keg setup. Very happy to have these.

 

Ball lock kegs normally have pressure relief valves with pull rings, which you can pull to vent the keg. This is useful for purging O2 (using CO2 pressure) from the keg before and after filling with beer, or for letting CO2 out (by burping every few minutes) if you have over carbonated the keg. Pin lock kegs usually don't have these, so you have to use a screwdriver (or something) to depress the gas-side post's poppet if you want to vent, which is not as convenient. The dimensions of the kegs themselves are also a bit different, which can be important if your serving fridge has limited floor space or height. (Pin lock kegs are shorter and fatter than ball lock kegs.)

 

The guys and gals here generally know their stuff. I don't know if you're close, but you can pick their brains on your setup. Kegs are $70ish right now and a tough steep. http://www.greatfermentations.com/events/categories/tap-into-seminar/

 

I would shop this around. Determine if you'll be swapping or waiting on a re-fill. A 5 lb'er leaves a lot to be desired . . . in my area a 20 lb'er only costs a few bucks more to fill. Normally you'll more than make up for the initial higher price with the cheaper refill, plus fewer trips. My craigslist tanks are my pride and joy.

Consider placing "wyes" on your regulator outputs: . They are less than ten bucks and you can have spare gas lines for purging/bottling/horsing-around/more-kegs . . . CO2 will be your new friend.

As a general rule, you'll want twice as many tanks as you think you'll use, so I suggest start looking for another pair. Also, check out Home Bar, lot of keg talk.

 

When it comes to tanks, Google is your friend.

 

It was cheaper to buy an aluminum tank online and then just swap vs. buy a tank locally. @PortLargo has your solution

 

There's no definitive answer to this that would apply to all situations, but I can say that you can leave your beer cold crashed on the yeast for longer than you could leave it warm on the yeast. Two weeks is more than likely fine, assuming the beer wasn't already on the yeast for too long before you crashed it.

 

Not at all . . . probably want to rack before it goes over a month, even that is a little conservative. Once you start kegging your beer will be permanently cold-crashing.

 

You want to do a complete disassembly, overnight PBW soak, then a starsan rinse. All new keg systems initially leak. You want to find your leaks before you add the beer. Recommend setting 40 - 50 psi and thoroughly testing each fitting with a starsan squirt gun. Then leave it overnight with the master valve off and see if it holds pressure. You really don't want to be on a first name basis with the carbon dioxide store clerk.

You'll need spare parts. For less than the price of the typical 5 - pc o-ring kit you can get a packet of 100 (Amazon, McMaster). Spend some time in Home Bar searching for "foam, leaks, balance, help" for some other good tidbits. Expect about a week to get everything in balance.

 

When you say local groups - Did you mean a section of this forum? Iv'e just been reading and reaching out to people who list ohio as there location, would be BA if there was a section for homebrewers per state!

 

McMasters http://www.mcmaster.com/#o-rings/=12oxnu4 knows the size o-rings that you need by heart. They're about a penny each, instead of buying a set for $2 or $3 online or from a LHBS. They come in bags of 50ish. You'll run through rubbers like back in college. Make sure you pick up some lube too.