Buying Keg System New Or Used, Shop Or Ebay?

[Chooky88]

Hi all.

I have recently replaced my fridge after the freezer died and am now the proud owner of a 500 litre upside down Westinghouse "Beer Fridge"

I have permission from my boss to set it up as a kegging system. Now the research begins.

My local brew shop suggests about $600.00 for a full 2 x 19litre second hand corny setup including the Co2 bottle which he says will cost $30.00 to refill by exchange (I didnt get the size but its not very big, about the same size as camping BBQ LPG bottle) he also said they carbonate for free so I only need co2 to push it through the line.

Ebay has a full system sans Co2 bottle at $230.00 not including postage to Perth which I think is about $50.00. and they are Pin Lock kegs not ball lock. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/XPERT-PIN-LOCK-KEGG...=item45f7eee712

My shop and Ebay seem to have exactly the same regulator and taps.

Any suggestions or should I keep looking for second hand? Every $ counts as I'm a new dad on a single income!

Jason

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

Craft brewer has 4 ball lock kegs for $240 including postage, $150 for a swap and go 6kg bottle from Supagas (depending on your location), $100 for a good reg and say $100 for bits and pieces.

For $590 for a 4 keg setup :beerbang:

Bargain!!

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

Some very cheap kegging gear here too, I don't know anyone who has dealt with them but a $85 for 2 ball lock, can't go wrong (i think).

Linky to beer goodness

 

[DU99]

http://www.mybeershop.com.au/index.php?mai...products_id=121 this same company has there top reg,plus bottle should be under$500..pinlocks are old coke kegs the smaller but fatter..

 

[raven19]

+1 to bob's post above.

You can get away with picnic taps with 3-4m of beer line (dependant on your fridge temp and gas pressure) initially which will work just fine, then simply add the (inherently more costly) taps later on if required.

 

[benno1973]

Where abouts in Perth are you? There's a few good brew shops in Bayswater/Bassendean if you're close to that area?

As far as kegs go, the craftbrewer deal is pretty good, but you'll probably need to get your CO2 cylinder locally.

 

[chadjaja]

http://www.mybeershop.com.au/index.php?mai...products_id=121 this same company has there top reg,plus bottle should be under$500..pinlocks are old coke kegs the smaller but fatter..

Too bad they are sold out, I'd be up for another two otherwise.

 

[Doogiechap]

Bloke just to add some variation to the equation you can get converted Fire Extinguishers from John from Eversafe U 1/ 29 Emerald Rd Maddington 6109
(1300 88 2044) for a competitive price which he can get refilled or you can also get them refilled from Australian Safety Engineers
Gas Cylinder Testing - Canning Vale 9456 2066 for about $30 for a 5Kg Cylinder.

The Craftbrewer keg deal is pretty hard to beat, pinlocks are a great connector but less common and the disconnects are more expensive. Nev from Gryphon Brewing is pretty competeitive and TWOC in Bibra Lake is potentially more expensive but Roy has an awesome range of gear and for me he is local and I LOVE the convenience.
Tap wise it may be worth your while to do a search on Perlick taps from the US as our dollar strength is buying some very good taps at the moment. If you are happy to spend some time researching you will end up with a superior setup for a better price that than any old ebay package which makes it money on ignorance/ laziness
Congrats on your 'permission' and good luck with your quest
Cheers
Doug

 

[Chooky88]

Thanks All, Some great advice! Will definately buy it bits a pieces style to get a a superior system.


And will be trolling these forums for more advice on older topics..

I've already looked at a few reccomended sites and I really appreciate the responses!

CHEERS!!!!!!

 

[poppa joe]

Your HBS is not cheap...
Try kegsonline.com.au they have 2 kegs for $100.00
Cheers
PJ

 

[Nevalicious]

Hey there. I have recently made the leap into kegging after swearing I never would...

I too looked around heaps and did lots of research. As others have mentioned, Ross' Craftbrewer 4 keg deal is a great deal.

I purchased 3 of these off of this guy. Search his store. Alot of the kegging AHB community have used him with great success. Definitely the cheapest I've seen Perlicks on the net. As a bonus, from order to delivery, took 9 days to my door from the US!!! I also picked up disconnects from him as they cost half what they do here and I had room in the boxes he sent the taps over in, so thought, may as well order them.

Hope this helps! BTW, 500L is a fairly large fridge yeah?? I reckon you'll fit 4 kegs in easily. I dont reckon my old clunker is quite that large, but I managed 4 kegs and a 5.5kg fire extinguiher in there! :beerbang:

Tyler

 

[maxmcbain]

I got my co2 bottle off Roy and got my kegs off eBay all up it cost me about $450 and thats for 2 kegs and co2

 

[michael_aussie]

....... he also said they carbonate for free so I only need co2 to push it through the line.

