Sorry for the light blogging today. I had the day from hell at work, and when I got home, I had to sacrifice blogging to the beer god. After work, I decided to stop by the home brew supply store. I picked up a tower faucet to add to my kegerator. Glenn Reynolds has been blogging recently about wanting one, but you can spend a few hundred dollars at Sears, and another hundred fifty or so from the home brew supply, and build one yourself.
Now, this isn’t quite as stylish looking as the commercial kegerators you can get, but it’s far more versatile, which is important for the home brewer. If you’re just drinking beer, you’re probably buying the standard sized kegs, and you’re only using it to keep the beer cool. If you’re a home brewer, you use your kegerator for fermenting and lagering when you need more precise temperature control. When I’m using my kegerator for serving, which is just a converted deep freeze with a temperature regulator added, I can chill four Cornelius kegs at a time.
Pouring a beer is the real test. Sadly, the first glass out of my new tap was rather cloudy, because I had to take the keg out to drill the holes in the top for the tubing and anchorage. The second glass was much more clear. It’s going to be quite nice, to be able to leave my beer on tap all the time, and just mosey over and draw a pint off any time I want.
I thought you might like to see one that a good ol boy from across the Hooch built
http://www.idlehourwebs.com/redneckin/index.php?itemid=508
That’s a really nice setup
You have taken the first step down a slippery slope. You will grow to love the convenience of a keg of homebrew on tap. But you can’t ferment your next batch at 68 while serving beer at 40. I survived for about 6 months before I purchased a full time kegerator.
I’ve been sliding down that slope for quite a while. The simple home brewing kit turned into an all grain setup, along with a 10 gallon polarware pot. Then I got the flasks and stirrers for doing yeast starters. Outgrew the original immersion chiller, and made my own larger one. Next I’d really like to get a plate chiller.
And that’s all assuming my gun hobby doesn’t bankrupt me first :)
Redneckin,
We should get together.
http://cybercossack.com/?p=37
woohoo, another home-brewer/gun-nut. and i thought i was the only one. i only really blog about 3 things: politics/guns, fishing, and homebrewing. of course since I moved to FL, I haven’t gotten to brew any beer. I never managed to put together a kegorator… I just have some corny kegs, a co2 tank, and a tap which is mounted in a 2×4, and held to the keg with some vice grips. hehe, classy eh? Thing is, I don’t like my beer too cold, so i just drink it on chilly days, or throw the corny in the fridge for a while before we drain it.