Setting Up A Kegging System (need Advise)

[unterberg]

Hi everyone,

I have been reading this forum for quite a while now and became a big fan of it.
Only being in Australia for about a year now my home brewing effort has been a bit rudimental so far.
Growing up in Bavaria it has never really occured to me until recently that I would ever brew my own beer.
Well things have changed since I have been in Aussie and I have had about 6 kit home brews so far and am quite happy with the result.

Reading this forum it is pretty hard not get excited about home brewing and kegging. And some of the setups you guys can call your own are really impressive .
I have to stop making myself illusions of having one of those in the near future, but I have decided to get at least started and to set up a basic kegging system (thanks to a little tax return last week :icon_cheers: ).

So I got this old fridge in the garage with inner dimesions of 44cm width and depth and 67cm height. I think that should just be enough to fit 2 kegs in (22cm round and 65cm high for the 19l ones). It should actually fit one in about 12cm lower if I take the veggie shelf out at the bottom. Its going to be packed with 2 kegs but it should work.

Keeping in mind that I would like to keep my expenses below 600 dollar (being a PhD student sucks) I need advise on a few things:

1. Would it be practical to have 2 beers on tap with one regulator? What accessories are necessary?
2. What are my options for a source of CO2 - I can buy a kegsonlegs bottle for 325 full at the local brew shop which is a bit heavy for my budget. Then there is the soda stream option with lower setup costs but higher running costs. Since I work a Uni I could refill the sodastream bottles myself from CO2 cylinders that are in my lab if that is anyhow possible?! What about fire extinguishers?
3. Any other ideas or things that I should consider?

Thanks
Max

 

[Doogiechap]

Hi Unterburg,
I can't answer all of your Q's but here are a couple of thoughts
No probs with running 2 kegs off your regulator, you just need a tee fitting to split your gas line to the two kegs.
Sodastream is a cheap bottle but very expensive to refill/ exchange if you don't refill yourself. You can refill sodastream bottles as covered in this thread but the risk is not insignificant so think carefully about going doen that path.
As far as Fire extinguishers are concerned some consider it t be too risky (I dont :icon_cheers: ). Hopefully someone in your area might have some local knowledge on availability etc.
Good luck with it all bloke.
Cheers
Doug

 

[Pumpy]

Hi everyone,


Keeping in mind that I would like to keep my expenses below 600 dollar (being a PhD student sucks) I need advise on a few things:

1. Would it be practical to have 2 beers on tap with one regulator? What accessories are necessary?
2. What are my options for a source of CO2 - I can buy a kegsonlegs bottle for 325 full at the local brew shop which is a bit heavy for my budget. Then there is the soda stream option with lower setup costs but higher running costs. Since I work a Uni I could refill the sodastream bottles myself from CO2 cylinders that are in my lab if that is anyhow possible?! What about fire extinguishers?
3. Any other ideas or things that I should consider?

Thanks

Max

Would it be practical to have 2 beers on tap with one regulator? Yes I have four

What accessories are necessary? a gas manifold

Or rent a cylinder from BOC $10 month plus $45 for( 9 kg gas whch will last you ages a year or so )
difficult to get people to fill fire extinguishers !refill Sodastream bottles are a dangerous unless you know what you are doing .!

Ferment the beer then put in the keg as if it was a bih bottle add sugar to recommence fermentation and naturally carbonate the beer like Cask ale

Never done it my self but may give it a try one day .


Pumpy

This post has been edited by Pumpy: Today, 04:02 AM

 

[matti]

I think you'll need flow regulator on taps if you have only one regulator.
Those Celli taps are great but expensive.

Have you looked here
how to set one up.

matti

 

[unterberg]

Hi Unterburg,
I can't answer all of your Q's but here are a couple of thoughts
No probs with running 2 kegs off your regulator, you just need a tee fitting to split your gas line to the two kegs.
Sodastream is a cheap bottle but very expensive to refill/ exchange if you don't refill yourself. You can refill sodastream bottles as covered in this thread but the risk is not insignificant so think carefully about going doen that path.
As far as Fire extinguishers are concerned some consider it t be too risky (I dont :icon_cheers: ). Hopefully someone in your area might have some local knowledge on availability etc.
Good luck with it all bloke.
Cheers
Doug

I think that I should have a look into that. I have actually read this thread on fire extinguishers and it seems to be a reasonable solution. Just have to find a place around Newcastle where I can get one from.

Would it be practical to have 2 beers on tap with one regulator? Yes I have four

What accessories are necessary? a gas manifold

Or rent a cylinder from BOC $10 month plus $45 for( 9 kg gas whch will last you ages a year or so )
difficult to get people to fill fire extinguishers !refill Sodastream bottles are a dangerous unless you know what you are doing .!

Ferment the beer then put in the keg as if it was a bih bottle add sugar to recommence fermentation and naturally carbonate the beer like Cask ale

Never done it my self but may give it a try one day .


Pumpy

This post has been edited by Pumpy: Today, 04:02 AM

Hmm I kinda figured that refilling Soda stream bottles myself would be tricky. I just wish I could take a cylinder home from uni, but that might get me in big trouble, hehe. They only pay 60 dollar a year rent. So maybe I can manage to rent one through uni, even though I doubt it.

