I am going to invest in a kegging system but wanted to know what the general consensus was on which one is overal a better system. A keezer or fridge kegerator? It seems to me that the keezer requires more work such as building a collar, purchasing thermal temp gage, and installing a fan. Where as with a fridge, you can just by the converter. What are your guys thoughts? Which one works better.
keezers over kegerator conversion. but keezers do require a collar, though that requires a half hour and $15. you don't need a fan for a keezer. you want a temp controller for both. refrigerators thermostats are unreliable. it is highly recommended you use an outboard temp controller with a fridge and required for a keezer. the old solid state kind work fine. $45 maybe. you can really load up a keezer. I have 7 faucets and can get three half barrels along with a 1/6 and a Corny. that's a lot of beer. never going to happen with a fridge. otoh, getting a half barrel into a keezer is very difficult, even with two people. so if you plan to have half barrels go with a fridge. depending on the size of the fridge you can get a half barrel and maybe a 1/4 as well. Cheers.
Keezer is by far better IMO. You can fit more kegs and a variety of sizes. The work required for a keezer is slightly more, but not by all that much and it goes quickly. The only drawback is lifting kegs in - a half barrel is around 175 pounds. Some people mount hoists above them to take care of this part of it. Wow, fast on the draw Bill.
In terms of bang for the buck, a keezer is your best bet. Even a brand new big@ss chest freezer will set you back only a few hundred dollars. You then have complete control over the hardware and configuration - you'll end up with higher quality faucets, bigger CO2 tank, etc. You'll have a much more thorough understanding of how the plumbing works and how to address issues as they arise. You'll also find yourself having deeper discussions about a whole new aspect of the passion.
I have a kegerator that I built, I used all stainless steel components and was really happy with the results. I've done 40 kegs in the last 2 years. I switched about a year ago from 1/6 barrels to 1/4 barrels. I use an external temp controller and everything is working perfectly. Now my favorite beer isn't going to be available in my area in 1/4's anymore. Only 1/2's. I want to keep the high quality components (tower/shank/faucet) and I'd like to keep it on the first level in my home office. So the alternative is to get a chest freezer, put it in the basement, get a dolly to bring the keg downstairs. Maybe build a hoist to help lift it in place. What's frustrating, is that I'd pay for a decent 6cu ft fridge that looks nice and fits nice in the corner of my home office. With that said, I'm really happy with my fridge setup, just wish it had more space.
I did a build from a fridge, and I can say I only did it because I live in an apartment, and didn't have room for anything else. The gentlemen above speak the truth. Keezer is the way to go.
I bought a kegerator from costco.I am pretty happy with it after installing a temp control. That said, I am building a keezer now.
