OK, I'm friggin excited. I got out of homebrewing several years ago because of the hassle of washing and filling bottles. I have some neighbors who moved in down the street a couple years ago who own a wine making supply business. They have beer making supplies because customers ask for it but they don't know anything about making beer. I've been hanging out more and more at their house and discussing brewing and kegging homebrew. Last night they GAVE me everything I need to kegerate my beer fridge. I had my own dual stage regulator but they sent me home with a corny keg, a CO2 cylinder, the tap, drip tray, hoses, ALL fittings and adapters. The trade off is that I help them when customers need help setting up their own systems. All I have to do is fill the CO2 tank and drill a couple holes in the fridge.
They have a web site that accepts orders. More than half their business is internet based. Check them out at http://www.letsdowine.com/. The proprietors are Steve and Wendy.
Jim,
That puckin phenomenal, congrats! now your on your way to production Brewing
some tips I would like to share with you about setting up a beer fridge for home brewing from all my years of trial and error will hopefully make things easier for you than it was for me. The first thing you have to understand is that homebrew is not like tappin Miller Lite, home brew is very acidic and therefore will eat away at most commercial grade equipment. Whenever possible use Stainless Steel!!!!!!!!!
all chrome plated brass hardware will corrode in a matter of months, don't waste your money.
1) the threaded shanks that go thru the fridge wall can be purchased in stainless, many home brew shops carry them now, this is a must do
2) the tappers, most off the shelf commercial tappers are chrome plated brass and will corrode, don't waste your money and ruin your beer. You can now purchase all stainless steel beer tapers including all stainless steel internal components, yes they are more money but after you replace the chrome plated ones once you will have spent more money than going with the life time stainless tapers. also there are two kinds of tapers, the traditional rear sealing and the new forward sealing design. the old style rear sealing taps tend to dry shut if not used on a daily basis, the new forward sealing design keeps the seal wet and will not dry itself shut if you don't use it for a day or two.
3) the Co2 gas supply, you can simply drill a hole through the fridge and pass a hose through for a simple solution but if you need to move your tank for any reason you are "hard wired" so to speak and you must remove the line from the regulator to move your tank. I found a corny fitting with an 1/4" Npt thread at the rear and hard piped it through the fridge so I can use the quick disconnet and uncouple it whenever I want.
you have to modify the fitting because it is the beer side coupling but thats easy to do. here is a link to the fitting
http://www.hoptech.com/cart/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16369&category_id=279
here is the fitting with the faucet adapter removed
here is the fitting on the fridge
on the inside I used a distribution manifold with check valves to feed two kegs
note: the fridge pictures are old and not up to date, you can see that the tappers are plastic, as well as the shanks. (they are used for wine) this was the second attempt after pitching the chrome plated brass hardware, they lasted a little longer but the tips on the tappers were chrome plated inserts and corroded as well. I finally replaced everything with stainless steel, and everthing is worry free
Good luck Bro, and let me know if you need any help
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Topic: Friday Beer Thread (Read 733137 times)