Just purchased New (used) Kegerator!

[physast]

Hello everyone,

I have been in and out of the forums reading all the great tips and discussions for the past few days. I was wanting to save up to get the Sanyo Kegerator at Costco for $699, but saw an Haier kegerator on Craigslist for much less than half that so I jumped on it.

I have it sitting in my apartment right now hovering at 36F at normal setting after doing the thermostat mod. It was setting at 45F at normal before that.

I have my Pale ale in the secondary fermenter and want to keg this beer now that I have most of the equipment. It came with a C02 tank with some C02 left in it. Basically everything that was on it when the PO purchased it about a year ago is still working and in good shape. PO used it for commercial kegs only. Keystone light I think was tapped when I went to look at it (eww).

Anyway I now need to get a corny keg and all the fixings. I was going to replace all the hoses while I am at it. I see that there are two different connectors for the ball lock. A barbed and a threaded.. What is the difference? It seems from reading the post that I want threaded. SO while looking on Midwest supplies website, the description said I needed a swing nut and stem also.. But searching the site I could not find anything mentioned like that. Also Do you know if the kegs come with the Keg posts?

As a last question(s).. Anyone have any good pointers for doing my first keg?? I really look forward to pouring a glass of my own brew! I have thought about doing a fan mod, but I want to wait and see if it's a problem first.

I was going to get 5 feet of gas line and 6 feet of beer line for the tubing. This should be right from what I have read.

OK enough blabbing... I just wanted to say hello and thanks for the great information

Charlie

[physast]

I have a cup of ice in the kegerator to read the liquid temp. The temp is still steady at 36F, but the water in the cup is starting to ice. Does this mean that it's to cold? Will the beer freeze at this temp?

[lunkhead]

Originally Posted by physast

I have a cup of ice in the kegerator to read the liquid temp. The temp is still steady at 36F, but the water in the cup is starting to ice. Does this mean that it's to cold? Will the beer freeze at this temp?

Just starting to ice over is not a problem, beer won't freeze until about 28 - 29 deg f. But if the cup becomes a block of ice it's too cold. Now's the time for a calibrated thermometer. Sorry but I can't offer any help on the corny kegs but someone here should be able to.

[physast]

Lunkhead thanks for the info! It's amazing how much information you can get from these forums. And still, until you actually get a unit and play with it you really don't understand. I had been reading for 3 or 4 days and couldn't imagine having anymore questions than were already answered.

My temp this morning is 35F and the cup was the most iced over it has been. I had to apply some real force to puncture the ice to get a water temp. I think I might have it a bit to cold, but without a keg in I am not sure.

Will adding the keg raise the temp or will it just balance out at the same temp.

Charlie

[shuggy]

Threaded ball lock disconnects will make it easier for you to switch from corny kegs back to commercial kegs. Kegconnection has a kit that has all the pieces you need in order to do this. Here. (Midwest has all the pieces as well just not put together as a kit. Just do a search for mfl.)

Kegging homebrew is the bee's knees. Bottling is a PITA. Just be sure to sanitize everything well and get some keg lube for your o-rings. Try not to aerate your brew too much when racking from fermenter into the keg.

[lunkhead]

Originally Posted by physast

Lunkhead thanks for the info! It's amazing how much information you can get from these forums. And still, until you actually get a unit and play with it you really don't understand. I had been reading for 3 or 4 days and couldn't imagine having anymore questions than were already answered.

My temp this morning is 35F and the cup was the most iced over it has been. I had to apply some real force to puncture the ice to get a water temp. I think I might have it a bit to cold, but without a keg in I am not sure.

Will adding the keg raise the temp or will it just balance out at the same temp.

Charlie

The beer temp always seems to stay a couple of degrees higher than a cup of water. When I was setting my unit up it would lightly ice around the rim of a nearly full 2-1/2 gal bucket of water but the beer temp never went below 35deg.

[physast]

Shuggy - Thanks for the link. It's starting to all come together now. This has been harder to visualize than I thought, but you learn as you go.

Lunkhead- I was using a small 8oz cup of water. I just put a larger liter bottle in. I guess it's better to be more representative of the keg.

[cubby_swans]

Originally Posted by lunkhead

The beer temp always seems to stay a couple of degrees higher than a cup of water. When I was setting my unit up it would lightly ice around the rim of a nearly full 2-1/2 gal bucket of water but the beer temp never went below 35deg.

ditto that. When I have no keg, my MM liquid thermometer gets down to 30 degrees, when I have my Danby set at 36. When I have a 1/2 barrel in there, the liquid thermometer and beer bottom out at 36.