Welp, you can used t find corney kegs at the local Pepsi or coca-cola distributor. Dunno if that's still a good option. any local gas supplier will provide Co2 in a little bottle no different than propane, you just exchange bottles, so no sense in buying new... lines and taps you got a homebrew supply nearby? If not you can find plenty of online retailers referenced in this thread, even, IIRC. When I was overseas, I used Williams brewing.com with good results.
Super jealous of all the awesome setups on here. For now this will have to do. Kitchen brewing at its finest.
I have not yet found a cheaper place for beer faucets and shanks then the beverage factory. I've shopped extensively and they seemed to always be cheapest. If anybody finds something cheaper, especially for shank/faucet combo's, I'm all ears. I use the Perlick forward sealing faucets. Expensive, but very nice. Pluse you can partially open the tap and it works to generate a creamy head almost like a nitro tap. Here are two great videos to help you on your Keezer build. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHWy_Vlw3J4&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLCbpy4qMQsL7F_KyNbzlLSA and a way to control the temp on the freezer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-iwFLykxs&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLCbpy4qMQsL7F_KyNbzlLSA
I bought my corny kegs from Midwest Supplies. They're best known for their pre-packaged beer kits, but they sell pretty much everything there is related to brewing, and are one of the larger mail-order houses for brewing supplies. Super nice people there, and extremely helpful. I also replaced my regulator, tap and shank from there (I run my tap through a wall, and needed longer pieces). I'm really spoiled though. I work five minutes from them, so I can just run over there over lunch. For CO2, pretty much any welding supply company will carry it and do tank exchanges like one would do for a propane tank for a grill.
Hey, thanks fellas! I found a couple freezers that look good on Craigslist. I am not going to go super cheap, so Perlick taps will be what I buy. Sent from my fat thumbs on a small touch screen.
So it turns out 2 days on CO2 @ 30 psi and 1 day on 40% nitrogen, 60% CO2 mix gives you a great creamy foamy head and an awesome pour from a defussor tap, You could see be small bubbles comming up to a two layered dark tan foam which gradually lightened lighter tan foam on top. It was pretty sweet to see. The second day on the nitrogen mix has added a more creamer taste to the beer which really accents the smoky vanilla flavoring. I will try to get some photos if any is left when I get home from work tonight.
Can't wait to get back into brewing. I still have another few months before home renovations are complete, then I'll post pictures of the "new" new brewery Was able to drop a pin at a local brewery to be filled for home use over the weekend though. Cask ale will be back soon
Brewed again tonight. This is the result... 105 bottles (iipa and wee heavy), 2 in primary ( dunkleweissen & kolsch) and 1 in secondary (Christmas ale). Full closet!
Got a new chiller for the brewery. I was tired of my old immersion chiller so I got a plate chiller and set up a whole new chilling system. Large coil on the right is the prechiller for the water supply. Small coil on the left is the post chiller to bring the wort down even lower for lager beers. The plate chiller is a Chillhog Super 20 unit. Whole things goes into a cooler and covered with ice. From flame out temps to about 60 degrees into the carboy in about 15 minutes. Cuts some time off my brew process. Oh and... 5 gallons of a Single Hop Pale Ale (Simcoe) in the fermenter 5 gallons of an all New Zealand Hopped Pale Ale in the fermenter 10 gallons of Oktoberfest in the lager fridge 4 gallons of Chocolate Hazelnut Porter on tap in the kegerator 0.5 gallons of IPA on tap in the kegerator. On deck for the next brew day is 10 gallons of a Belgian Tripel (Westmalle Clone). Thinking of throwing 5 gallons of it on Bret C and 5 gallons on Trapist High Gravity yeast. I got a 55 lb sack of pilsen malt so I need to make something fun with it.
Just kegged a new pale ale recipe I hadn't tried yet. Even a sample flat and warm, this is going to be a good one. I bottle a six-pack of everything I keg and have been stockpiling it in the basement plus I still have a case and a half left of the porter I did specifically to bottle. I have about three cases now sitting downstairs of various things I've made over the last few months. I think my next batch is going to be something to bottle only. Anyone have any experience with Rye Ales? I was going to do one for this keg batch but they didn't have the yeast I needed. I'm thinking that or a batch of the stout I just fried the keg of.
I brewed Austin Homebrew's Rye Pale Ale kit about a year ago. Very good! I could email you the recipe if you want... PM me. Sent from my fat thumbs on a small touch screen.
Hey guys, just started home brewing less than a year ago and bought me a kegerator last week. One quick question if I can intrude here for a second. I think my regulator might be bad but I'm not sure. I can't seem to get the pressure gauge below about 18psi. My question that I cannot seem to find an answer to is this: When everything is turned off shouldn't the pressure regulator read 0psi? It will if I purge everything but as soon as I crack the top of the CO2 it jumps to about 20psi. Thanks in advance. PM me you need more info, I don't want to clog up this thread. Thanks!
It's funny that you can't turn it lower than 18psi. That is a problem. I keep my regulators around 12psi for keg beer and 5 for cask. The regulator showing pressure pre-purge is normal. It's a closed system, so when you add gas, it doesn't really know that you turned it off. The pressure is still in the lines. That's why when you purge it drops to zero.
Thanks for the response. I don't think anything is clogged because it does flow beer it's coming out quicker than I've ever seen one before and of course it's all foam. Sounds like I should probably contact the store and see about a replacement regulator. I just wanted to make sure I was on the right track first.
My experience is that the regulators that come with commercial kegerators tend to be crap. I had one in my old house and replaced the regulator there, and did the same here after only about six months. I'd buy an aftermarket one. In hindsight, I should have just built a setup, but I have a fairly small space in the new house in which to put the fridge.
Saturday I brewed my first partial grain batch, Smashing Pumpkin Ale from Northern Brewer. I'd like to get started on building an all-grain setup for my next batches- anyone have a link to a good tutorial? I've found a number on the web, but was hoping for one that some of you have used and liked. Also stopped by Dan's Brew Shed in Greensboro, NC yesterday- cool place, if you're local and haven't been there, stop by!
