Another Kegerator build

[matt76]

Hi @DocAnna great job on your build, it's genuinely inspiring as I've been swatting up over the last few days how to go about doing this myself. A few questions:

What made you go down the kegging route? You've written recently and we've talked a little about doing this and that at bottling to preserve hop flavour and aroma. Did you just figure you may as well bite the bullet and go full on?

I notice you went for a manifold to split your gas line - any particular reason you decided on that rather than a push fit splitter like this?

Do you mind me asking where you got your stuff from? I've been looking at The Malt Miller who seem to have every last nut & bolt you could want though it ain't necessarily cheap when you start adding it up (though in fairness I'm doing it as a hobby for fun, not to save money!).

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Leon103]

Hi @DocAnna great job on your build, it's genuinely inspiring as I've been swatting up over the last few days how to go about doing this myself. A few questions:

What made you go down the kegging route? You've written recently and we've talked a little about doing this and that at bottling to preserve hop flavour and aroma. Did you just figure you may as well bite the bullet and go full on?

I notice you went for a manifold to split your gas line - any particular reason you decided on that rather than a push fit splitter like this?

Do you mind me asking where you got your stuff from? I've been looking at The Malt Miller who seem to have every last nut & bolt you could want though it ain't necessarily cheap when you start adding it up (though in fairness I'm doing it as a hobby for fun, not to save money!).

Cheers,

Matt

Although not directed at me, I thought I would answer if it was. Kegging is easy and done and dusted in no time. I believe my hoppy beers taste better from kegs as a result. Also cuts out storing hundred of bottles. Also cuts out chances of oxidised beer. Plus you can bottle from keg.

A manifold is good because it keeps things neat and tidy, especially with multiple kegs. You can also shut gas off to the kegs without removing the connectors.

I bought my stuff from BKT and kegland directly via aliexpress. If I need a couple of connectors or some line I find eBay is cheap and usually free postage

 

[samale]

Although not directed at me, I thought I would answer if it was. Kegging is easy and done and dusted in no time. I believe my hoppy beers taste better from kegs as a result. Also cuts out storing hundred of bottles. Also cuts out chances of oxidised beer. Plus you can bottle from keg.

A manifold is good because it keeps things neat and tidy, especially with multiple kegs. You can also shut gas off to the kegs without removing the connectors.

I bought my stuff from BKT and kegland directly via aliexpress. If I need a couple of connectors or some line I find eBay is cheap and usually free postage

I have started kegging as mentioned it's alot easier. Not convinced that kegging is the promised land as some suggest.
Certain beer styles will benefit from being bottle conditioned. At present I am only kegging light and hoppy beers
So going down the kegging route will depend alot on how much you brew, drink and what beer styles you prefer.

 

[DocAnna]

Hi @DocAnna great job on your build, it's genuinely inspiring as I've been swatting up over the last few days how to go about doing this myself. A few questions:

What made you go down the kegging route? You've written recently and we've talked a little about doing this and that at bottling to preserve hop flavour and aroma. Did you just figure you may as well bite the bullet and go full on?

I notice you went for a manifold to split your gas line - any particular reason you decided on that rather than a push fit splitter like this?

Do you mind me asking where you got your stuff from? I've been looking at The Malt Miller who seem to have every last nut & bolt you could want though it ain't necessarily cheap when you start adding it up (though in fairness I'm doing it as a hobby for fun, not to save money!).

Hi Matt and thanks for the feedback, I went into looking at kegerator/keezer from the practical basis of keeping a keg cool and the convenience of serving from a tap. I was also really keen it looked smart and neat, not just on the outside but on the inside, I wanted it to look finished and professional if at all possible. Earlier this year I'd accumulated the bits and pieces to start kegging, it's been 5 months or so before going down the kegerator route.
So what made me go down the kegging route? I've written about it a bit on my brew day thread, but there were benefits that I saw:

• Be able to do closed transfers from a pressurised fermenter to minimise oxygen exposure and oxidation.
• Not needing to bottle everything I made. I still do bottle some things, and have about 6 crates of bottled ciders/beers stored which my (adult) children access. I tried a keg for my son at university but it didn't really work because he couldn't keep it even slightly cool. I also still bottle from the keg and as you point out, we've discussed trying to preserve the flavour as best as possible, it's just a whole lot easier with kegs.
• The manifold is in my view a must. It allows lines to be isolated which is helpful as I'm not entirely confident in a disconnected gas line staying gas tight. It also includes check valves so v little risk of liquid going back along the lines.
• Most of the equipment was from BrewKegTap, there's a drip tray due to arrive today from Amazon. When I'd earlier started with the kegs I was using BKT's party taps with 3m of line attached which allows a remarkably consistent pour which you can go with rather than needing expensive kegerator taps Deluxe Party Tap Kit . When I set up the kegerator I used these lines but disconnected the party tap and attached them to the tap shanks with a 4.5cm piece of the wider beer line. The clips for securing everything within the keezer were from screwfix, the hole cutter and shank bit from Toolstation (they were cheaper than screwfix). I did need an extra length of 3/16 beer line which was ordered from ebay since the postage was cheaper than any of the online brew suppliers due to the small item.

