Brewer's Edge Digital Temperature Controller II PURCHASED!!!

[billbird2111]

My apologies to Micro Matic. I found the same exact thing cheaper somewhere else. Shipping was cheaper too. If any Micro Matic folks take a gander at this, take notice.

BUT, also be advised, that I am a past purchaser of Micro Matic products, and will indeed be shopping for a new faucet soon (hopefully Perlick). The years-long quest to get my POS Avanti to stop foaming continues. I already have the longer line and coupler. The temp controller was the next purchase. The Perlick fauct is next (I hope).

But, I have a question. Can you help?

You see, I love ice-cold beer. You CAN get the Avanti cold enough, but at that point, the beer freezes on me and I have a wasted keg. The only way to stop the keg from freezing, is to turn up the temperature to a point where I get cold beer, yes, but not as cold as I would prefer. For my taste, it's still too warm.

But, I think the Brewer's Edge product will provide the answer to the quest I seek: COLD BEER.

Knowing that I want beer as cold as I can get it (floating ice crystals are awesome in my book), at what temperature do you suggest I keep this digital unit at? I know all about the differential, and will not deviate from the reccommended five degrees. But, at what point does beer freeze? Would setting it at 32 be far too cold? 33? 34? 35?

Remember -- the key is COLD BEER. This is my quest.

Fellow Micro Matic'ers -- what do you suggest?

[Beer Dr]

You asked so here it is! Maybe if you bought a Beverage Air from Micro Matic instead of a POS Avanti from somewhere else you wouldn't have this problem! MM doesn't sell Avanti, hmm, wonder why? If you want ice cold beer 32 degrees, then you really know nothing about beer. At 32 degrees the palate is numbed and you'll taste nothing, drink ice water, it'll be much safer for you. You mention the Perlick faucet, this going to make your beer colder? Lets see, I bought my Avanti somewhere else, my brewers edge somewhere else, and my Perlick faucet somewhere else, but I want you guys to give me advise!!! Give us a break!

[hockeyplayer12]

ICE CRYSTALS IN BEEER!!!! BOOOOOOOO!!! lol
beer freezes at 28 degrees. serving beer at that temp or relativley close to it defeats the purchase of buying a keg. why spend all that money on a keg of wasted slush? also, serving beer too cold actually erases most of the flavor and aroma which are essential to a GOOD beer, which is why beer is reccommended serving around 38-40 for most beers.
Im surprised you havent put ice cubes in your beer yet...(another bad idea)

[billbird2111]

You asked so here it is! Maybe if you bought a Beverage Air from Micro Matic instead of a POS Avanti from somewhere else you wouldn't have this problem! MM doesn't sell Avanti, hmm, wonder why? If you want ice cold beer 32 degrees, then you really know nothing about beer. At 32 degrees the palate is numbed and you'll taste nothing, drink ice water, it'll be much safer for you. You mention the Perlick faucet, this going to make your beer colder? Lets see, I bought my Avanti somewhere else, my brewers edge somewhere else, and my Perlick faucet somewhere else, but I want you guys to give me advise!!! Give us a break!

Jeez Louise. Is someone cranky? Did you not read the part of the post where other parts had been purchased from Micromatic? Do you think if I had known about Micromatic beforehand, I would have purchased the Avanti?

Point is, despite a month's worth of research on types of kegerators, Micromatic never popped up in a Google or Yahoo search. It was only AFTER problems with the Avanti developed, did the forum section of Micromatic pop up, and I found some VERY NICE people to help me with my cause. Because, they too, were having the same problem. Go ahead: Try it yourself! Type in the words "Avanti" and "foam" into any Google or Yahoo search. Micromatic pops up first every time.

I wonder what happened to the nice people who advised me earlier? Did you scare them off Beer Dr.? And yes, again, to drive the point home: the five foot line and coupler were purchased from Micromatic. At one time, Micromatic also offered Perlick faucets. I guess they don't anymore. Despite the first two responses to my initial question, I will continue to buy parts from Micromatic. Should I upgrade to another kegerator, I will consider Micromatic.

Finally, I don't believe that my desire for cold beer is a crime against humanity. I asked what I hoped would be a simple question. Instead of help, I got attitude. I'm surprised. The Micromatic Forums were never like this before.

The wife and I do not indulge in anything outside the major American beers. Most of the time, it's loaded with Bud, Miller or PBR. If I could fit a Coors keg in that thing, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But there's another disadvantage to the Avanti. It holds standard sized kegs only.

