Collar Vs. Font, And Other Keg Setup Upgrade Questions

[jonw]

My old chest freezer died a while ago, and Ive just installed its replacement courtesy of EBay a 300L Kelvinator. Im now thinking about a few upgrades and would appreciate everyones input. At the moment I have two gas disconnects on a splitter, so I can (obviously) only have two kegs on gas at a time. I also just have a beer gun on a quick disconnect, so I have to move that between kegs depending on what I want to drink.

Id like to install some taps so I dont have to open the freezer so often. Hopefully this would reduce the moisture build up (any tricks on how to keep the freezer dry, other than putting a layer of newspaper in the bottom? Ive heard charcoal can help.) I also find that moving my beer gun from keg to keg results in a little spillage from the QD that collects in the bottom, and Id like to avoid.

It seems to me that a font is better that a collar because (a) it doesnt involve making a collar, and (B) can go on the next freezer when this one blows up. The only problem I can see is the beer line outside the freezer warming up is this an issue?

Id like to have at least four kegs on the gas at a time Im planning on just using a two-way divider and a pair of Union Tee-pieces. Sound OK?

Lastly, but probably most importantly, there seems to be an array of taps available from ~$50 up to well over $200. Chrome vs. stainless seems to be a big difference does it really matter? What other features should I look out for. Any particular recommendations for taps? Ive been looking at Banner taps off Ebay (~$50, chrome with flow control.)

Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[glaab]

Igot my Perlick 425ss taps from a US ebayer, brauman_59 [i think] and would definately recommend them.
Reasonably priced too and a good bloke to deal with. Heard a lot of bad reports about taps with the flow control so I avoided them, but never tried em myself, Cheers.

 

[MattC]

I have been using a chest freezer setup for the last 2 years with no real probs except for the moisture on the bottom of the freezer. I built a wooden collar around and have 2 celli taps with in built flow regulators on them. These are fantastic taps and if I was buying taps I dont think I would use anything else. They do away with the need to have metres of beerline in your setup which can look messy and get in the way.
My freezer fits 6 cornies and I have one gas line split by a 2 way divider and 2 T pieces, so I can have 4 kegs on gas at any one time (make sure you leave one gas line a few metres long in case you plan on force carbing you kegs using the rocking and shaking method. I only have two taps, at the start i thought, thats plenty, but I wish I had more

Unless you have a flooded font, you may have problems with the beer warming up in the font. There may be some suggestions from others on how they overcome this.

Also, a font means that you have to drill a large hole in your freezeer lid, which isnt an issue if you never want to sell it or use again as a normal freezer.

Cheers

 

[jonw]

Igot my Perlick 425ss taps from a US ebayer, brauman_59....

Thanks for the tip - there are some pretty good prices on taps from the states.

I have been using a chest freezer setup for the last 2 years with no real probs except for the moisture on the bottom of the freezer. I built a wooden collar around and have 2 celli taps with in built flow regulators on them. These are fantastic taps and if I was buying taps I dont think I would use anything else. They do away with the need to have metres of beerline in your setup which can look messy and get in the way.

Yeah, they look really nice. But they also look $200 :unsure:

My freezer fits 6 cornies and I have one gas line split by a 2 way divider and 2 T pieces, so I can have 4 kegs on gas at any one time (make sure you leave one gas line a few metres long in case you plan on force carbing you kegs using the rocking and shaking method. I only have two taps, at the start i thought, thats plenty, but I wish I had more

Good tip!

Unless you have a flooded font, you may have problems with the beer warming up in the font. There may be some suggestions from others on how they overcome this. Also, a font means that you have to drill a large hole in your freezeer lid, which isnt an issue if you never want to sell it or use again as a normal freezer.

That's what I'm worried about - I don't want to be pouring glasses full of foam until the font/tap has cooled down. I'm planning on mounting the font on a small shelf just behind my freezer, so the line comes out of the freezer under the seal and straight through the shelf into the font. I guess I'm only talking about 20cm or 30cm of line outside the freezer, so that probably not much warm beer.

Thanks for the input guys.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[avaneyk]

...any tricks on how to keep the freezer dry, other than putting a layer of newspaper in the bottom? I've heard charcoal can help.

I'm keen for any ideas on this as well - just built a keg fridge based on a chesty with 2 taps that come through a collar. I bought perlick 525s - I like these taps cos they're forward sealing and so don't get gunked up. This means you don't need to clean them as often and the taps don't stick shut if you don't use them for a while.

 

[cdbrown]

It's the opening and closing of the freezer which is causing most of the moisture. If you have taps on the outside of the freezer this would fix a lot of this problem. A collar is very simple to make and does a great job of increasing the volume of the freezer and allows you to drill through the wood rather than the freezer when running an external gas line or taps.

You could try moisture absorbant tubs to suck some of the moisture content out of the freezer air.