Made a post in the equipment section and got some much needed advice. I have to say you guys on here make a newbie feel welcome and not stupid to ask question. I have to admit im one of those guys who will walk around a store for a hour before I cave in and ask for help, my wife loves it :
Drove up to Austin, TX and visited Austin HomeBrew Supply, excellent place and customer service.
Had a little shopping spree and spent approx $750 another $200 on the Chest Freezer. Got everything I need to build a sweet keezer.
Plan on dressing it up a bit and it will have a collar with 4taps to start.
A list of things I bought
New 7.0 Chest Freezer (will hold 5kegs and my slim gas tank)
4 taps and shanks
Lots of hose
2 ball-lock corneys
new slim 7lb CO2 tank
Regulator with 2 gauges
Johnson Digital Temp Control
4 line manifold
All the fitting and parts needed for the hoses/kegs etc…
Sanitizer
New copy of John A Palmer’s Hot to Brew
Also got the ingredients to make a Belgian White
I am jealous of all the brand spanking new stuff you bought! Your dilemma now is whether to brew now and race to finish said keezer, or continue to remain (relatively) sober and make progress on the keezer.
A little bit of advice when you finally get it all together, hooked up with beer and are working on getting the pour correct. You CAN get drunk on just foam.
Everything is new except the corney kegs. I wasnt planning on dropping $750 yesterday at AHBS but the salesman was good and I would rather have the better equipment so that Im not having to replace it later.
I should note I got out of one hobby to go into Beer Brewing as a new hobby, all the $$ I made from selling my last hobby is paying for all of this. No money out of pocket
I know its all going to be worth it that 1st party, when everyone is enjoying my beer out of my taps. My wife and I love entertaining people and host the annual halloween and New Years parties, so this will add a fun touch.
[quote]I know its all going to be worth it that 1st party, when everyone is enjoying my beer out of my taps. My wife and I love entertaining people and host the annual halloween and New Years parties, so this will add a fun touch.
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I know we all can’t wait for the invite! :) Happy Building!
Ive been keeping Saltwater Reef Aquariums for the last 7 years, and decided it was time to take a break. Its a very time and financial consuming hobby.
Sure is, as mentioned above I did the work myself. Like anything in life- put in a little blood, sweat and elbow grease and you will always be happy with the outcome.
Ah, I did that for a while. Very fun and rewarding, but hard to take a break without losing a lot of investment. With brewing you can go on vacation and not worry too much. Good choice
Will look nice but not flashy. My main goal is to get it up and running and then worry about skinning it with some nice birch later on.
Only thing im concerned about, and im sure you guys have run into this.
Now that the collars on the lid with rubber gasket doesnt seal as tight in the front of the freezer. I put a bright light on the inside of the freezer and turned the lights off in the room and can see light escaping at the front corners. Obviously if light is escaping so will the cold air. Short of putting some kind of latch on the front of the lid to make sure its closes tight im not sure what to do about it.
I used a foam gasket under the collar and it compressed enough to seal any irregularities in the material (or my building skills). Is that where you mean? Or do you mean between the lid and the collar? My lid gasket seals fine, maybe I got lucky.
I use weather stripping to help seal the collar to the freezer housing and the lid to the collar. Check the Home Depot or Lowes. It comes is self adhesive rolls.
the problem is the lid on the collar is gapping a little, I put some weight on it over night and I think it helped form the seal onto the collar so the problem may be fixed…
