Keg Suggestions

[RunDownHouse]

I've got a two-keg kegerator and just polished off a keg of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I get the feeling the other keg - Shiner Bock - isn't far behind, so I'm taking suggestions for one or both.

I'm a hop head. The Sierra Pale was good, but if I was just buying bottles I'd much prefer Stone IPA or Ruination over that. Kegged, the best I can do here is Sierra. I also love hefeweizens and am thinking about trying to get a keg of Weihenstephaner, if I can get it. If not, I'm also considering Spaten Pils or a similar beer.

So, given my tastes - hops or good German beers, preferably weizens - suggest a keg or two. Cost isn't much of a factor, and certainly much less of an obstacle as availability. Also, if I'm getting a German brew, I'll almost definitely have to get a new part to tap it. The cost isn't a big deal, but if the second keg runs out before it gets here, I'll probably just run out and get a keg of a domestic, so that might affect any combo pairings you have in mind.

As a last note, does anyone have any experience try to get a seasonal keg from breweries? I love Sierra's Summer brew, but I don't know if I can just ask the distributor to get a keg of it.

[Shilly]

I can't really help, but I was wondering how long the beer stays good in your kegerator. A week? Longer?

[smb394]

I'd go with an Oktoberfest brew.

I've had Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, and Ayinger. Can't say I remember from last year which I most preferred /images/graemlins/grin.gif

BTW, very jealous of the setup.

[RunDownHouse]

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I can't really help, but I was wondering how long the beer stays good in your kegerator. A week? Longer?

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It'll be good for at least 6 months. Beyond that I'm unsure, since its never sat around that long. But, assuming your lines are clean, the beer is staying cool, pressurized, and sealed. There's really not anything to ruin it.

As far as being jealous of my setup, when I get into homebrewing I'll be able to put at least 2 homebrew kegs in there, if not 4, and then swap out depending on how many homebrews I've got and which commercials I want. Talk about heaven...

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

In my next house, I will have a triple kegerator with Guinness, Boddington's Pub Ale, and a rotating third keg. There should be a Keg of the Month club. If there was, I'd join that for my rotator.

[nothumb]

My new roomie and I are looking at a kegerator for sure. What's it run you for a one or two keg model? Best place to find one?

NT

[RunDownHouse]

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My new roomie and I are looking at a kegerator for sure. What's it run you for a one or two keg model? Best place to find one?

NT

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It runs me whatever I can get a freezer for cheap off of classifieds, plus parts. Seriously, building one is a snap and commercial ones are seriously overpriced.

Since that was so marginally helpful, I'd say it goes $300-$500, depending mostly on your firdge/freezer costs and less so on the parts costs. Either way, its cheaper, more convenient, and tastier. You won't hit the bars as much, but this can be good or bad, depending.

[TheBlueMonster]

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also love hefeweizens and am thinking about trying to get a keg of Weihenstephaner, if I can get it.

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And there's your answer my friend.

[Dubra]

Natural Light

Dont know if it comes in kegs but im sure youd love Sam Smith Pale Ale. Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout is the best beer ive ever had.

[pokerdirty]

http://home.centurytel.net/rmwachuta/BJ/icon2/misc_st_anky.gif

[smokingrobot]

i /images/graemlins/heart.gif boddingtons

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

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I can't really help, but I was wondering how long the beer stays good in your kegerator. A week? Longer?

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It'll be good for at least 6 months. Beyond that I'm unsure, since its never sat around that long. But, assuming your lines are clean, the beer is staying cool, pressurized, and sealed. There's really not anything to ruin it.

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How much of a hassle is it to clean the lines clean? I'd like to have something set up, but there are two things that are stopping me. The first is that I don't have any good place to put it unless I put the unit down in my basement and run the lines upstairs from there. The second is that I don't actually sit at home and drink a lot of beer, so it'd have to keep well for a decent amount of time and I'd want to have at least two if not three different beers at any given time. If it keeps for months, that'd solve the second problem. Ambition and easy maintenance solves the first.

[RunDownHouse]

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How much of a hassle is it to clean the lines clean?

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Not much, really. First, with just about any keg, the commonly recommended cleaning is in between kegs. If you have commercial kegs running more or less continuously, this may not be as important, as beer should be constantly in the lines at 40 degrees or less. Second, most of the info on this that you'll find is from homebrewers, who are a notoriously germaphobic group, understandably. If youve got homebrews, you definitely want to run sanitizer through your lines every keg. I'm sure that the average homebrewer would do it more often if it was more practical.