Yes, it definitely isn't 'cheap' as a hobby, but I'm also hoping to use one of the taps for soft drinks which will make a real difference in purchase costs from the supermarket. The short term plan is just to use good quality diluting cordial in water that's had salts added to align with San Pellegrino water, but longer term it would be nice to make my own flavoured syrups.

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

Yesterday evening I was a bit fed up so spent a pleasant hour fiddling in the garage, moved the festbier into a new slimline keg so can now fit three kegs in the fridge and have three drinks on tap. One of these is non alcoholic, Waitrose pink grapefruit juice with the water salts made up to match near enough San Pellegrino water (but I didn't have the small amount of CaOH needed). It is rather yum too ☺. The fourth tap on the manifold now also has a gas line attached which was really useful for attaching to the counter pressure bottle filler. Photos a bit later as the pipe doesn't fit in the clips so it looks a bit messy - which I'd like to correct first .

Drip tray arrived but I need to think about how to attach the flat back to the curved door. Zanussi logo prised off remarkably easily without damaging the door, and ordered two of these - UCMD Magnetic Chalkboard for Fridge with 8 Color Chalk Markers,Dry Erase Blackboard Calendar (17x11 inches): Amazon.co.uk: Office Products one for the kegerator and one for the kitchen fridge as I thought they looked super useful. So by the weekend I should be able to label the taps properly, and maybe even have a drip tray. Quite exciting really (I know I shouldn't be that excited by such things).

Anna

 

[matt76]

Out of interest @DocAnna , where are you getting the "recipes" such as they are (squash, mineral additions etc) for your San Pellegrino clone(s)?

Whilst my hobbies are not frowned upon as such, I can well imagine a kegerator being looked upon far more favourable if it also dispensed one of Mrs76's favourite soft drinks

 

[DocAnna]

Out of interest @DocAnna , where are you getting the "recipes" such as they are (squash, mineral additions etc) for your San Pellegrino clone(s)?

Whilst my hobbies are not frowned upon as such, I can well imagine a kegerator being looked upon far more favourable if it also dispensed one of Mrs76's favourite soft drinks

I found this blog post with the salts recipes for mineral waters. Mineral waters à la carte – Khymos The v 6 of the spreadsheet link on the blog doesn't work and the v 5 version has a mistake with the gypsum since it uses the molecular weight for plaster of paris ie the 0.5 H2O rather than the gypsum 2 H2O version. So I've corrected the calculations but still need to tweak it a bit since it doesn't include Calcium Chloride as an option. However, even as it is it allowed me to add the salts to make something that tasted pretty spot on for the water. As to the flavours, I've some books that have recipes but for now I'm using high juice supermarket concentrate diluted as directed on the bottle. When made up with the mineral water and carbonated it really does taste rather good. I tried the salts in Brewfather on a test recipe with only 1g of a malt to allow the water calculator to work and got very similar values to the spreadsheet so I reckoned that was a good check. I'll let you know if I fix the spreadsheet properly.

Anna

 

[Leon103]

Yesterday evening I was a bit fed up so spent a pleasant hour fiddling in the garage, moved the festbier into a new slimline keg so can now fit three kegs in the fridge and have three drinks on tap. One of these is non alcoholic, Waitrose pink grapefruit juice with the water salts made up to match near enough San Pellegrino water (but I didn't have the small amount of CaOH needed). It is rather yum too ☺. The fourth tap on the manifold now also has a gas line attached which was really useful for attaching to the counter pressure bottle filler. Photos a bit later as the pipe doesn't fit in the clips so it looks a bit messy - which I'd like to correct first .

Drip tray arrived but I need to think about how to attach the flat back to the curved door. Zanussi logo prised off remarkably easily without damaging the door, and ordered two of these - UCMD Magnetic Chalkboard for Fridge with 8 Color Chalk Markers,Dry Erase Blackboard Calendar (17x11 inches): Amazon.co.uk: Office Products one for the kegerator and one for the kitchen fridge as I thought they looked super useful. So by the weekend I should be able to label the taps properly, and maybe even have a drip tray. Quite exciting really (I know I shouldn't be that excited by such things).

Anna

Let us know how the chalkboard thingy turns out. Might be useful addition to my new kegerator which i completed today.

 

[cushyno]

Let us know how the chalkboard thingy turns out. Might be useful addition to my new kegerator which i completed today.

