Keg / Tap Dispensing

Recently Mark inquired about draught beer for his home – such as what is needed, cost, etc. He is interested in the brewing aspect – but not so much as to do it himself. He is quite content on watching me do it. I am OK with that. He has hosted brewing sessions at his home. We get some card playing in (Sheephead) and some beer made. I really enjoy the brewing process and am glad to share the experience and the results.

Mark will need to understand that he will need to sacrifice the shelf space that he currently has in his beer fridge for purchased brews. A keg takes up space – not so much horizontally, but very much vertically. I thought about this myself as I contemplated whether I wanted to get another chest freezer for my keezer replacement or go with a upright fridge. I have a 4 four tap system and would like to keep it that way. Cramming 4 kegs into a fridge would leave no space for anything else. And, the fridge would have to be of a pretty decent size. That equates to more cash than I was willing to part with. So, I went with a slightly larger chest freezer (10 cubic ft). It will hold the 4 kegs easily and still have room for bottles and cans. The down side to it is that I have to make a new collar for it for the taps. Not a big deal.

Anyway, I digress. I told Mark that I have a keg or two for him to use. I purchased them when they were $10 – 15 for a used corny soda keg. In addition, he would need a CO2 tank and regulator. A gas in and liquid out connector with associated hose and he should be good to go. Oh, and yes. He would need beer. Wonder where that will come from?

If Mark wants to go “all in” on new stuff, then this is what he will be looking at. My go to homebrew shop is Northern Brewer in Milwaukee. Not too far away and have the stuff I am looking for – most of the time. Great service there too, by the way.

As luck would have it, NB sells a single keg setup for such an occasion! Everything except the CO2 keg is included with this price:

HOMEBREW SINGLE KEG SYSTEM WITH CORNELIUS BALL LOCK KEG

• New 5 gallon keg
• Dual Gauge CO2 Regulator
• Gas line and connector – Fully Assembled
• Draft line and connector – Fully Assembled

Mark would just need to pony up $179.99 for this setup and he would be well on his way to enjoy draft beer in a clean new system. But not so fast. He still would need a CO2 tank – with gas.

CO2 CYLINDER

• 5 lb – Empty

Well this doesn’t do much good being empty at $74.99. I think it needs to be listed that way because shipping full cylinders is a no no. So, in essence – for about $15 – 20 beans more you are purchasing the cylinder and the gas inside. When empty, take it back and exchange it for a full one for the $15 – 20, whatever it is. That is what I have been doing and all is well. The tanks have been in decent shape so I have had no problem with the exchange program. It’s kind of like what most people do for the 20 lb propane gas tank exchanges.

Now I may be able to help Mark out with a tank as well as I have three 5 lb tanks in my possession. Why 3? Well, I have one for the keezer at home. One for dispensing the brew that Mark, Jeff and others pretend to like at another location. And the 3rd one I recently picked up for former Principal Paul’s farewell party (the one that he hosted and bought the beer for). My tank at home and the second one have been registering low on content and I did not want to run out at Paul’s shindig. So I got a 3rd CO2 tank that is still unused. Principal Paul’s event was a while ago. I guess I was overly concerned on the gas issue. Well, it is available for use so if Mark wants to go this route, he can make use of it. Unless he is dead set on getting all his own equipment.

So Mark, if you ever read this, you can go “all in” on new stuff for under $300. If you would like to “borrow” Fieldpointe Brewery kegs and CO2 tank, it will be substantially less but new stuff is nice and shiny! Let me know what you think.