Purchased A Kegerator

[RussTaylor]

I think oblique cutters are used to both tighten those things and cut them off. Replace them with stainless Steel cobra clamps that are reusable.

Here's a couple of photos

This shows the crimped clamp over the tap nipple. As a said, looks hard to get off, any ideas? Oblique cutters are for those stepless clamps aren't they?
To get by this weekend, I've cut the 8mm beer line just below the clamp and inserted my 5mm line up inside the 8mm line and clamped it. Short term only obviously.


This shows my blower. The blower itself is from Jaycar and I've attached that to a rubber grey water diverter funnel from Bunnings. This then goes up a 90cm length of pvc tubing from Bunnings.

 

[RussTaylor]

Really? I'm happy just flushing my lines with hot water and then sanitiser after each keg.

I'm planning on using PBW followed by sanitiser after each keg.

 

[geoff_tewierik]

For those running fans/blowers into their fonts, what's the electrical juice usage on those? Are you running them 24/7? What's it work out to be? About $2-3 dollars per annum?

 

[RussTaylor]

For those running fans/blowers into their fonts, what's the electrical juice usage on those? Are you running them 24/7? What's it work out to be? About $2-3 dollars per annum?

I'm using a mobile charger unit - 10v 740mA output and the blower is 12v 860mA and run it while I'm drinking so only a couple of hours a day. Cost will depend on the power supply and fan that you're using. There's also a cost from the fridge as it has to work a bit harder.

 

[OzBeer_MD]

Yes russ you are right. I was thinking of a diffrent clamp. Looks like you will have to get creative to get that brass thing off.

Hope you had a great day yesterday.

Cheers

 

[goomboogo]

Russ, they are the same clamps I had. I didn't look at how to get them off as I took a different direction with the elbow pieces. They did look like a ******* to get off.

The PBW and sanitiser through the lines with each keg clean is the way I go as well.

 

[francismcphail]

The only problem is that there's a brass thing crimped over the beer line attatched to the tap. Looks like a bitch to remove. Sorry, no photo and a bit hard to describe, anyone got any ideas?

Russ I used a Dremel with a small cutting wheel to cut through the brass slowly. Didn't have a problem getting through it with the Dremel.

 

[OzBeer_MD]

Here's a couple of photos

This shows the crimped clamp over the tap nipple. As a said, looks hard to get off, any ideas? Oblique cutters are for those stepless clamps aren't they?
To get by this weekend, I've cut the 8mm beer line just below the clamp and inserted my 5mm line up inside the 8mm line and clamped it. Short term only obviously.
View attachment 34158

Maybe you could cut some slots in the top of that red foam in order to get the rest of it up to meet the Styrofoam top piece?. If I was you, I'd get those brass fittings off and have some flexmaster 8mm OD 5mm ID beer line straight onto the tap barbs (which it sounds like you want in the long term).

I also use a keg an line cleaner to flush out the lines with each keg that I clean. But the option of changing the lines every few years is something that I also like the idea of.

 

[francismcphail]

Guy's one thing to be aware of is the regulator. Mine is marked 'Micro Matic' but with not owning any pre-existing Micromatic equipment and from only looking at their website, it would appear my regulator that came with this is a cheap knock-off. (I could be wrong.. )

I've just lost a 4.5KG bottle of co2 as the regulator shat itself and leaked gas out of the relief valve while I was out of the house. The ring on the relief valve that allows you to manually vent gas is well and truly bent out of shape from the pressure of the gas.

Oh well off to purchase a decent regulator and get a new bottle of gas.

 

[OzBeer_MD]

Guy's one thing to be aware of is the regulator. Mine is marked 'Micro Matic' but with not owning any pre-existing Micromatic equipment and from only looking at their website, it would appear my regulator that came with this is a cheap knock-off. (I could be wrong.. )

I've just lost a 4.5KG bottle of co2 as the regulator shat itself and leaked gas out of the relief valve while I was out of the house. The ring on the relief valve that allows you to manually vent gas is well and truly bent out of shape from the pressure of the gas.

Oh well off to purchase a decent regulator and get a new bottle of gas.

I think what you are saying may be applicable for the 'Keg King' package mainly seen on eBay. As per my earlier post, there seems to be a big difference (maybe with the exception of the refrigerator itself) between that and the 'Keg Mate' package. Better Reg, Better Post etc etc. For the record, I have a Keg Mate that I purchased second hand but have added the lesser quality 'Keg King' dual tap tower post/font. They are different thicknesses of metal and have different methods of insulation. I have combined both types as seen in the photo posted.

Sicnarf, out of interest, does your dodgey reg look like the Premium series Micromatic here? http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/r...rs-cid-297.html

 

[RussTaylor]

Mine's a Keg King. Happy with it so far. Here's a picture of the regulator which has Micromatic gauges but an unbranded body.