I think you'll need flow regulator on taps if you have only one regulator.
Those Celli taps are great but expensive.

Have you looked here
how to set one up.

matti

I read that post on kegging setups which I found very helpful. I suppose I will have to figure out if I can afford 2 taps with my budget and the celli ones are nice but a fair bit more expensive.

 

[wakkatoo]

yes to all of the above, with maybe the only exception the flow regulator.

I have 2 taps, one regulator. Just split the gas line inside the fridge with a tiece at the moment but plan to upgrade to a manifold in the future.
I don't have a flow regulator on the taps and don't have issues with my beer (mine are all carbed to the same pressure so maybe that's why). As for co2 bottle, I rent thru BOC and find it suits me perfectly.

The 2 things I always tell others is: make sure the placement of the tap won't interfere with the freezer door (not an issue in you case by the looks of it) and think carefully about location of holes / beer, gas lines inside the fridge to avoid pinching lines when the kegs are put in there.

Cheers

Chris

 

[unterberg]

Talking about the freezer bit... Is there any chance of actually putting the tap through the freezer bit to get the beer to a really cool level? I can remove the little freezer bit door and all that makes up the freezer bit is a round metal shelf that is open at the back and front...
Or could I actually put a 2-tap font on top of the little fridge instead of 2 taps?

Another question that I just started thinking about is in regard to how often do you have to clean the lines and how long will a brew last on tap (I remember from my Dads pub in Germany that we needed to clean the lines every day and had to use a keg within 3 weeks - but I am not sure if that was all due to law or actually because the beer lines need to be cleaned/ beer goes off?).
I mean if I have one beer on tap it wont last long but with 2 it might be different.

 

[Offline]

I'm also a PhD student at Newcastle Uni, Mech Eng. i would be happy to catch up for a chat sometime.

I would also agree with all of the above except for the flow regulator taps, i run 4 kegs off a single reg with no problems.
Just on your fridge dimensions, don't forget that you need some extra room above the kegs for the quick disconnects.

As for CO2 I use soda stream for my party setup, some refilled some swapped I have 7. For my home setup I used to rent from BOC but was unhappy with the $130 rent a year. I looked into fire extinguishers before deciding on mykegonlegs. So I know all the ins and outs of where and how much for all the CO2 options in Newcastle

Cheers

Offline

 

[unterberg]

I'm also a PhD student at Newcastle Uni, Mech Eng. i would be happy to catch up for a chat sometime.

I would also agree with all of the above except for the flow regulator taps, i run 4 kegs off a single reg with no problems.
Just on your fridge dimensions, don't forget that you need some extra room above the kegs for the quick disconnects.

As for CO2 I use soda stream for my party setup, some refilled some swapped I have 7. For my home setup I used to rent from BOC but was unhappy with the $130 rent a year. I looked into fire extinguishers before deciding on mykegonlegs. So I know all the ins and outs of where and how much for all the CO2 options in Newcastle

Cheers

Offline

Thats heaps good.
I think that both kegs should just fit in with connects.
But the freezer bit is as mentioned above really just a round metal thingy that I am quite sure I could just cut bits out as well or drill holes in it - for example if I were to put a font on top or the taps on that level.

I am actually thinking that I might just go with soda stream for the moment since I am quite sure I would like that in the future anyway to be mobile. If I carbonate naturally I might get 5 kegs out of one. And that should last a while. Will have to see how that works out.

I reckon we should catch up for a beer. Quite busy atm though with confirmation year crap

 

[Offline]

The freezer bit is most likely the evaporator, in which case by putting a hole in it you could well lose the entire refrigerant (gas).
Im not sure if you can cut between gas lines without them leaking or not, but I would get some advice before cutting any of it.
I know some people on this forum who have very carefully bent them out of the way.
There would be some threads on this somewhere.

Offline

I did my confermation stuff last year, it's not that bad just time consuming

 

[tim_mortensen]

I'm also a PhD student at Newcastle Uni, Mech Eng. i would be happy to catch up for a chat sometime.

I would also agree with all of the above except for the flow regulator taps, i run 4 kegs off a single reg with no problems.
Just on your fridge dimensions, don't forget that you need some extra room above the kegs for the quick disconnects.

As for CO2 I use soda stream for my party setup, some refilled some swapped I have 7. For my home setup I used to rent from BOC but was unhappy with the $130 rent a year. I looked into fire extinguishers before deciding on mykegonlegs. So I know all the ins and outs of where and how much for all the CO2 options in Newcastle

Cheers

Offline

You can still get the big 22kg+ gas bottles for just $22 rent a year. You need a few guys to carry the things though! They only upped the rent on the smaller bottles.

 

[unterberg]

You can still get the big 22kg+ gas bottles for just $22 rent a year. You need a few guys to carry the things though! They only upped the rent on the smaller bottles.

Really? That seems to be to good to be true. Makes you wonder why anybody would bother with the small ones.
I mean they are big and bulky but other than that not really any more inconvenient. And a full bottle would probably last you for quite a while too, hehe.

Which BOC store are you talking about?