Kegerator setup for commercial Growler fills

[bbutlerau]

Hey Guys and Gals,
I work at a craft beer bottleo in Crows Nest, Sydney and we are looking into getting a growler fill station. We are going to use the Keg king kegerators with the growler fill attachment as our setup. I wanted some opinions on what kit we need to purchase.
The first question is should we get 2 series 4 systems or one of the big grand masters with 2 taps. the 2 separate series 4 systems works out a fair bit cheaper as the fonts regulators and lines etc are all included. any opinions?
Either way the biggest question i have is what we need for disconnects etc and what ones are the best. For an example i have put what i think we need for the Dual series 4 setup below. What I'm unsure of is the number required and what types of ball locks and disconnects are required for a full system that allows for relatively speedy changing of kegs.
2 x keg master series 4 single tap SS
2 x 6 kg CO2 cas cylinder
2 x intertap autoclose spring
2 x A coupler
2 x B coupler
2 x S coupler
6 x ball lock?
4 x disconnect?
20 x clamps
2 x Growler fill attachment

Cheers
Brad
Cutty Cellars

 

[fdsaasdf]

Interesting concept.

I have a kegerator much like the KK models and the biggest issue I have with filling growlers is initial foaming due to a short length of warm line in the font and tap. I have Perlick flow controller taps however on warm days these are only partial mitigators. A font fan works well for sessions but I'm not going to turn it on for half an hour just to fill a growler... if I would even remember!

Craftbrewer have a kit very similar to this: https://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=5645 which is for screw-top growlers which they use to purge CO2 (avoiding oxidation of the beer) and reduce wastage/spillage of beer filled from taps to growlers. Maybe worth calling them to discuss your needs?

Personally as a homebrewer foaming isn't an issue most of the time, but if I want to fill a growler it can make a noticeable difference to the foam and the resulting quality / lifetime of the product.

I suggest that if you're not installing the kegerators into an airconditioned space that you look into a method of font chilling such as the digitalhomebrew fans.

Otherwise, do you have a coldroom? If so, is there an option to drill into it and serve from kegs in there to avoid any warm line/font/taps?

 

[SBOB]

seems like overkill/over-expenditure for a growler filling station. 2 series 4 means only 2 50lt kegs at a time, so thats means limited range and a (i imagine) a fair while to payback the expense.
My local bottle shop that fills growlers just has taps setup on a pretty basic growler filling stand and the wall, with the kegs kept in their cool room area behind it, which they already have because.. well they sell beer

they have 8 taps, and rotate as they run out of each keg.

 

[bbutlerau]

Sadly I think our cool room setup does not lend itself to being used in this way as much as we wanted to, We actually cant use 50 L kegs anyway as bottle shops don't have licencing for them. Most who are using kegs this size are doing so illegally and we are going to try and stay above board as much as possible haha. We only want 2 taps to start with Does anyone know who does the custom growler stations using a cool room so we can get a quote.
We are going to start small with only 2 taps in order to not over cater to start. better to constantly sell out of 2 x 20 L then have beer sitting around for ages. Thanks for the tip on the font fan. may put those in and just let them run during the day. We are going to bottom fill the growlers using a length of hosing attached to the tap to minimise foaming. Next year we are going to get the new version of the beer gun which allowed for purging of the growlers with the CO2.

Cheers
Brad
Cutty Cellars

PS if anyone knows a good place to wholesale buy glass or plastic growlers and squealers please let me know.