Will I really be saving money ?

At $13 per 12 pack you aren't saving any money. I luckily haven't had a Heineken in years, so I can't speak to the brand specifically. In the case of domestics there is usually no cost benefit with 1/6 kegs, only marginal savings with 1/4's and some savings to be had with halfs. That half of Heiney may also not be a US half, which is 15.5 gallons, it may be a similar size but be in liters which could throw your calculations off a bit. I believe you will also need a different coupler for those kegs - most imports do not use the D coupler your kegerator came with.

 

do the math. and double check mine.
a half barrel keg is 15.5 US gallons*/1,984 ounces = 165 12 ounce servings = 6.88 cases/13.76 12 packs.
at $178 per keg you are paying $0.089 per ounce.
at $13 per 12 pack you are paying $1.08 per 12 ounce bottle which equals $0.09 per ounce.
therefore a keg is about $0.001 cheaper per ounce than bottle.

*a keg of Heinne is most probably a euro half, which is 50 liters or 13.2 US gallons and not 15.5 gallons.
Heinnekin keg beer is most likely pasteurized. the quality of the beer is not much better, if at all, than the bottle. (but it won't be light struck!)
there is going to be some waste when you pour from a faucet. depending on how good your kegerator is and how well you can adjust the parameters, assume you will lose beer every time you pour.

finally, you are getting hosed at $178. or perhaps you are getting a great deal at $13 for a 12 pack.
Cheers.

 

"A" coupler Bill?

OP is the $178 including the deposit?

 

it is a Euro Sanke "S", which looks very much the same as the familiar "D" but the probe is longer. just about the only way to tell is to look at the coupler when disengaged; the probe is clearly longer than when compared to a D.

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/keg-taps-couplers-pid-7486E.html

 

But how do you put a price on cool?

which means it's much better than the bottle! (in the context of Heinekin)

That's an over generalization. (it's also wrong)

Frankly, I was shocked when I priced Heine kegs. $179 is pretty common around Chicago. I don't get it. 12's are closer to $15, so the numbers change a bit. But the bottom line is, it's probably not a significant financial benefit to switch to a kegerator.

 

Mike is correct. having a kegerator is just plain cool. nobody has ever said "I wish I didn't have my kegerator". the only thing better than having a kegerator is having your own homebrew on tap.
that is cooler than the other side of the pillow.

replacements for Heine? Amstel is my first suggestion. Stella. you might want to try Pilsner Urquell which is actually quite nice. Warsteiner. Jever is getting a bit far off but a very good European lager.

keg beer is generally a much better value than bottle beer. half barrels that is. savings are diminished with 1/4's and virtually disappear with 1/6. Euro imports can be an exception though. some of that brewed domestically under contract for bottle, but kegs are shipped from the European brewery. prices vary a lot.

Cheers.

 

Not to go off on a tangent, but I remember, back in the day (early 70's) when a quarter of domestic swill would set you back about $12. Half barrels were closer to $20. Canadian beer (the good stuff) was more like $15/$25. A $5 deposit and a couple of 25 cent bags of ice and you were on your way!

A six pack was around a buck and a half, so you could definitely save money with a kegerator.

 

I can't speak to Heineken, but I just purchased a refrigerator conversion and it works great. Not only is the flavor better, its saving me money. I put Amber Bock on for the first Keg (1/2 Barrel). Currently (beerworldstore.com), a 12 count, 12oz pack of Bottles costs $11.99 (let's just say $12 for the sake of easy math). Which equates to $1/Bottle, or $0.083/Ounce. In the keg, I have 15.5 Gallons of beer which equates to 1984 ounces. I paid $114 for the Keg (I had an empty keg that came with the refrigerator that I redeemed for deposit cost). This makes each ounce of beer cost $0.057/Ounce. Is is a huge price difference? Not much, but over the course of 1984 ounces, you would need to buy 166 bottles of beer to get the same amount as a keg. At $1/ beer, do the math... I'm easily saving $50 plus the tax it would cost to buy each 12 pack. Plus the flavor and experience makes it worth it for me. I know that there is additional costs like the C02 and cleaning kits and new hoses when necessary. But all in all, those costs are minimal and could be justified in the gas you save driving to the store to purchase the beer every time. Now, once I venture into the more expensive beers, that ratio may change. Certainly it does with the torpedoes or pony kegs.

