Tweet
Hello - this is my first time posting but I wanted to share this in case anyone was interested.
Most liquor stores in my area (Chicago & O'Hare) have been able to confirm that the 20L keg of Guinness is now available upon request. The prices I am hearing are right around $100. I know that isn't a discount, but from my understanding not many 1/6 kegs are priced in our favor.
Some stats on the Guinness 1/6 (20L) Keg:
Weight: 57 lbs
Height: 23 inches
Width: 9.3 inches
Shape: Round, Steel Drum
Coupler: "U" system coupler (same as other Guinness kegs)
Long story about what led to this discovery:
I am building a house, and have been searching for that "perfect" built-in kegerator, as I have no skills of my own. I believe the last thing I built was a 1ft wooden cross when I was 12, and even that was pre-cut. I have been looking for something that meets my needs, which is basically a dual tap, front-venting, under-counter unit that can take a wood panel overlay for the door (our cabinet guy will make it). It also HAD to be able to accommodate a keg of Guinness. And of course, it had to work perfectly with zero to minimal "mods", because again, I suck at everything. The main issue I was concerned about was cooling the tower and noise.
My search for "the best" led me to many places, including these forums. From reading, the common theme was that the Perlick faucets were some pretty sweet faucets, so I thought "Hey I wonder if they make a complete unit?". Turns out, they do. And it apparently met all of my requirements. Sadly, after some discussion with the company, it turns out that the Perlick HC24 can only handle quarters and sixths that utilize a low-profile coupler, and currently there is no low-profile "U" coupler on the market (not that I know of, at least). So Perlick was a swing and a miss.
Next up was True. Man they have a sweet residential unit - the handcrafted TUR-24DD. And according to their spec sheets, the dual tap unit COULD handle a sixth AND the "U" coupler. Oh man now it was time to shop around for the best deals. That is when I discovered the fact that many of these places protect the hell out of their pricing. No deals to be had. Most people would not ship out of their "sales area", no discounts, etc. So I was just trying to find someone who would either not charge for shipping, or charge something less than the IL sales tax (8.75%). I was about to just suck it up and purchase from a local store when I figured I would triple-check the capacity of this thing. So I wrote to True and ended up talking to their "beer geek". He informed me that the online documentation was misleading, and that True was in the same boat as Perlick. A low-profile coupler is necessary for anything taller than the short quarter barrel.
At this point, I was pretty bummed. The bar is basically one of the only "rooms" that I get to "go nuts" with. My media room idea was squashed. My "solar lights" idea was laughed out of the building. Thankfully I never approached the wife with my Geothermal heating & cooling scheme or my heated driveway dreams. But the bar - I get to do whatever I want. Authentic tin panel ceilings? Yup. Chicago-style bar rail instead of the builder's "hey look I made a kitchen counter for you and let's call it a bar" setup? Yup. Premium bar-top of my choice? Uh-huh. And a dual-tap kegerator? Sure. But I was helpfully instructed that a) it cannot be super loud, b) it should fit nicely in with the cabinets without having to cut vents in the front, and c) it better not break in a couple of years.
So, I can't (won't) build one. My plan to grossly over-pay (yes I am aware I'd grossly overpay for either of those) for the premium ones was thwarted because won't fit any tall kegs without a low-profile coupler. Then someone pointed me towards the Marvel 61HKT. It seemingly could do it all - it met all of my requirements to a tee. I even wrote to Marvel, making them confirm several times in writing that it was all true - all of these wonderful things. And they assured me that yes, YES!, this is the one for me. This is probably what I will end up getting. I am aware that the tower cooling issue may exist, so I'll probably rig up a little fan per previous forum post suggestions.
Anyway, I had heard rumblings in this forum that the 1/6 Guinness keg was starting to show up on the east and west coasts, and I have been hounding the suppliers around here to lean on their guys a little bit to get these in Chicago. I doubt my phone calls had any effect on this, but I must say it was not long after I kept calling them that they finally had some good news for me - that the 20L COULD be ordered.
Thanks to everyone who posts here - I've been able to find a ton of information in this forum and a few others, and it has been tremendously helpful.
