Kegging On A (tightarse) Budget

[NickB]

Hi all,

I'm looking at moving to Kegging ASAP (so sick of bottles...although having to empty them has been fun!), but short of scrimping and saving (who me?!), or draining everyone else's supplies (watch out!), I'm forced to try this on a real budget.

Anyone have any tips, tricks, ideas or general musings on how/where/when/who I can souce parts from, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of trying this on a budget.

Anyone been in a similar situation? How did you manage?

I'm probably looking at a cheap Kegerator setup atm, although if there's any better (ie: cheaper) options, do tell!

I'm in Brisbane BTW!

Cheers


Nick

 

[Adamt]

The cheapest ways of getting kegs (by far) is from overseas. Downside is shipping usually takes 8 or so weeks. Plenty of places that will do it, I can't recommend any personally, but there are a few places which are known for occasional heavily delayed/lost orders so do some researching before you order.

 

[browndog]

Speak to Ross at Craftbrewer Nick The link is up above.

cheers

Browndog

 

[NickB]

Speak to Ross at Craftbrewer Nick The link is up above.

cheers

Browndog

Ross is always my first port of call for anything brewing related! Spend a good couple of hours at the Carbrook Brewery this week discussing beers, brewing, and the life of current and former projectionists.....

Obviously Caraftbrewer is the benchmark on prices. Just thought I may be able to cobble together some bits and pieces for next to nothing...

Cheers

Nick

 

[browndog]

Ross is always my first port of call for anything brewing related! Spend a good couple of hours at the Carbrook Brewery this week discussing beers, brewing, and the life of current and former projectionists.....

Obviously Caraftbrewer is the benchmark on prices. Just thought I may be able to cobble together some bits and pieces for next to nothing...

Cheers

Nick

Short of making a great score on ebay, I don't think you can do much better than deal with Ross Nick.

cheers

Browndog

 

[boingk]

If you're looking for something easy and quick and VERY cheap [how does 50 or 60 bucks sound?] then you might want to try www.partypig.com - they sell a 9 litre PET kegging system that has had good results with people...the best part is that no CO2 is needed, just add a food-grade expanding pouch from them and you're set for the dispensing. The pouches aren't reusable, but are only something like $55 for 12 anyway, way less then the outlay for a CO2 bottle. Plus with a keg system this small you don't have to have a dedicated fridge. I'm seriously thinking of doing it...

Heres the link to the thread I originally saw it on: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;hl=party+pig

 

[NickB]

If you're looking for something easy and quick and VERY cheap [how does 50 or 60 bucks sound?] then you might want to try www.partypig.com - they sell a 9 litre PET kegging system that has had good results with people...the best part is that no CO2 is needed, just add a food-grade expanding pouch from them and you're set for the dispensing. The pouches aren't reusable, but are only something like $55 for 12 anyway, way less then the outlay for a CO2 bottle. Plus with a keg system this small you don't have to have a dedicated fridge. I'm seriously thinking of doing it...

Heres the link to the thread I originally saw it on: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;hl=party+pig

Well that's certainly an option!

Thanks for the info!

Nick

 

[QldKev]

Look at a real keg setup. Think of it as a long term investment. Short term hire a gas bottle, buy a reg, keg and hand gun. Add more kegs, taps, gas bottles as you go. The pig idea is excellent for portability, but at just over $4 for 9L cost per use is up a bit expensive for a main source; allowing a full keg setup will cost about $1 for gas per 18L batch.
A bit a beer maths...
A keg will cost about 2 cartons of beer
A reg will cost just under another 3 cartons of beer
A Bronco faucet and hose, along with some disconnects and hose another carton.

So for about 6 cartons you can get a starter kit; which is about 3 batches of brew. You will have a real keg and reg for long term and just add a decent tap and more kegs....

QldKev

 

[lokpikn]

You could try this as well to save a few extra bucks in the setup for the short term.

It seems there are endless supply of kegs so i wont even go into this. But you could try to bulk prime your kegs to save on buying a reg and co2 bottle and go for the small sparklet bombs to dispense with. There are some platic tap setups i think craft brewer has as well that will conect to your out post of the kegs.

If you are going to bulk prime the only draw back i found was having to wait for the keg to carbonate but thats what you are doing with bottles any ways.

