What do I need for a Corny keg setup

[Clint]

Regarding fridges for a kegerator..
Do you buy new or chance a used, borrowed,cadged unit?
Do I go for two or three taps? I seen some nice taps in MM which claim to drain better..but they're quite expensive. Do you need flow control?
How many cornies do I need?
Does everyone still brew 23l and bottle a few?

 

[Brew_DD2]

Regarding fridges for a kegerator..
Do you buy new or chance a used, borrowed,cadged unit?
Do I go for two or three taps? I seen some nice taps in MM which claim to drain better..but they're quite expensive. Do you need flow control?
How many cornies do I need?
Does everyone still brew 23l and bottle a few?

I went for an old fridge. I went two taps because the fridge-freezer I have would need to be attacked with a hacksaw for me to get 3 kegs in. The Nukataps/Intertaps work beautifully. Don't worry about flow control. I have one of each, but rarely need to adjust flow. I have 4 cornies. I brew short to come out with 18-19l into keg. Absolutely no reason why you couldn't stick to 23l and bottle the rest.

 

[Polcho]

It’s very helpful getting real recommendations on suppliers from people one actually knows, rather than raking through these reviews from who knows where

 

[phildo79]

If you aren't sure about everything you need, your best bet is buying a keg setup. I got mine from the malt miller. After a while you will become more familiar with all things keg related and it will seem very simple. But to begin with, it can be a bit daunting.

One thing I will say is, how you transfer your beer from your FV is important. Ideally you want to do a closed transfer to eliminate oxygen from your brew. I was using kegs for about 18 months before I started doing closed transfers and the difference in the beer is night and day. Especially hoppy beers. It is certainly something worth considering, IMO.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Regarding fridges for a kegerator..
Do you buy new or chance a used, borrowed,cadged unit?
Do I go for two or three taps? I seen some nice taps in MM which claim to drain better..but they're quite expensive. Do you need flow control?
How many cornies do I need?
Does everyone still brew 23l and bottle a few?

What do you want and what budget do you have?

For me, new is the right approach because it’s clean and unabused but if you’re working to a budget you may have to choose used.

Number of taps? Surely the more the better! More seriously, how many beers do you want on tap at any given time? I have 6 (but I’m greedy).

Do you need flow control? No. But if you don’t have flow-control you’ll be friggin’ about with beer line lengths and sizes and with CO2 pressure trying to get the best compromise between head/froth and flow. Flow-control, just turn the control tap.

You need 2 cornies for each tap if you want continuous supply for each, one on tap, one conditioning.

Batch size? I brew 20 litre batches for cornies and 23 litre batches for PBS

Hopefully helpful.

 

[Clint]

What do you want and what budget do you have?

For me, new is the right approach because it’s clean and unabused but if you’re working to a budget you may have to choose used.

Number of taps? Surely the more the better! More seriously, how many beers do you want on tap at any given time? I have 6 (but I’m greedy).

Do you need flow control? No. But if you don’t have flow-control you’ll be friggin’ about with beer line lengths and sizes and with CO2 pressure trying to get the best compromise between head/froth and flow. Flow-control, just turn the control tap.

You need 2 cornies for each tap if you want continuous supply for each, one on tap, one conditioning.

Batch size? I brew 20 litre batches for cornies and 23 litre batches for PBS

Hopefully helpful.

Very helpful!

 

[Steve_89]

I use Co2 Gas for Doncaster Barnsley Rotherham Sheffield, Leeds, Hull, York. Wakefield, Scunthorpe, Lincoln in Doncaster as its just down the road from us.

He'll sell you a cylinder for £40 or so and refills are £20

As others have said Brewkegtap do complete kits and I can't fault mine. They worked out slightly cheaper then others if I recall.

+1 for this supplier picked mine up on Thursday £50 for tank which becomes yours I went for the 6.35kg tank and then £20 to fill and refills good service.

I got my kegs from BKT too went for the double corny, kit as I could just, about fit 2 in the fridge. Easy to set up came with instructions.

It's my first venture into kegs and they are currently full and now it's just a waiting game for them to carbonate hopefully il be sampling them over the Bank holiday weekend. Only question is now do I order 2 more for continous supply

 

[Redwulf]

Regarding fridges for a kegerator..
Do you buy new or chance a used, borrowed,cadged unit?
Do I go for two or three taps? I seen some nice taps in MM which claim to drain better..but they're quite expensive. Do you need flow control?
How many cornies do I need?
Does everyone still brew 23l and bottle a few?

I bought a 2nd hand chest freezer, a length of 2x4 and some 18mm ply for mine. It holds 4 and 2 mini kegs. If you can get larder fridge in decent nick then that is ideal.

I went for 3 taps and 3 kegs, Intertap/Nukatap are really good and worth spending a bit extra on I believe. Again the BKT kits come with everything you need apart from the gas and were a) priced well and b) in stock when I wanted mine.

My batch sizes vary depending on the brew. Generally I still aim for 23L unless its something that won't bottle well or stuff I am not going to share in which case I do aim for 20L knowing I'll get a full keg of 19L