-Stoj
Most liquor stores in my area (Chicago & O'Hare) have been able to confirm that the 20L keg of Guinness is now available upon request. The prices I am hearing are right around $100. I know that isn't a discount, but from my understanding not many 1/6 kegs are priced in our favor.
Some stats on the Guinness 1/6 (20L) Keg:
Weight: 57 lbs
Height: 23 inches
Width: 9.3 inches
Shape: Round, Steel Drum
Coupler: "U" system coupler (same as other Guinness kegs)
Long story about what led to this discovery:
I am building a house, and have been searching for that "perfect" built-in kegerator, as I have no skills of my own. I believe the last thing I built was a 1ft wooden cross when I was 12, and even that was pre-cut. I have been looking for something that meets my needs, which is basically a dual tap, front-venting, under-counter unit that can take a wood panel overlay for the door (our cabinet guy will make it). It also HAD to be able to accommodate a keg of Guinness. And of course, it had to work perfectly with zero to minimal "mods", because again, I suck at everything. The main issue I was concerned about was cooling the tower and noise.
My search for "the best" led me to many places, including these forums. From reading, the common theme was that the Perlick faucets were some pretty sweet faucets, so I thought "Hey I wonder if they make a complete unit?". Turns out, they do. And it apparently met all of my requirements. Sadly, after some discussion with the company, it turns out that the Perlick HC24 can only handle quarters and sixths that utilize a low-profile coupler, and currently there is no low-profile "U" coupler on the market (not that I know of, at least). So Perlick was a swing and a miss.
Next up was True. Man they have a sweet residential unit - the handcrafted TUR-24DD. And according to their spec sheets, the dual tap unit COULD handle a sixth AND the "U" coupler. Oh man now it was time to shop around for the best deals. That is when I discovered the fact that many of these places protect the hell out of their pricing. No deals to be had. Most people would not ship out of their "sales area", no discounts, etc. So I was just trying to find someone who would either not charge for shipping, or charge something less than the IL sales tax (8.75%). I was about to just suck it up and purchase from a local store when I figured I would triple-check the capacity of this thing. So I wrote to True and ended up talking to their "beer geek". He informed me that the online documentation was misleading, and that True was in the same boat as Perlick. A low-profile coupler is necessary for anything taller than the short quarter barrel.
At this point, I was pretty bummed. The bar is basically one of the only "rooms" that I get to "go nuts" with. My media room idea was squashed. My "solar lights" idea was laughed out of the building. Thankfully I never approached the wife with my Geothermal heating & cooling scheme or my heated driveway dreams. But the bar - I get to do whatever I want. Authentic tin panel ceilings? Yup. Chicago-style bar rail instead of the builder's "hey look I made a kitchen counter for you and let's call it a bar" setup? Yup. Premium bar-top of my choice? Uh-huh. And a dual-tap kegerator? Sure. But I was helpfully instructed that a) it cannot be super loud, b) it should fit nicely in with the cabinets without having to cut vents in the front, and c) it better not break in a couple of years.
So, I can't (won't) build one. My plan to grossly over-pay (yes I am aware I'd grossly overpay for either of those) for the premium ones was thwarted because won't fit any tall kegs without a low-profile coupler. Then someone pointed me towards the Marvel 61HKT. It seemingly could do it all - it met all of my requirements to a tee. I even wrote to Marvel, making them confirm several times in writing that it was all true - all of these wonderful things. And they assured me that yes, YES!, this is the one for me. This is probably what I will end up getting. I am aware that the tower cooling issue may exist, so I'll probably rig up a little fan per previous forum post suggestions.
Anyway, I had heard rumblings in this forum that the 1/6 Guinness keg was starting to show up on the east and west coasts, and I have been hounding the suppliers around here to lean on their guys a little bit to get these in Chicago. I doubt my phone calls had any effect on this, but I must say it was not long after I kept calling them that they finally had some good news for me - that the 20L COULD be ordered.
Thanks to everyone who posts here - I've been able to find a ton of information in this forum and a few others, and it has been tremendously helpful.
-Stoj