Another Newbie has arrived

[1pintatatime]

Hello to all fellow beer drinkers. I am new to the site but I have been reading all of the great info for the last feww days. My wife and friends all pitched in and bought me a kegerator for my birthday this past January and it just arrived last week. I have the Sanyo BC-1206S-2 dual faucet. I am not sure how much research she did but after setting it all up and getting two sixtels into it and waiting for the temp to steasy out, every beer I have poured has been perfect. I will keep reading the posts to see if there are any mods I want to do it but for right now it has been perfect. I currently have a sixtel of Shipyard Brew Masters Choice Brown Ale and a sixtel of Shipyard Pumpkin Head (I found the Pumpkinhead at a local distribution place, excellent score). I love my wife for supporting my love of beer.

[THE ICEMAN]

Welcome to our little circus. If you do ever end up with any problems I'm sure you will find plenty of help here. Later.
OBTW, we don't charge newbies extra for the info.


THE ICEMAN

[mpearce090871]

1pintatatime, I ordered my BC-1206-2 the other day, and it should be here tomorrow. It would have been here today, but apparently, the delivery people had yesterday off, so I have to wait another day.

It's good to here that you are having luck with it, so far.

I plan on putting a sixtel of Shipyard - Captain Eli's rootbeer (for the kids) in it, and something for the wife and I, on the other side. I'm still trying to decide what to go with on the other tap. I work for a distributor, so I have a fairly good selection, to pick from, plus I get store cost. Right now, I'm leaning towards Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale.

Anyway, good luck, and keep us(me) updated on how things are going with the BC-1206S-2.

Mark

[1pintatatime]

Thanks for not charging me Iceman. That just means more money for the next keg.

mpearce, i am sure you will know what to do with the kegerator when you get it, but i will give you what little info I have thus far:

1. I let the kegerator sit upright for three days before I got my kegs. This ensured that all the freon settled out so there would be no problems with it running.

2. I got a remote temperature sensor to monitor the internal temp of the of the kegerator. At its lowest setting the reading that I am getting is 41 to 42 degrees. The beer tastes plenty cold enough and I have the CO2 coming in at about 11 psi with no foaming problems. I still need to get an analog thermometer to prperly est the beer temp.

3. I have the higher end Micromatic dual gage regulator for two kegs and it works great. I am not sure which one you got with the one you ordered.

Happy drinking for the adult beverage to you and your wife and great idea getting the rootbeer for the kids. I don't have any kids so I can get away with with two adult beverages in mine.

[mpearce090871]

1. I let the kegerator sit upright for three days before I got my kegs. This ensured that all the freon settled out so there would be no problems with it running.

2. I got a remote temperature sensor to monitor the internal temp of the of the kegerator. At its lowest setting the reading that I am getting is 41 to 42 degrees. The beer tastes plenty cold enough and I have the CO2 coming in at about 11 psi with no foaming problems. I still need to get an analog thermometer to prperly est the beer temp.

3. I have the higher end Micromatic dual gage regulator for two kegs and it works great. I am not sure which one you got with the one you ordered.

Happy drinking for the adult beverage to you and your wife and great idea getting the rootbeer for the kids. I don't have any kids so I can get away with with two adult beverages in mine.

1pintatatime, thanks for the feedback.

Is three days sitting after you get the kegerator required? I was planning on letting it sit for a day, then turn it on, and let it sit, with a big bucket of water in it for another day, to get the temps settled. Not sure I can handle three days..

Do you have the thermometer in water, or just in the air? I know colder beer has less flavor, but I would like the option of turning it down a little more than that. I don't like the idea of having to leave it on the lowest setting, just to achieve 41 degrees. I was hoping to be able to set it at about 3/4 and have it be about 38 degrees. Have you tried putting a fan in, to blow the air around, inside the cooler?

I did get the Premium Series Dual Primary CO2 Regulator Battery upgrade, so that I can have kegs with different pressures.


Thanks again,
Mark

[1pintatatime]

You don't have to wait for three days to allow the refridgerant to settle. One day should be fine. I waited the three days because I didn't have the time right away to set up the kegerator. I haven't tested actual beer temperature yet with an analog thermometer. I will be doing that today. But if you are going to put a bucket of water in it while the temperature settles i would just drop a thermometer in the water so when you check it after 24 hours you can get a true reading of what liquid temperature will be.

Right now the way that I am monitoring the internal temperature of the kegerator is with a remote temperature sensor that I picked up from everyones favorite department store for about $5. I hung the sensor inside the kegerator (it isn't in water) toward the top for a few days and the reading I have consistantly got on the display that is hanging on the outside has been 41 to 42 degrees. I placed the sensor at the bottom of the kegerator this morning before I left for work to see if there will be a difference in temperature on the inside between the top and the bottom. I did this because last night while I was having a few tasty beverages with some friends I noticed that with each additional glass that I poured the beer seemed to be getting colder. I will check my readings when I get home tonight and post what I find.

I do not currently have a fan on the inside to circulate the air but I think that is a mod that I will look into. Check out the Danby mod threads for an internal circulation fan. A lot of people have done this and they seem to have had great success. If I find tonight that there is a big difference between the internal upper and lower area temperatures then I will definitely be doing the circulation fan mod.

As far as beer losing taste with it being colder, I have found that some beers tate better when they are cold (lighter beers) and some beers taste better a little warmer (stouts typically). I am by no means a beer expert but I would simply trust your taste buds.

[1pintatatime]

mpearce, I just checked my remote temperature indicator and it was reading 27 degrees!!!! This was with the sensor located at the bottom of the kegeerator. You definitely do not need to to crank the thermostat all the way down. I will definitely be doing the circulation mod to my kegerator. The only problem is i have to get it done by friday because i am going on vacation on saturday and will be gone for a week. I don't want to come home to frozen kegs. I will let you know how it goes.