Kegging Setups

[Digga]

So I finally finished my outdoor mobile bar projects. 10 taps for parties, including my old english handpump on the wine barrel.
The bars are made from blackbutt and mini-orb. I pinch my 6 tap goal post font from my inside bar for one and the other has a dedicated 3 tap T bar.

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How nice is your grass!! What a your trick?

 

[droid]

working on a party / camping set-up

 

[Grott]

How long will the keg keep cold in those keg jackets? or is it down to the pace you drink at?

 

[droid]

will need a big pvc cozzie in summer or a bucket of ice or something, right now it don't need nothin if served from 5pm onwards

 

[barls]

finally got a drip tray on my keezer

thanks to troopa for that one.
also got bored and made a new tap handle out of mulga burl

 

[mckenry]

How nice is your grass!! What a your trick?

No trick. I do nothing to help it. Just the product of living in a cool climate with plenty of rainfall. I have a husqy ride on mulching mower which does a nice job.

 

[Hostage_85]

Just went through all 189 Pages of this thread.

Loved every minute of it, and its got me inspired to actually build my Bar with limited Woodworking knowledge... it should be interesting lol.

I have a question.

My plan is to get a bar going with a font setup with either 3 or 4 taps.
Would it be better to just by one of the purpose built kegerators and then move the font to the bar
Or build a keg setup from scratch.

 

[MastersBrewery]

The comercial kegerators will ONLY hold 3 kegs, now if you only have 2 taps going you've got the room to have a backup ready to go.

Kegs are finicky, and fickle, some run out just as the beer hits it's peak and you have settled in for a session. Others seem bottomless but usually only when you want them empty to clear out the keezer to move house.

Having a spot to condition a keg (or 2) at serving temp is an essential for me over summer, usually because other taps are tied up with stouts and non session beers.
There are those who believe RIS and Belgian strongs are quiet sessionable.

 

[reardo]

There are those who believe RIS and Belgian strongs are quiet sessionable.

I am obviously one of these, as you may have found out a couple of weeks ago :icon_drool2:

 

[barls]

I am obviously one of these, as you may have found out a couple of weeks ago :icon_drool2:

im guilty of this as well.

 

[reardo]

Just went through all 189 Pages of this thread.

Loved every minute of it, and its got me inspired to actually build my Bar with limited Woodworking knowledge... it should be interesting lol.

I have a question.

My plan is to get a bar going with a font setup with either 3 or 4 taps.
Would it be better to just by one of the purpose built kegerators and then move the font to the bar
Or build a keg setup from scratch.

My mate (VP Brewing - on this forum) built his own kegerator from a chest freezer with a 4 tap font, eventually sold it and bought a 2 tap kegerator. I'm pretty sure he's certain he made the change.

 

[Hostage_85]

My mate (VP Brewing - on this forum) built his own kegerator from a chest freezer with a 4 tap font, eventually sold it and bought a 2 tap kegerator. I'm pretty sure he's certain he made the change.

ok cool...

So my next question is, If I go the Kegerator option. Is it relatively easy to take the font off and mount it to a bar?
Or is it a pain in the ***?

 

[peteru]

Keg King kegerators ship unassembled, so the font comes in a separate box. I imagine most other brands would ship the same way.

 

[Hostage_85]

Awesome. So you can just run the lines out of the top (Obliviously have to seal it properly I guess first) and then connect the tap to the location you want on the Bar.

Thanks for the help guys.

Looks like I better get to work on my Bar

 

[quadbox]

Awesome. So you can just run the lines out of the top (Obliviously have to seal it properly I guess first) and then connect the tap to the location you want on the Bar.

Thanks for the help guys.
Looks like I better get to work on my Bar

It's not going to be that simple. The cooling of the fonts, even with the font fan, on those kegerators is marginal as it is. You'll need some way to chill the beer lines and font. I dont think they're a good match for a remotely mounted font myself

 

[Hostage_85]

Ahh true... I figured it couldn't be that simple haha.

What if I run the beer lines through some pipe to keep the cool?

 

[quadbox]

Well you could have a try, and I'm sure it'd be better than nothing, but obviously you're suddenly putting a whole bunch more strain on a very small fridge... if you're only adding like a foot out of the top it'd probably work fine, if it's more than that I'd consider doing it differently if I were you.

Consider this, those kegerators arent exactly cheap for what they are EXCEPT for the fact they're an all in one unit. They dont actually have any other advantage. You'd potentially do far better converting a medium sized chesty very cheaply (cosmetics dont matter if it's hidden). If you do it that way you've got the option of running a length of proper beer python (which is an insulated bundle of beer lines with two glycol lines, one to and one from the font) or a home made equivalent and flooded font. If the run is shortish (a couple of metres or so ) you'd get away with flooding it with just a tub of water inside the same chest freezer. All told if you use a second hand chesty it'd probably end up cheaper anyway. And it hopefully wont only hold 3 kegs, which is bloody tight at the best of times as people have mentioned.

That's my thoughts anyway, as with any other custom project you pays your monies and you takes your chances

 

[Hostage_85]

ok cool. Thanks for the help.

Thats the sort of info I was looking for.

I have to build my bar first, but then i'll have to way up the options.

Thanks

 

[Mr B]

Dont forget to consider how much room and placement of said cool box in the bar....

Maybe check out some dimensions if you are doing the bar bit first

 

[Hostage_85]

Will do. Cheers