So, my hope is that some of the helpful people who I relied upon in the past will help me with an answer. Thank you.

[billbird2111]

I put this thread in the wrong forum

[psychodad]

I'd think you would want to set the Brewer's Edge about 36 as a starting point for as cold as you are trying to get. Keep in mind, that with the colder temperature, you will want less co2 pressure to avoid foaming.

Aside from that, everyone, let's please keep the discussion as civil and helpful as possible.

[Beer Dr]

Bill yeah I was cranky, sixteen hour day at work, and a couple beers will do that sometimes. But it seemed to me you were just using them forum for advise so you could go and by products somewhere else. Micro Matic has this forum to help potential and existing customers get the right product they need. To say you found the Brewers Edge somewhere else cheaper, after getting advise from the forum I don't feel this is fair to MM. You have to look at whether the best price is always the best way to go, or to show your appreciation for a forum like this by purchasing equipment from the company sponsoring it. Both the more expensive items and the least expensive items like 5' of beer line. My apologies!

[Larry Tapper]

Why do you want a 5 degree diff? I like 2-3 on most units I work on 5 degree works but 2-3 keeps less promblems if the coolers or frig are open often. Put your sensor about 6 inches off the bottom, the set your temp as cold as you can with out freezing up the unit. By the way there is a 6-8 degree temp rise if the glasses are not chilled to the same temp as the beer, thus if the glasses are room temp and the beer is 32 at the facuet then the pour is 38-40 degree.

[verncat05]

To the OP (Bill), I just purchased the Brewer's Edge II from MM last week, as the thermostat in the Edgstar kegerator I purchased a few weeks ago is either way too warm or would freeze a keg. The first log I put in was Blue Moon, which I served at about 38 degrees. It was quite tasty. The wife and I blew through that in no time at all and were having guests over this weekend, so it was a 1/4 of Bud Light. I dropped the pouring temp down to 34.5 degrees and couldn't have been happier.

Man, would the rest of you get over yourselves? He was simply asking a question, stop being so snooty. These are support forums. Maybe some of you need to look up the word "support" before you decide to respond, it might sway you to respond differently, or not at all.

[billbird2111]

Verncat and the rest,

It's OK. Don't worry about it. There's a sliver of truth in what Beer Dr. stated. Micromatic has the forums, which I love, therefore, on second thought, I should have supported Micromatic a little more. I will do so in the future.

Well, the unit is doing exactly as advertised. I've got it set at 38, with a five degree differential, which means it's shutting down at 33. Still, I do hear the compressor snapping on a bit more. It seems to be working harder to keep that keg of beer at the correct temperature. Anyone else notice this?

The pour on the Avanti is starting to improve dramatically now.

Oh, by the way, the coldest I had been able to get the Avanti, without freezing the beer, was 42. That according to the installed digital thermometer. If I had try to move it down just a touch more, without the digital unit, the keg would have frozen in two or three days. Happened ever single time in the past. The the digital unit is shutting the compressor off at exactly the right time.

One other very funny thing I noticed is this: There is a severe "duh" factor NOT included in the instruction manual. At first, I could not get this digital unit to work. I installed it, set the temp at 37, but even though the temp clearly read 42, the compressor would not snap on.

I tried every little trick in the book. Read the instruction manual five or six times, cover to cover, and was about to pry the thing apart before it suddenly hit me!

I had to turn the temperature control on the Avanti to the absolute lowest setting. Then, and only then, did the compressor snap on and the digital unit take over from there.

Nowhere in the instruction manual did it instruct me to set the controller unit that came with the original kegerator to the lowest possible setting. Again, I know it's a "duh" type of thing, but it did take me a good two hours to figure it out.

I have ice cold beer now. About an inch worth of foam when pouring into a plastic kegger cup. It's perfect.

BUT -- at some point -- I want to upgrade to a dual tower with two new faucets.

Does anyone know if Coors sells the five gallon tall kegs without those stupid fat bands around the middle? The Avanti handles standard sized kegs only. The Coors keg, because of that fat band around the middle, will not fit.

Again, thanks for everyone's help. I appreciate it.

Anyone seen sfurst around lately? He was a huge help when I first started posting about a year and a half ago. He's not answering his email.

[hockeyplayer12]

ya i hate those fat bangs toooo. around my way ( MA ) thats all i got for corrs 5 gallon, i use a freezer conversion, so im all set, but i when my buddy has his converted mini fridge it would drive us insane because we would totally forget about the bands! so, i think the 5gallon is prolly the same everywhere.