Stay thirsty my friends...

 

Which breweries are doing that - bottling done in the US, draught from Europe? The only example I can think that comes close to it is Diageo shipping Guinness Draught kegs from Ireland but having Guinness Extra Stout brewed under contract in Canada for the US market -but those are two very different beers.

The two most recent and well-publicized examples of European brands moving to being brewed in the US were ABI's Beck's and Bass - and both are being kegged here as well as packaged.

Applicable portion of keg labels of both:


Seems like if a brewery were to do something similar (keg and bottle in different countries), it would be financially more advantageous to keg in the US and ship bottles from the Europe, since bottles in the US are "one way" but empty kegs are returned to the brewery. Shipping empty kegs back to Europe has got to be more expensive, and there's a longer turn-around time - so, again, more costly for the brewery due to the cooperage being "empty" longer and used for fewer trips per year.

And, since tap handles don't list the location of the actual brewery like labels do, the consumer would be unaware of the domestic origin of the (formerly) "imported" beer - so that'd be another plus for multinational brewers trying save money but maintain the image of "Imported" beer.

Not that I want to give any of the giant corporate brewers any ideas (there was a rumor a few years back that SABMiller was considering moving production of Pilsner Uquell for the US market to a Canadian licensee - similar to what they've done in some Eastern European markets).

 

I thought of you when I posted... "i'll bet JK knows all the Euro brands that are brewed under license in US."
the two I was thinking of are Bass and Guinness. I have not tapped a Bass in years, but assumed they were still using the euro coupler. I see it is a D, so it is a give away. Guinness still uses the God awful U coupler. and all of the Germans are using A or M. so we can be certain those kegs are shipped.

you would think that ABInBev would be busy consolidating. but as typical JK has it nailed. not Amstel and not Stella either. and SAB needs to buy up what is left of the Euro brands.

I think the opposite about the economy of producing kegs in Europe and bottles domestic. having to buy 12 ounce bottles for export seems wasteful, while owning the cooperage is a huge asset. but they do have to pasteurize all those kegs for export. in any event the marketing geniuses running the biggest breweries have different ideas than me.
Cheers.

 

Hi,

I am surprised none of these posters have suggested you review and lengthen your lines. Most kegerators you buy in stores are woefully short on the beer supply lines to maintain proper volume and foam up too quickly. If you are having over foaming issues at reasonable pressure and pour sizes, look for posts about foam and line length by most of these posters in this thread.

Happy kegeratoring!

 

Start expanding your horizons. For what you pay for a 1/2 keg of heinie you can get a wicked craft brew 1/2 keg that will expand your tastes and impress your friends. And save you huge cash over craft brew six pals. Prost!!!!

 

Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, so you math is simple and worked well for the day, but as the good times end, and prices make amends, it's now near $100 for your play!

 

Better switch to Old Style, better flavor and most likely much more economical!

 

I agree with the hosing at $178. For that price you can buy a good half barrel and pick up a few six ers of wicked craft brew to boot.

 

Haven't laughed this hard in years...

 

Ever since I got into Craft beer I always wanted a Kegerator. Plus, after my first time bottling some home brew, I knew kegging would be a hell of a lot easier and so fucking cool to pour your own brew from a tap. I've had my kegerator for the past couple of years and I don't have any plans on getting rid of it anytime soon. For the time I don't have homebrew on tap, I'll have some of my favorite beers fresh on tap at home. Besides a buddy of mine, I don't know anyone else in my area that has one and it's quite the conversation piece that leads to taking out a couple pint glasses to enjoy some fresh beer.

Another buddy of mine just got into homebrewing so I think I'll be helping him build a keezer so we can have 3-4 different homebrews on tap at any given time. I don't think there's any real cost savings but it's just awesome to have.

 

Was thinking same thing