I am going to set up a kegerator after the first of the year and I have a number of questions. First off I took advantage of a sale on midwestsupplies and ordered a reconditioned 5 gallon ball lock keg for $25. How do I clean it? Would oxyclean free and a bottle brush work? Then when I get my kegerator exactly how do I go about kegging? Rack from my fermenter, put it under 7 lbs of pressure for a week, then enjoy? Does anybody prime their beer before kegging it? If so does that cause more sediment to be cleaned out of the bottom of the keg?
I did do a search but couldn’t find any definitive answers to these questions.
You can do it like you’re outlining, it will work. You may need something longer and stiffer (insert joke here (insert second joke because I said “insert”)) like a toilet brush to get to the bottom of the keg for scrubbing, it depends on the size of your forearm.
As long as you’re using a carb chart to determine the proper psi for your temp and desired volumes of CO2, no worries - the set and forget method of force carbonating works really well and is the main way I carb my beers.
On the priming front, you can naturally carbonate with priming sugar, just add the dissolved sugar to the keg prior to adding the beer. Seat the lid with some co2 and leave it in a warm place to carb up. It will leave more sediment in the keg but after the first pint or so it’s not really a prblem unless you move the keg.
$25?!? Score! I would have bought many at that price.
Give it a good soak. Scrub the interior. I have a dedicated toilet brush.
If you have a tiny brush you can scrub the dip-tube. Pressurize it while it is soaking and then depress the poppet to get some cleaner in to the tube. Do the same when rinsing and again when sanitizing.
When you first seal the keg after filling, hit it with 20 or 30 lbs of pressure to get a good seal on the lid, then you can dial back down to your carbing pressure. Also, keep a spray bottle of starsan handy to check the lid and poppets for leaks.
I’ve found that warming up the lid o-ring can help getting it to seal well. Warm water or even putting it in the microwave in a bowl of water will soften it up.
There are several issues that new kegerator owners have, but once they are set up, they are the way to go. If you have specific questions, ask away. I say that so I don’t clog the thread with a dissertation. My kids tell me I’m the kind of guy that if you ask me what time it is I’ll tell you how to build a watch.
You may want to make sure you get one big enough to grow into. It’s amazing how fast you can go from one tap to needing 4! If you have room in you house or garage, consider checking Craigslist for a used fridge. This is what I did, found a cheap ($30) fridge that had room for 3 kegs and the CO2 and used picnic taps. I started w/ one keg and I’ve now moved my CO2 outside the fridge and have 4 kegs with 4 taps installed in the door.
No the one you linked to is a Magic Chef, which is made by and also sold under the name Vissani. I have one. I use it for my fermentation chamber. There are a couple of issues with it.
it is smaller than the Danby, but not by much. You will not be able to fit three cornys in it, but two will.
It has a metric faucet. You will not be able to swap or replace the faucet with one that you buy at the LHBS. I replaced the whole tower on mine for that reason.
I have found that it does not cool as well as the Danby. I had an analog Johnson temperature contoller on it and it would only get down to 40*, which is OK for serving ales or fermenting beer. I have not tried to see if the ATC controller I have on it now will get it any lower. I think I’ll go try since I have nothing in it at the moment.
On the good side, it is MUCH easier to connect a controller to it than the Danby. Which IMO is necessary unless you spend a lot more money on a kegerator. All the entry level ones are really bad on temperature accuracy and massive swings.
If I were you, I’d watch Craigslist and pick one up second hand, then they are worth the extra work and investing in things to make them work well.
Mine will be in my basement where the temperature is a constant 68 degrees year round. I wonder if that will make it stay cool easier. Does yours run 100% of the time to stay at 40 degrees?
I got my Sanyo mini-fridge on Craigslist for $100. It holds two cornies and someday I’ll put a tap tower on it (I have the tower, just not the time).
$450 for the Magic Chef is a steep price to pay for something that will only hold two kegs. A Sanyo 4912 is essentially the same thing IMO and much much more affordable if you’re willing to do the work to put the tower on top. Also, if you remove the shelving on the door supposedly you can fit three kegs. I use that shelving for yeast and bottles, however.
I am still going to have $400 in the thing, plus the time it takes to put it together, and still not have a drip pan and the rails. To me the extra $50 for convenience doesn’t seem that out of hand. Is there something I am missing in my thinking on this one?
Truthfully I don’t drink enough beer to warrant more than one keg. I can see having a second keg just so I don’t have down time when I empty one.
I brew once a month and I have 215 beers in my basement. I don’t know that I will be able to drink a keg before it spoils. I just thought it would be cool to have a house beer on tap.
I suppose if you are buying it all new, the cost comes out the same. Certainly, $50 for convenience is not out of hand. FWIW, however, you can usually find a deal on a mini-fridge on Craigslist and that would save potentially $150 off your cost. Craigslist can be incredibly inconvenient, however, so I totally understand if you don’t go that route.
For me, multiple kegs is less about the quantity you drink than having variety. For example, I don’t necessarily want to drink 5 gallons of wheat beer although I have a keg of wheat on tap. It’s nice to open the fridge and have that second keg as an option. I will also swap kegs out before they are empty if I get tired of them or just want something else. But it’s a PITA to want variety and then to have to wait 24 hours or so for the new keg to settle and cool to serving temp.
Finally, the keg shouldn’t spoil unless you have an infection. I’ve got some beers that have been kegged for over a year with no problems.
My chest freezer fits 8 kegs. Some of the beers stick around for a while, like the sour ones and the smoked ones, while others go pretty quickly, like a German Pilsner in the summer or a couple of IPA’s. It’s nice to have a choice. Lately I’ve been hitting the Special Bitter quite a bit, simply because it’s a session beer.
No it doesn’t run all the time. I just checked it out in the 50* garage and it was down to 38* after all night set on 33*. So the only thing it is not good for is cold conditioning–though 38* is getting pretty close.
This may be just this unit. It also may be related to how easy it is to connect a contoller to it. With this one I just set the thermostat in the kegerator to the coldest setting, and plug the kegerator into the controller. With the contoller sensor inside the unit, the contoller turns the unit on or off. On the Danby I had to wire directly to the compressor–it will get below freezing.
Honestly for $50 I’d go the fridge route; you’ll spend that much on a temperature controller. But either way, I don’t think I’d buy a Magic Chef kegerator.
I am putting my new O rings in today. How tight should I torque the inlet and outlet valves? I know I don’t want to bear down on the O rings. But they do need to be firm enough to seal. Do I go like finger tight then a quarter turn with a wrench? Or what?