Photos needed

 

[DocAnna]

Just had a thought about the curved front of the fridge, it really is going to be a bit of a problem for the drip tray. So I've thought of a plan.... Fimo clay... ok stick with me on this . If I shape some thin pieces of white clay to fit the curve gap between the tray and the door then I can bake the clay which in theory won't shrink and it will support the tray properly. I think my daughter has some of the clay somewhere. I've used Fimo clay on wire armatures in the past to make training models of nerve plexuses so this should be a bit simpler than that .

Let us know how the chalkboard thingy turns out. Might be useful addition to my new kegerator which i completed today.

Yes definitely will - and yes @cushyno photos will be forthcoming as well. I'm hoping my youngest daughter who is rather good at art might draw some accompanying pictures for the drinks too.

Anna

EDIT - oops just realised that was a bit egocentric of me, and that the photo request was for @Leon103 - and yes that would be great too, would love to see your work

 

[Leon103]

Photos needed

Will update my brewday thread later

 

[Leon103]

Just had a thought about the curved front of the fridge, it really is going to be a bit of a problem for the drip tray. So I've thought of a plan.... Fimo clay... ok stick with me on this . If I shape some thin pieces of white clay to fit the curve gap between the tray and the door then I can bake the clay which in theory won't shrink and it will support the tray properly. I think my daughter has some of the clay somewhere. I've used Fimo clay on wire armatures in the past to make training models of nerve plexuses so this should be a bit simpler than that .

Yes definitely will - and yes @cushyno photos will be forthcoming as well. I'm hoping my youngest daughter who is rather good at art might draw some accompanying pictures for the drinks too.

Anna

HOw much of a bend are we talking? Will the tray slightly curve when screwed in place and solve the problem? I need to get a tray.

 

[Buffers brewery]

label the taps properly,

Talking of labelling your taps properly, I use these.....

...a bit pricey but....ships and ha'peth of tar?

 

[matt76]

HOw much of a bend are we talking? Will the tray slightly curve when screwed in place and solve the problem? I need to get a tray.

I'm nowhere near needing to worry about drop trays just yet bit I did not that the fridge I've just bought also has a slightly curved door.

For the chalk board I was looking earlier on eBay at adhesive sheets. But I like what @Buffers brewery has done, that's proper class

For the drip trays though, I wondered if you know anyone with a 3d printer they might be able to help you out. Just a thought...

 

[Buffers brewery]

Drip tray arrived but I need to think about how to attach the flat back to the curved door.

That's one of the reasons I mounted my taps on the side of the fridge rather than the door , still that doesn't help you. Easiest way would be to get a couple of narrow strips of aluminium the right thickness and mount them behind the screw holes as you fix the tray to your door. A spot of super glue will make things a bit easier to handle

 

[cushyno]

Just had a thought about the curved front of the fridge, it really is going to be a bit of a problem for the drip tray. So I've thought of a plan.... Fimo clay... ok stick with me on this . If I shape some thin pieces of white clay to fit the curve gap between the tray and the door then I can bake the clay which in theory won't shrink and it will support the tray properly. I think my daughter has some of the clay somewhere. I've used Fimo clay on wire armatures in the past to make training models of nerve plexuses so this should be a bit simpler than that .

Yes definitely will - and yes @cushyno photos will be forthcoming as well. I'm hoping my youngest daughter who is rather good at art might draw some accompanying pictures for the drinks too.

Anna

EDIT - oops just realised that was a bit egocentric of me, and that the photo request was for @Leon103 - and yes that would be great too, would love to see your work

The more photos the merrier.

On the Fimo clay and daughters thing, my daughter has just finished her GCSE's and now has time on her hands. Her box of Fimo clay that has been stuffed to the back of a cupboard for 4 years or so has been brought out of hibernation this week. She figured out that it's water based and adding a little water to it made the old clay easier to work. She's got quite a talent for drawing and painting too

As for the drip tray, I'm looking for one too, so keen to see how it works out.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

might the porosity of the Fimo clay be an issue, making it stain and/or go mouldy if ibeer gets onto it ?
perhaps you could varnish it…

as an alternative, maybe a bead of white silicone sealant?

 

[DocAnna]

might the porosity of the Fimo clay be an issue, making it stain and/or go mouldy if ibeer gets onto it ?
perhaps you could varnish it…

as an alternative, maybe a bead of white silicone sealant?

I hadn't realised there were multiple versions of Fimo - the one we have is the Fimo Pro clay which is a polymer clay. It's a firm clay that produces chemically inert solid polymer pieces that can be drilled, screwed etc. It's pretty cool stuff and can be used to mould parts pretty much like epoxy but is a lot lot easier to use.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

If the Fimo's no good you could try a product called Sugru. It's a bit like Blu-Tac that hardens. It comes in a variety of colours. I've used it for a couple of things and it's pretty good. I don't know how much it is (mine was in my Christmas stocking years ago), but I'd say worth a look at.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Nah.... silicone sealant - although I do accept it can be a bit messy ;-)

(only pulling your leg - I'm sure the Fimo will be excellent for it)