To Keg or Not to Keg that is the delema.......

[Trollby]

Well kind of tired of bottling but like that I have bottles to mix and match, not to mention share with friends as gifts.

But when ever I keg in my 2.5 gallon corny keg I love how fast the bottle day is.

My wife is up for me kegging if it gets me out of her kitchen faster But debating on the 5L system with the fridge in it (Like Screwy Brewer has) and just getting a 5c.u. mini fridge (one with-out freezer) and make me a mini kegerator since I already have two 2.5 gallon corny kegs. I could always get some 5gallon corny kegs later in that unit.

I found two units that need almost no work to convert.

The last option is that my wife really wants a new fridge in the kitchen (one of the French door style with freezer on bottom) and I could just use the current fridge as my beer fridge in basement. BUT..... I already have a 17c.u. up-right freezer in the basement of my condo and adding a second circuit and placing another fridge that size down-stairs will be tight. (although AWESOME)

Anyone else use the mini-keg draft system like this (can be different model)?


Or done the Mini fridge option?

[John Sand]

Neither. But I've read a lot of reviews on those little coolatrons and the like. They don't seem to rate well until they get up to price of really good mini-fridges. I'm not kegging (yet), but my new little fridge can hold lots of bottled beers, plus a 2.5 keg or two. It could easily hold several 5liters, which could then be tapped with a mini CO2. (I think)

[mtsoxfan]

Find what works for you.
I keg now, thanks to gentle nudges of advise from Jeff and Roger, as well as others. Bottling from the keg is easy (although I ran into one issue once, resolved by Jeff) so transporting/gifting is possible. I only bottled a 1/2 batch recently, because I didn't have a keg available, and it was a secondary sparge beer, possible unworthy of kegging...

Sometimes 1/2 the fun is in the research, here and elsewhere...

[Trollby]

My thing I am looking at moving to more 5 gallon batches so would be ice to do, 1 2.5gallon keg and 1 case bottles

[mtsoxfan]

Are you splitting a 5er, or doing two smaller batches? Being a single drinker in the house, I see the appeal to smaller batches if you really enjoy brewing, as we all do. more variety...

[RickBeer]

I don't see myself kegging, but then I didn't see myself going beyond Mr. Beer refills to brew with... Drinking 4-6 beers a week, and liking variety, I don't see that I'll ever go there - my worry would be having it go bad as I wouldn't consume it fast enough.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I brew 5 gallon batches and find that kegging is way faster and easier than bottling. But, bottling definitely is still needed too. I doubt any beer will go bad in less than 2 weeks after being kegged in 2.5 gallon corny keg, it'll most likely remain fresh and ready to drink longer than that. Just purge the air out of the keg with Co2 first then fill it with your beer. Once you cap the keg purge it again with Co2 while bleeding off the excess through the bleeder valve. Then crank up the gauges to apply your Co2 carbing pressure and your all set, as long as there's a blanket of Co2 covering the beer in the keg it and the Co2 pressure remains constant the beer won't spoil or go flat.

[RickBeer]

I assume that beer in the tap and line won't be good after some point, which is why you clean out lines and clean the taps. If I had 2.5 gallons of two brews on tap, it would take us 3 months to empty both.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Looks like I'll be kegging soon, just scored a danby kegerator for $225! Been kicking the keg idea around for a while now.

[Kealia]

I assume that beer in the tap and line won't be good after some point, which is why you clean out lines and clean the taps. If I had 2.5 gallons of two brews on tap, it would take us 3 months to empty both.

It's not uncommon for me to have my kegs around that long. There are no issues. Flush the lines with your preferred cleaner and sanitizer between batches and all is good. The beauty of a keg is that you can drink as much or as little as you like at a time.

The one catch is that you taps can stick if you don't pull a beer every so often, but that's only with the cheaper taps. I upgraded to Perlicks the moment I got kegs based on all my reading and don't have issues at all. It's not uncommon for me to go 2 weeks between tap pulls sometimes

[Kealia]

Looks like I'll be kegging soon, just scored a danby kegerator for $225! Been kicking the keg idea around for a while now.

Congrats! You must post pics when you get it set up!

[Dawg LB Steve]

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Not setup yet , but cleaned it up while I was brewing today! Beautiful day today to be outside brewing mid 70's even here along the lake shore! Probably change the tower to 2 or 3 tap tower.

[Kealia]

Awesome, congrats.

Just like your first bottle, few things taste better than your first pour from your own tap!

[Inkleg]

Sweet! Well except for that tap handle.

[mtsoxfan]

Easy fix for tap handle until you find something else...
Wrap with a heavy twine or very thin rope. Glue end, possible very thin coat all the way up, and tightly wrap. Saw one like that at a bar and thought it looked cool. their's was a rough fiberous thin rope, like a boat tie down of old...