Just one thing that hasn't been mentioned so far Dave is that if you only need to have one beer on tap, and money is a little short, you can get by with one keg and several plastic jerry cans (cubes) which cost about $16.
As a simple system, you can rack from your fermenter after 7 days into a cube. Try and keep the cube for another 7 days at the correct fermenting temperature. (Cubes will usually take a bung and airlock of around 48mm, often the same as your fermenter however if it doesn't fit, just screw the lid on lose so air can escape - not too loose though!). After this 14 days, replace the bung and airlock with the lid and put the whole cube into your fridge where it can stay for another week or several months cold conditioning.
When your keg is empty, you need to clean it and sanitise it, including the line and tap, which can all be done in the same process. Then you can rack your cube into the now sterilised keg, use
the Ross Method of Carbonation and be drinking again in about half an hour though the beer will be alittle frothy.
Just thought this may save you a $80 or $90.
There are also 2 types of kegs available now. One is the trafitional 19lt corny keg which is slim and tall. The other is the 23 litre Brew Bratt keg recently available through Morgan's distributors. These are lower and wider (27cm circular footprint and 47cm high). The reason I mention this is that depending on your fridge width, height and shelf spacing, it can sometimes end up being more economical buying the newer kegs, those being the Brew Bratts at about $180 brand new, especially as they hold a full brew.
A picture of my fridge set-up can be seen
here, and if I had used Corny's, I would have lost out badly. As I said, you don't necessarily need 2 kegs to start though.
As Pint mentioned, a lot of shops have a 2 keg set-up and the price of the second keg is slightly discounted. As refrigeration cost or space usually ends up being a big factor, do as Pint suggested and check the measurements of your fridges. How many cubes can you fit? (Cube height is approx. 21wx35dx44h). How many Brew Bratt kegs could you fit? How many 19lt Corny kegs can you fit? (Not sure of the dimensions of Cornys sorry).
Finally, kegging is the best! This is also one of the reasons why I'm glad I went for 23lt kegs and not the 19lt ones as I never have to see a bottle again! (Mind you, if I need to do up some bottles I am also able to load them straight from the tap). Also get yourself an autosyphon for about $25.
Am I long winded or what?!!!!
P.S. Wish I had 2 beer fridges!
