New to kegging

I would highly recommend looking into a freezer conversion build. I am wrapping up my project in the next few days and built a 4 tap keezer for about the same price as the 2 tap kegerator you are looking at online. All in, I'm at around $600 for a 4 tap system with the added benefit of flexibility if I want to change something. It's really not that hard, just requires a little research.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/how-to-build-a-keezer-or-freezer-kegerator/

 

Look into a keezer build. You could get a small chest freezer new for around $150, that would give you the ability to expand to at least 4-5 taps. Building a collar for them is as easy as taking the hinges off the top, cutting some cheap wood/boards to fit, and gluing them down with some liquid nails.

A keezer will be more efficient, cheaper, and allow expandability. I'm also not a huge fan of towers, simply because they make it more difficult to get to things, and are traps for warm air (can be overcome with a fan).

 

I suggest you ask the Moderator to move this thread to the Home Bar Forum. You'll get responses from posters with good kegerator experience and buying advice. Also, you'll find some past threads that address your exact needs.

 

I just recently built a kegerator / fermentation chamber so all this is still fresh in my head.

You could still make a dual tap keezer from a mini fridge cheaper than buying one. Just be patient and keep an eye on craigs list. When you see a mini fridge listed, look up the model and see how many cubic feet it is. For a dual tap, you will probably want a 5.5 cu foot mini fridge. Also google the model followed by the word kegerator to see if anyone made a 'how to' for that model so you can see how they did it, any pit falls to avoid, and if they had enough room. That having been said, a chest freezer is much easier to work with. Something like this one has a small foot print. Even a used refrigerator has a footprint that is only slightly bigger than the kegerators you linked.

 

It sounds like you have your heart set on buying, and not building, thus I will not try and convince you otherwise. This one is a bit cheaper than the one you posted, and looks pretty nice. https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...0w&ei=Y39OVZeZC4vSsAWEqYHABQ&ved=0CIgBEKYrMAA

Have fun shopping, and enjoy kegging man!

 

I can't vouch for the quality (or lack of) various commercially made kegerators. But I think the faucets they come with are typically generic. Many people end up replacing their faucets with better models from companies like Perlick.

But one thing pre-mades do have in common with each other is a tower which, unless you add some type of air recirculation system, will likely end in a bit of unhappiness, with foamy tower first pours. i.e. the first pour through a warm faucet/beer line, which is warm because it's physically far from the cooling compartment. A homemade keezer (without a tower) can avoid that.

 

all reasonable requests.
a few tips you should consider. be sure your kegerators has a fan to cool the tower. can't tell you how important that is. if by super cold you mean 38F, then this is perfect. if you like you can adjust the temp down to 32 or a bit lower even but expect beer with zero foam. if you attempt 43, 44, 45, then you'll get excessive foam. just physics man.
energy efficiency is not really a selling point with these things. the good quality units are not really concerned with energy star ratings, so don't make that a deal breaker. you are limiting your options if you have to have the most efficient appliance. besides, maintaining cold temps requires a lot of electricity. preferably efficient use of energy but a weak underpowered compressor will struggle to keep things cold. cheaper to make too.

dual faucets... spend some money for decent hardware. the cheap kegerators keep down costs with cut rate hardware. there isn't much else to be cheap with really. some of the inferior brands use faucets, towers, couplers that are just plain awful. practically painted plastic. grab a crappy faucet to pull a pint and you're reminded of the $20 you saved every time.
Cheers.

 

Keezer-building can be done without damaging the freezer. You build a wooden collar that sits between the freezer and the door and that's where you do all of the drilling. You have to unscrew the lid from the freezer to attach it to the wooden collar, but that can be reversed and your freezer will be good as new.

 

The OP is in Michigan, so he's heating the house a good part of the year. With any electric device, 100% of the electricity consumed is ultimately dissipated as heat (just Physics, man! ). If the kegerator is in the heated space, then energy efficiency is not as big a factor as it might seem in the context of operating cost, since it will directly offset the demand on the home's furnace. The only problem is that electricity costs more than gas per unit of energy, so the electric bill will rise more than the gas bill will fall. If the primary heating fuel is electricity, then it will add exactly $zero to the electric bill during the winter, no matter how inefficient it is. Obviously, the cooling season is a different story. Just something to consider.

Fun with Science!

 

Here are a couple ideas for you

http://brulosophy.com/2014/03/25/a-simple-keezer-build/
http://brulosophy.com/2014/04/08/a-slightly-less-simple-keezer-build/

If you google for keezer build, you get lots of hits. You go as fancy or basic as you like.

 

Edit-
ah, never mind.
Cheers Mike

 

BYO keezer. I have 4 taps and did the bulk of it in one day, at a fraction of the cost.