CHEERS

[Scott Zuhse]

Wow! Full moon out there! We here at Micro Matic definitely appreciate all the participation on this forum. Most certainly we all get somewhat agitated and animated with our replies. I am certain that some of you have witnessed some of my posts being acrid at times. I guess this may have something to due with the passion we have for great tasting beer. We all hope to be able to enjoy as much of the beer from one keg as possible, however we desire it.

It is difficult to monitor posts since some of them are, as one member put it -"munged up". You simply do not know if the post is legitimate or a marketing message from a competitor. We apologize in advance for misjudging.

We try, but unfortunately can not be all things to all customers / members. Hopefully everyone understands that Micro Matic has invested heavily in the resources on this website and when possible, we refer to our products in this forum.

On the Coors' kegs having the chimes (fat belly). These were designed such that the could be warehoused without wood pallets using tines on fork lifts. Also, it protects the delivery personnels' fingers from becoming smashed between the kegs. I am not certain, but do believe there five gallon kegs have straight walls. have a great week!

[billbird2111]

Wow! Full moon out there! We here at Micro Matic definitely appreciate all the participation on this forum. Most certainly we all get somewhat agitated and animated with our replies. I am certain that some of you have witnessed some of my posts being acrid at times. I guess this may have something to due with the passion we have for great tasting beer. We all hope to be able to enjoy as much of the beer from one keg as possible, however we desire it.

It is difficult to monitor posts since some of them are, as one member put it -"munged up". You simply do not know if the post is legitimate or a marketing message from a competitor. We apologize in advance for misjudging.

We try, but unfortunately can not be all things to all customers / members. Hopefully everyone understands that Micro Matic has invested heavily in the resources on this website and when possible, we refer to our products in this forum.

On the Coors' kegs having the chimes (fat belly). These were designed such that the could be warehoused without wood pallets using tines on fork lifts. Also, it protects the delivery personnels' fingers from becoming smashed between the kegs. I am not certain, but do believe there five gallon kegs have straight walls. have a great week!

Thank you Scott. I very much appreciate your answer. I cannot find the distributor for Coors Beer in my area, therefore, I've contacted Beverages and More to see if such a keg exists.

Have other Avanti owners faced this same vexing problem? The chimes or "fat belly" on the Coors keg does not fit inside the Avanti? Is there a cheap fix?

I'm afraid if I shove it in, I'll just crack the walls of the kegerator unit -- then -- no more kegerator.

[cubby_swans]

Thank you Scott. I very much appreciate your answer. I cannot find the distributor for Coors Beer in my area, therefore, I've contacted Beverages and More to see if such a keg exists.

Have other Avanti owners faced this same vexing problem? The chimes or "fat belly" on the Coors keg does not fit inside the Avanti? Is there a cheap fix?

I'm afraid if I shove it in, I'll just crack the walls of the kegerator unit -- then -- no more kegerator.

If you can get coors at a liquor store near you, I would think you could just ask them who their distributor is. Right? I think EVERY Avanti owner has this problem. That's why everytime you see one advertised, there is a "Please Note: This beer dispenser does not accomodate Coors or other oversieded beer kegs" disclaimer. There is no fix, other than buying a different kegerator.

[billbird2111]

If you can get coors at a liquor store near you, I would think you could just ask them who their distributor is. Right? I think EVERY Avanti owner has this problem. That's why everytime you see one advertised, there is a "Please Note: This beer dispenser does not accomodate Coors or other oversieded beer kegs" disclaimer. There is no fix, other than buying a different kegerator.

Yeah, guess what? When I was researching kegerators three years ago (and there is far more information on the Net now than there was three years ago!), there was NO SUCH LINE for the Avanti. Had I known that, I would have said "no thanks" and moved on.

We didn't find out until we tried the hard way. Bought the Coors Keg. Didn't fit. Brought it back to BevMo and exchanged it for a Pony Keg, and it too, did not fit. Brought that one back as well.

I just noticed, in doing additional research, that disclaimer pops up EVERY time with Avanti. My guess is they got sued by someone, or perhaps a group of people, forcing the disclaimer.

That disclaimer did not exist in 2005.

Oh well. What to do now? On the suggestion of one of the Mods, I did indeed check BevMo to see if Coors was sold in the five gallon slim tanks.

NOPE!

Now, just because BevMo doesn't sell those five gallon tanks doesn't mean they don't exist. It just means that BevMo doesn't sell them.

So....the quest continues....If ANY Avanti owner has a fix to this Coors problem, please englighten me. It's one of the last and vexing beer problems to overcome.