I was interested in this line.
What did he say, or what do you think you will be "getting for free"??
When you keg your beer most people (I believe?!?), use the CO2 from their gas bottle to carbonate their beer.
Once your beer is carbonated, the CO2 from the bottle is used to "push it through the line".
I'm not sure on the relative volumes of the initial carbonation vs what is used as you effectively fill your keg with CO2 as you displace all the beer.
I'd be interested to know the chemical math behind the two consumptions.

The alternative is, you secondary prime your beer in the keg and let it naturally carbonate.

My understanding is the cons of using sugar are:
1. you have shit in the bottom of your keg that you will end up serving some/all with your beer.
2. you obviously have to clean thie shit out of the keg.
3. you have to wait the "normal" secondary carbonation period before your beer is carbonated.

The pro is:
1. you use less CO2 and therefore your CO2 bottle will last for more kegs = cheaper.

I have been using the CO2 bottle to carbonate my beer so far, but am going to try sugar next time, just to see how it goes.

Your HBS is not cheap...
Try kegsonline.com.au they have 2 kegs for $100.00

+1
I don't get it. When I discussed kegs with both my LHBS and told them politely when they said kegs were $90 each, that I could buy them for $60 on-line (even though I knew I could get them even cheaper than that) they both had no desire to negotiate on price.
Needless to say, I didn't buy from either of my LHBS - even though I would have been prepared to pay a small premium to buy locally.

 

[Chooky88]

Where abouts in Perth are you? There's a few good brew shops in Bayswater/Bassendean if you're close to that area?

As far as kegs go, the craftbrewer deal is pretty good, but you'll probably need to get your CO2 cylinder locally.

I'm in Kingsley NOR but only 20 or so minutes from Bayswater/Bassendean. Will check em out. Cheers!

 

[Chooky88]

I was interested in this line.
What did he say, or what do you think you will be "getting for free"??
When you keg your beer most people (I believe?!?), use the CO2 from their gas bottle to carbonate their beer.
Once your beer is carbonated, the CO2 from the bottle is used to "push it through the line".
I'm not sure on the relative volumes of the initial carbonation vs what is used as you effectively fill your keg with CO2 as you displace all the beer.
I'd be interested to know the chemical math behind the two consumptions.


The brewhop guy from Greenwood said that he carbonates the beer to a normal level. At first I won't need any C02 to push it through the line, but as the beer level drops in the keg then I will need to top up the C02 to maintain pressure. (Automatically done by the regulator) from memory he said a pressure of 40 to 45 kps was the right amount. It was a quick conversation but made sense to me at the time.

 

[woodwormm]

I was interested in this line.
What did he say, or what do you think you will be "getting for free"??

i read this as meaning Chooky was going to one of those brew on premises kind of places... where they brew and lager it for you, you go and have a day brewing, then they'll keg and lager and carb for you then you just go pick it up when they phone....

chooky are you fermenting your own beer at home? or getting it done at a u-brew-it kind of place?

 

[benno1973]

I'm in Kingsley NOR but only 20 or so minutes from Bayswater/Bassendean. Will check em out. Cheers!

Try Neil at Brewmart or Nev at Gryphon. Both are very passionate about what they do. Nev has the advantage in that his prices are cheaper and you can order through his online store. He doesn't have a storefront, but if you arrange to pick up the items from him, there's no postage and you might be lucky enough to find him brewing or (even better still) drinking beer.

 

[Chooky88]

i read this as meaning Chooky was going to one of those brew on premises kind of places... where they brew and lager it for you, you go and have a day brewing, then they'll keg and lager and carb for you then you just go pick it up when they phone....

chooky are you fermenting your own beer at home? or getting it done at a u-brew-it kind of place?

Hya,. i'm going to do my first couple at a brewshop until I get used to and confident with my kegging system and a decent Co2 setup. When I've done a couple of brews there I will move back to homebrew. I've done about 60 home-brews using the "kit" but I got sick of cleaning and storing all those bottles. My home hasnt much storage.

About $25.00 a carton for a brewshop brew. About $15.00 a carton for homebrew. Just paid $50.00 for a discount carton of avergage beer. Cant wait to get into it!!!

I've never done a true home brew by using my own ingredients....but baby steps. First I'll get the keg set up.

 

[woodwormm]

all sounds good..

i'm a long term kit brewer, never done an ag brew...

kegging is awesome, your beer tastes sooo much better kegged.

good luck with it all