 

[OzBeer_MD]

Mine's a Keg King. Happy with it so far. Here's a picture of the regulator which has Micromatic gauges but an unbranded body.

View attachment 34176

Just looking back through this thread, kentr had a reg dump the contents of his Co2 bottle as well. That's more than half the value of a new reg! Maybe see if you can order a single guage micromatic from the US and fit your HP guage?

 

[francismcphail]

Sicnarf, out of interest, does your dodgey reg look like the Premium series Micromatic here? http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/r...rs-cid-297.html

Yes it does, however the release valve doesn't have the red tag at the end and the flow adjuster just has a red sticker on it with a + and - sign.

There are no markings on it with any standards certifications. (As per my BOC regulator on the other keg fridge.)

 

[whitegoose]

Well I bought a third keg so that I could keg a third brew before finishing either of the kegs I had on tap - and discovered that my fridge *can* fit 3 kegs in it!! Stoked. So I bought a third gas disconnect and a splitter and hooked it all up.

Now I have a wheat beer on tap (nearly finished), an APA on tap (nearly full), and a pilsner in the fridge carbonating! I can now have 2 beers on tap for all eternity!

 

[Peteoz77]

Well I bought a third keg so that I could keg a third brew before finishing either of the kegs I had on tap - and discovered that my fridge *can* fit 3 kegs in it!! Stoked. So I bought a third gas disconnect and a splitter and hooked it all up.

Now I have a wheat beer on tap (nearly finished), an APA on tap (nearly full), and a pilsner in the fridge carbonating! I can now have 2 beers on tap for all eternity!

Get more kegs....

Get 2 kegs for every tap.. then get another tap!


3 taps, 6 kegs = MUCH better!

(BTW, I have 13 kegs, 6 taps and 7 fermenters)

 

[RussTaylor]

Kegged my first beer recently and it was finished within the week! :icon_cheers: I'll have to start on my case swap beers now until my next batch is ready.

 

[pmolou]

I'm looking at buying a complete keg set-up soon and been reading all these threads and just wanted to pretty much confirm.. t
hat ebay+pinnacle is cheaper but can have lots of dodgy problems,
converting your own fridge is cheap if you can find a cheap fridge + have time and good at fiddly sort of set-ups,
kegmate is more expensive but reliable and has quality parts?

so is kegmate the way to go? I thought it would have been simple to start kegging but i seem to be more confused than when i started haha

 

[RussTaylor]

I'm looking at buying a complete keg set-up soon and been reading all these threads and just wanted to pretty much confirm.. t
hat ebay+pinnacle is cheaper but can have lots of dodgy problems,

Yes. I think I've been lucky compared to others. I've fitted a blower fan for the tower and replumbed with 5mm line and everything is working really well.

converting your own fridge is cheap if you can find a cheap fridge + have time and good at fiddly sort of set-ups,
kegmate is more expensive but reliable and has quality parts?

Yes

so is kegmate the way to go? I thought it would have been simple to start kegging but i seem to be more confused than when i started haha

Maybe. The wife always tells me I'm a cheapskate so naturally I went for the cheap option but I expected some issues along the way. Luckily my issues have been minor so far. I'm also a useless twit when it comes to mechanical things so I didn't want to be cutting into a fridge/freezer. The Kegmate/Keg King are pretty sexy and so I'm 'allowed' to have them in the kitchen. Some home made kegarators are pretty ugly and get religated to the garage.

 

[camedmeades]

Yes. I think I've been lucky compared to others. I've fitted a blower fan for the tower and replumbed with 5mm line and everything is working really well.


Yes


Maybe. The wife always tells me I'm a cheapskate so naturally I went for the cheap option but I expected some issues along the way. Luckily my issues have been minor so far. I'm also a useless twit when it comes to mechanical things so I didn't want to be cutting into a fridge/freezer. The Kegmate/Keg King are pretty sexy and so I'm 'allowed' to have them in the kitchen. Some home made kegarators are pretty ugly and get religated to the garage.

Hey guys,

Originally posted this when I bought my kegerator from pinnacle. Still going strong after replacing the 90o angle barbs from the taps with some from Ross.

Now have 3 kegs and thinking of punching a hole in the fridge door for the 3rd tap (have a spare celli tap lying around). I won't bother replacing the font until I can afford a 4 or 5 tap glycol flooded font for my yet-to-be-made solid oak bar in the living room. Joy!

I don't really see the need for the fan in the font as it cools very quickly. Have a Fat Yak clone and an AG American Brown Ale at the moment with an Irish Red Ale in the fermentor as i type.

Reg is fine, taps are fine and fridge is fine. For $550 bucks all up, can't go wrong (so to speak)

 

[OzBeer_MD]

I have a pair of the same 90 degree barbs waiting to be married up to some new perlick taps currently in transit. The weird "pour" and resulting foam has been driving me mad. Did you notice a big improvement putting the new barbs on?