As for running your lines from a basement to a kitchen... go for it! The pressure isn't a problem, as you can just set your CO2 to whatever you need to pump it. A bigger problem, as you alluded, is keeping the beer cool along the way, so it isn't excessively foamy. As far as I can tell, there are several solutions from this, ranging from wrapping the lines in some sort of insolation to taping a line of another coolant to your beer line and using a pond pump to pump the coolant up there with your beer. Essentially, it depends on how far you've got to go and how far you're willing to go to reduce pouring problems.

I suck at "handyman" type stuff and I've managed to figure a lot out, so I would imagine an engineer would do as well or better with less effort.

[dynamite]

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i /images/graemlins/heart.gif boddingtons

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[BruinEric]

Bummer about the lack of some of your favorites in TN. I'm sipping a Stone IPA pulled from my cheapo Haier Kegerator at this very moment.

If it makes you feel better, even we here in SoCal can only get Ruination on draught in June. They don't keg it year 'round.

So we're stuck having Pliny the Elder and Racer 5 and Alesmith IPA, etc. Oh yeah, and the Pizza Port brews too.

As for asking the distributor, it depends on the laws in your state. Here, I would call a store where I buy kegs and ask them to order a keg of such and such.

The distributor is probably ordering their allocation of Summerfest all at once. So either they're getting some or not. I would assume Summerfest is done by now.

The Paulaner Hefe is quite delicious and since imported by Star Brands, they've gotta be in TN.

[jakethebake]

I /images/graemlins/heart.gif Shiner Bock.

[nothumb]

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It runs me whatever I can get a freezer for cheap off of classifieds, plus parts. Seriously, building one is a snap and commercial ones are seriously overpriced.

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Okay, so what are the parts exactly? Is there an online resource for this? I'd love to do it but I am retarted when it comes to this kind of stuff. My roommate is pretty handy but I think he'll be just as happy to throw down some dough on a commercial one, cause he's got it.

NT

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

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It runs me whatever I can get a freezer for cheap off of classifieds, plus parts. Seriously, building one is a snap and commercial ones are seriously overpriced.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, so what are the parts exactly? Is there an online resource for this? I'd love to do it but I am retarted when it comes to this kind of stuff. My roommate is pretty handy but I think he'll be just as happy to throw down some dough on a commercial one, cause he's got it.

NT

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Yeah, but imagine how badass it would be if you got one of those big chest freezers and filled it with however many pony kegs you can squeeze in there and then run about 10 taps to your kitchen/living room.

[WackityWhiz]

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yes

[Skjonne]

If you're a hop head you have to try all the beers from Great Divide. I don't know if they're available to you (They're from Denver)

[RunDownHouse]

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Okay, so what are the parts exactly? Is there an online resource for this? I'd love to do it but I am retarted when it comes to this kind of stuff. My roommate is pretty handy but I think he'll be just as happy to throw down some dough on a commercial one, cause he's got it.

NT

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A kegerator is essentially fridge, the keg, the dispenser, and the CO2. The dispenser can either be a tower with a faucet or two on there or just the faucet. The beer line runs from the faucet to the keg coupler, which is what you "tap" the keg with. From another outlet on the coupler runs the air line, which goes into the regulator. The regulator controls how much CO2 you've got pushing your beer and connects to the CO2 tank just be screwing on.

If you've got an empty fridge, building the kegerator is as simple as drilling the hole through the door. If you're using a chest freezer, you have to get a temperature controller to modify it from freezing to cooling. The website I've used for all of mine is http://www.beveragefactory.com They've got excellent customer service and a price guarantee. If you can get a fridge for $50, the parts will run you $100 and the CO2 anywhere from $60-$100, depending on how big your tank is (but it only costs like $5 to refill). Commercial versions run like $700 for a mini-fridge type, in comparison to your fridge with freezer for frosted mugs and extra storage. No contest.

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Yeah, but imagine how badass it would be if you got one of those big chest freezers and filled it with however many pony kegs you can squeeze in there and then run about 10 taps to your kitchen/living room.

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I'm using a chest freezer, and will be seriously excited when I've got 4-6 beers on tap.

So, bump for suggestions from the day crowd.

[pokerdirty]

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yes

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thank you. i'm glad someone got this.

[RunDownHouse]

I got it, its just that it was a post that warrants no response. What do you want, an "LOL!!!"

[pokerdirty]

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I got it, its just that it was a post that warrants no response. What do you want, an "LOL!!!"

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i prefer a "niiiiiice /images/graemlins/cool.gif"

[RunDownHouse]

Naj told me to bump this.

[BruinEric]

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Naj told me to bump this.

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Post this on beeradvocate.com, where you will get good replies. Maybe do it in the forum specifically meant for your geographic area, and you will get suggestions which don't misunderstand availability in TN.