Its for sure not the way you would wont to go long term but will start you off to pouring beers and the parts that you have bought you can reuse them to set you up a nice portable setup to dispense kegs from any where with very little gear to break or lose.

 

[ozpowell]

If you're looking for something easy and quick and VERY cheap [how does 50 or 60 bucks sound?] then you might want to try www.partypig.com - they sell a 9 litre PET kegging system that has had good results with people...the best part is that no CO2 is needed, just add a food-grade expanding pouch from them and you're set for the dispensing. The pouches aren't reusable, but are only something like $55 for 12 anyway, way less then the outlay for a CO2 bottle. Plus with a keg system this small you don't have to have a dedicated fridge. I'm seriously thinking of doing it...

Heres the link to the thread I originally saw it on: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;hl=party+pig

For a similar outlay you could consider the tap-a-draft system. I use it and have found it to be a great compromise between bottling and all-out kegging. The system works in the same way as the party pig, except you don't need to use their proprietary co2 pouches - you just use 2 standard 8g co2 charges (the ones that you plug into soda bottles) You can even substitue an nitrous oxide charge for one of the co2 charges for a creamy head.

You can get TAD systems here in Australia (www.ibrew.com.au), but they're way overpriced. I buy the valve units from www.morebeer.com (about $37 USD each) and just buy the bulky 6L PET bottles from ibrew. You can pick up the co2 charges from any kitchenware store in packs of 10 for about $8.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Michael.

 

[boingk]

Looks like the TAD system is the way to go on this one...non-proprietary carbonation, you get 3 bottles to do batches with for a total of 18 litres, and its properly force carbonated if you so desire - no muck in the bottle!

So many things...man, can't wait for payday...US$59 at the moment is something like AU$70 right? Nice...

 

[bugwan]

Hey Nick, I purchased my keg system on a budget, but I had time on my side...
I took about 4 months or more to put it all together, buying a regulator one week, organising a fridge the next month etc.

I bought kegs from the US for $US16 each. Unbeatable price, but it took nearly 5 months to get here (due to a major stuff up at their end). For me, I could wait, as I still needed to organise the hardware to house them!

If you have time, pick away at what you need, otherwise, you'll take a bit of a hit. Try not to skimp too much on fittings etc, kegs will last many, many years if they're well cared for with quality gear.

$120 for two kegs (Craftbrewer) is pretty much the best you'll do in Australia. Avoid eBay, they're generally overpriced and there's absolutely NO aftersales service etc.

 

[tangent]

you might even be able to get a keg that needs the rubber base glued back on from Ross even cheaper if he has any spare. $60 is pretty bloody good for a s/s keg though.
Nice to have the after sales service as mentioned above.

 

[Ross]

you might even be able to get a keg that needs the rubber base glued back on from Ross even cheaper if he has any spare. $60 is pretty bloody good for a s/s keg though.
Nice to have the after sales service as mentioned above.

Yep, we have cheaper kegs available if you don't mind what they look like. ie loose rubbers or extra dings....

cheers Ross

 

[delboy]

hey good point there Ross no one see thenm when there in the fridge.

gunnell rubber cement glues em back on and you can get it from boat builders.

del

 

[Wortgames]

If you are on a really tight budget, you might want to keep an eye on this thread.

Hopefully I'll have some results to post soon...

 

[NickB]

Hey Nick, I purchased my keg system on a budget, but I had time on my side...
I took about 4 months or more to put it all together, buying a regulator one week, organising a fridge the next month etc.

I bought kegs from the US for $US16 each. Unbeatable price, but it took nearly 5 months to get here (due to a major stuff up at their end). For me, I could wait, as I still needed to organise the hardware to house them!

If you have time, pick away at what you need, otherwise, you'll take a bit of a hit. Try not to skimp too much on fittings etc, kegs will last many, many years if they're well cared for with quality gear.

$120 for two kegs (Craftbrewer) is pretty much the best you'll do in Australia. Avoid eBay, they're generally overpriced and there's absolutely NO aftersales service etc.

This is what I'm thinking might be my best bet at this stage - Collect over a period of time, and not be too tightarsed and purchase quality bits and pieces... Might make the financial controller a little happier if I'm just skimming some out of every pay rather than taking this months mortgage money and going nuts

BTW Ross, PM sent

Nick