Not exactly a gunsmithing question, but, like some gunsmithing, close enough...

I am seriously thinking of installing a draft beer, single, double, or triple tap in my new house which has a nice bar. Of course, if possible, one of the beers will have to be Sam Adams Boston Lager.

Any advice, pitfall info, equipment recs or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

You will need blond bar maids

Where in Texas are you? Austin Homebrew can provide everything you need, including advice to set it up. I've even seen flyers on the wall for people who can set it up for you, but it has been ages since I was in there. I just don't brew anymore.

Most important thing, a CO2 monitor and consideration of ventilation for a leak. A leaking tank can put out a large volume of CO2 and make a basement or cubby quite dangerous.

Keeping the lines and manifolds cold helps with foam. Laying these out right will eliminate foam, and make life much more enjoyable.

You will need the keg refrigerators, fittings, lines, CO2 manifold and separate pressure regulators for each keg.

If you want to run stouts and some porters, a separate nitrogen setup and regulator as well.

Not complicated, but you should consult a store and discuss your bar layout.

Jeremy

quote:

Originally posted by Rolland:
You will need blond bar maids

I don't think I can afford one, Divorces are so expensive these days....

Longer lines help that what is usually seen in home set ups for foam. I only have a single keg setup in my kitchen. I have an under counter kegerator and the tap comes through my granite right on top. So normal thinking is you would only need about 5' of line. I actually have about 25' and it just sits on a coil on top of the keg. Tremendously cuts down on foam.

Give you keg about a day to rest after moving it into your kegerator.

I run 12 lbs of CO2.

If you want to have spare kegs on hand make sure that you keep those kegs in a fridge as well.

Keep lines and tap clean. I do mine about every 2 weeks or less.

As long as you're going through the effort, get a regulator for each beer. I bought a simple top-freezer fridge that can fit three 1/6 kegs. Then you need a small blower in the fridge to blow cold air into the tower. The 1" air line and the three beer lines go inside a 4" hose. The air returns to the fridge through the 4" line.

And since anything worth doing is worth overdoing, I added a Nitro tank and regulator for Guinness and other such beers.

I'll clarify that you only need the separate regulators if you plan on several different styles of beer that are carbonated differently.

i.e. Belgian wheat beers have lower carbonation than Bud Lite.

On a simple setup, you can just do one regulator, and run 2-3 kegs.

Jeremy

Gator,

I'm a homebrewer who hates bottling beer. I bought a two tap kegerator from Amazon back in February and love it. Comes with pretty much everything you need out of the box, except CO2 gas which you can buy at any homebrew supply or welding supply store. I have the small CO2 bottles and they cost $10-$17 to refill.



The only issue here is you have to use small kegs if you want to fit two kegs in it. The specs say it'll fit two 1/6 barrel kegs or one 1/2 barrel keg. In order to fit two (or more) full sized kegs, you'd have to use something bigger.

A system like this will come with a tee to separate the two gas lines. I bought a two line manifold to toggle either line on and off as I need them. It allows me to vary the amount of gas reaching each keg and helps cut down on foam. McKay makes a valid point about draft line length and foam; I just haven't reworked my as-supplied lines to be longer.



Since I had to adapt some fittings to work with homebrewer corny kegs, I used Oetiker clamps to make the connections for an OEM look. I've never really had much luck with screw clamps. These work great!



Lastly, I needed to keep my draft lines clean so I made a line cleaner out of an unused pump sprayer. Cost me around $20 and it works and it looks something like this:




My experience with a kegerator has been resoundingly positive. It is everything I hoped it would be. I think you'd really enjoy it if you had something this like this too.

Because you posted this in gunsmithing you can't use kegs, gotta use barrels. Never heard of a gun keg.

How about a powder keg? Might give the beer a interesting flavor.

I more or less did what Tex21 did, but I used an older full size refrigerator and put three taps in the door with a drip tray. Holds 3 homebrew kegs (soda pop kegs, 5 gallons each). I use a 40 pound CO2 bottle with separate regulators. Or a nitro bottle for stouts.

