Home Bar Setup Advice Needed

[roddersf]

Well, I've been given the green light to get my own bar @ home!!!! :beer:

Sooooo.... I was hoping to get some ideas and advice from some of you guys in AHB who have already gone through the process - what you did, what materials you used, what works, what doesnt, what you would change etc etc...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers,
Roddersf.

 

[clean brewer]

Well, I've been given the green light to get my own bar @ home!!!! :beer:

Sooooo.... I was hoping to get some ideas and advice from some of you guys in AHB who have already gone through the process - what you did, what materials you used, what works, what doesnt, what you would change etc etc...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers,
Roddersf.

Have a look in the Kegging Setups Topic, plenty of inspiration/advice there....

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[riverside]

Also check out the pics of guys set ups on here, theres some great ones !

 

[MarkBastard]

Yep go to the gear forum and check the kegging setups!

 

[gjhansford]

On the gear for a home bar I have two bit of advice for you ... which I asume will be kegs and taps ... based on my experience:

Plan to use a big gas bottle. I started with the little 2.5kg gas bottle recommended by my local brewshop and you know what happened ... every time the boys came over the damm gas ran out and it was past closing time at the gas works so no refill! I now have a big bottle that I hire from BOC (or Liquid Air) for about $150 a year and so far I've not had to refill it (runs 5 taps). The refill is also a lot more economical at about $80 ... and they do a swap so it's quick. The brew shop refill used to be $25 which would only last a month or so ... I've got almost 2 years use out of the big bottle (it's about chest height - 20 kg I think) and it's still going!

Pay the extra for good taps. Ross at Craft Brewer (and other suppliers) has a good range and while the Micromatic is cheap at $45, the design allows beer to get trapped in the tap. The Perlick and Shirron taps are double in price but they are forward sealing so no beer get's left in the tap between sessions. I just dismantled one of my Shirron taps as I was planning on cleaning them all after 2 years of use and it didn't even need a clean! Used to have to dismantle and clean the Micromatics every month because they got full of gunk and stuck! Lost a whole brew one night when I didn't notice a slow drip on retiring ... in the morning it was all gone!

Also lost a whole bottle of gas once ...and it was the big one ... that was a learning experience! Had a leak in one of my barbed fittings. So now I only use the John Guest fittings ... and I make sure I turn the gas off every night (unless I'm gassing up a keg).

Hope this helps ...

 

[roddersf]

Thanks ghhb, thats the kind of advice i was looking for! This helps me in a major way, because unless its planned into the design to begin with its likely to bring high expense later!! The bar itself will be positioned in a large rumpus/living room which must be pleasing to the eye or the wife will not be happy... so a kegorator in the corner wont do.

Hope to have a font with at least 5 taps (or room enough to grow to that!).

Any chance of a pic or two of your setup?

 

[Batz]

Any chance of a pic or two of your setup?

As said above 'Kegging Setups' thread, 62 pages of pics/ideas

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...=Kegging+Setups

Batz