Jeremy

All good suggestions, especially line length. Another important detail is getting the proper inner diameter beer line. And spring for the good antimicrobial stuff, not cheap air line. Flavors won't get burned into the vinyl or risk a line infection. I'd go no less than 10ft per liquid-out line. Adjustable flow taps are again a little more pricey, but well worth the investment. Perlick are very good taps to buy.

Are you trying to buy a pre-made set up, or build your own? You can look up instructions on building a "keezer", which is very simple if you can do some minor wood working or know someone who does. Buy a chest freezer, and some wood to make a collar (to make it tall enough to fit a keg, and also a good place for taps. You can build a keezer for under 400$ if you shop around.

Also remember to consider how often you'll actually drink a certain beer. Most beers have a recommended shelf life of about 90 days from packaging. Some, like your Sam lager, will be fine past that, but anything that is lighter or hop forward will noticeably start to fall off around the 60 day mark. Some beers can last for years, and will improve with age like wine. These are going to be high alcohol styles created for agin, Imperial Stout, Old Ale, Barley Wine, Belgian Quad, etc.

A 1/6bbl keg is 5.2 gallons, so about 50 12oz bottles worth of beer. Keep that in mind when selecting what beers you want to keep on. Also if you have any craft breweries near by, they'll often sell directly to consumers for a better price than a liquor store will.

**professional brewer**

A buddy of mine figured this out by accident. Don't buy a kegerator. Buy a kit with all the parts and put the entire thing including the tap inside a refrigerator. If you want you can make a small door to access the tap. By refrigerating the line and tap (what would be the tower on a kegerator) you avoid temperature shock. You can not have a beer for a week and the first one you pour will still be drinkable. On a normal kegerator if the tower/ line/tap warm up the first beer or two are nearly all head until the tower cools down.

quote:

Originally posted by McKay:


Keep lines and tap clean. I do mine about every 2 weeks or less.

Very important & with appropriate chemicals.
Check your local brew shop for cleaning kit & cleaning protocols.

Clubhouse in remote 26 cabin community runs full size commercial kegs & half size homebrews in a chest freezer ( thermostat turned back) thru a 2 tap tower . Tower is fully refrigerated & the lines have a dedicated chiller.

What is gained over having beer on tap vs bottled or can beer? From the sounds of this it's not a money saver.

7 Science-Backed Ways Beer Is Good For Your Health

https://www.nbcnews.com/better...ur-health-ncna788986

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
What is gained over having beer on tap vs bottled or can beer? From the sounds of this it's not a money saver.

As a remote community in the middle of a national park the main attraction of beer on tap is the very significant reduction in empty cans/bottles that have to be disposed of.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
What is gained over having beer on tap vs bottled or can beer? From the sounds of this it's not a money saver.

Many people, including me, just like a fresh bubbly draft beer in front of them. Reading the literature, the only real advantage to drafts is the freshness of the taste, which, as oft mentioned above, is highly dependent on having clean lines delivering the beer.

Just as an example, we often drive 100 mi RT, to eat dinner while drinking draft Sam Adams Boston Lager at a price that makes bottles a much cheaper option. Worth it?, probably not, but it's our money, and we think it is, to us.

Some good advice, some mediocre.

I would buy the smallest professional (beverage aire, true) keg cooler available. Have a professional draft guy come In and plumb it for you, with the co2 tank on the outside of the cabinet. Get a cleaner keg or rig something to clean your lines twice a month.

Yes you can make your own but my two draft coolers for my restaurant are pushing 7 years of commercial abuse and keep on ticking.

Like a Mauser.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
What is gained over having beer on tap vs bottled or can beer? From the sounds of this it's not a money saver.

Cost per ounce is much less. Kegs are far less susceptible to light and and air which damage beer.

No it is not a money saver. I have a buddy that installed one thinking that he would now drink less;fool. But it does have a better taste.When they used to have the Austin Gun Show down at the old colosium they had Shlitz on tap.Well I never liked Shlitz before but it was pretty good on tap.Also went to the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Florida years ago on the tour + they had Busch on tap in frosted goblets;that was some of the best beer I've ever tasted + I've lived in Germany.