Any ATOTers have a beer tap installed in their house?

[DingDingDao]

Wifey and I are building a new house and thought it'd be pretty cool to have a beer tap. I have no idea how difficult or expensive such an endeavor might be though. Anybody have any experience with this?

 

[summit]

how much beer will you drink? or do you tend to throw lots of parties?

 

[deadlyapp]

If you have a refrigerated beer tap, they can last for quite a while, but I would really only entertain the thought if you throw parties quite often or drink a lot of beer. It costs about $200-300 for the materials to make it (CO2 canister, piping, tap), and you will have to furnish your own refrigerator setup for it. You can also buy prebuilt kegerator setups for about 500-600 dollars.

The actual construction of putting one together is relatively easy. Its just a few tubes and drilling through the door of the refrigerator itself or however you intend to mount a tap. You have to refill the CO2 every so often.

 

[zinfamous]

Kegarator sounds like a good idea.

...and how long should be beer be kept in the keg?

 

[DingDingDao]

Thanks for the input guys. Like Zin said, how long does a keg last before the beer goes south? In my mind I'm thinking that between me, the wife, and friends we could easily finish a keg every 2-3 weeks. What about maintenance? Are these systems a pain to keep clean?

 

[mmntech]

Can you get kegerators that use a beer engine instead of CO2 taps? A hand pump in other words. My parents have been wanting to build one in the basement for awhile now. Been mulling the idea over myself. Thinking of going with an English pub theme. That's why I like the hand pump. My grandparents used to have one.

 

[sactoking]

A keg that is pushed on CO2 will last several weeks (if it lasts that long...). This is assuming all your connections are tight and don't get any atmosphere into the system. This is in comparison to a hand-pump system in which the beer goes flat within a day or two. If you're worried about it you can get a pony instead of a half barrel. Hell, you might even be able to find 5-gallon cylinders (though these often use a different connection system).

Assuming you use a quick-connect system on the hoses, it's really easy to clean. They sell male nozzles you can attach to a garden hose to push water through the system to flush it. I highly recommend a quick-connect system so you don't have to (un)screw a fitting each time.

 

[Miramonti]

I think having a frequent urgency to drink beer because it will go bad soon is in general not a good thing.

 

[alkemyst]

why leave the bar?

 

[KMFJD]

DIY Draft: Step-By-Step Kegerator Plans

http://www.popularmechanics.com/print-this/diy-draft-step-by-step-kegerator-plans?page=all

 

[Wyndru]

I have a kegerator, currently a half of Yuengling.

It's great when a lot of people are over, but it's not so great when people want a variety.

I think having a frequent urgency to drink beer because it will go bad soon is in general not a good thing.

As long as there is air and it's cooled, I can get about 6 months out of a keg, which is plenty for me.

I've gone as long as a year, and it still tasted ok to me, but the store I buy the kegs from say that normally up to 6 months is optimal taste.

 

[Zargon]

I have a kegerator, currently a half of Yuengling.

It's great when a lot of people are over, but it's not so great when people want a variety.


As long as there is air and it's cooled, I can get about 6 months out of a keg, which is plenty for me.

I've gone as long as a year, and it still tasted ok to me, but the store I buy the kegs from say that normally up to 6 months is optimal taste.

yeah you can certainly get 2-3 months with CO2.

I would drink mine till it was 1/2 to a 1/3rd then just throw a party, so they never lasted more than a month

but that was in college

 

[bignateyk]

Unless you throw raging parties, I think it would just be a pain in the ass.

1) You are forced to drink 1 kind of beer for weeks at a time
2) You have to worry about it going bad if you don't drink fast enough
3) The initial cost of the setup

I like to have 5-6 kinds of beer available for myself and guests. Usually a light beer like Miller Light or Mich Ultra, a good domestic or two like Yuengling and Sam Adams, and then a couple of higher end beers like Rogue, Troegs, etc...

That way I always have just the right beer for my mood. So mostly the reason i wouldn't get one is that I can't commit to just one kind of beer for that long.

If anything I would get a couple of 1/4 kegs instead of the big half barrels. At least then you could have a couple choices.

A friend of ours brews beer and they usually have about 5 different 1/4 kegs of home-brew on tap at their house.

 

[lurk3r]

3 weeks will be too long, expect flat skunky beer, 1-2 should be ok, but even the end of the 2nd week will be rough. (judging from how long the not popular beers last at the bar). Looks like someone above had luck with much older beer, hmm maybe I will look harder at garage sales for a fridge.

I've got most of the setup to make one, co2 tank, tap, regulator, just need the hose to connect it all and a fridge. You can get the 1/2 kegs (my plan) which are equivalent to around 2 cases.

Another option is the Heiniken beer tender. You can find one for ~$70, I've seen both heiniken and newcastle brown in their keg format, its a 5L keg (~ 1 case). I havent looked much into other beers available on that format.

The diy kit may be cheaper, but I'd be inclined to just grab the one in costco for $479 (1/2 keg kegerrator).

 

[Wyndru]

A friend of ours brews beer and they usually have about 5 different 1/4 kegs of home-brew on tap at their house.

Yeah 1/4 kegs are nice, I'd like to get a kegerator that holds 2 1/4's, but when I buy a quarter it's 1 of 2 shapes (either tall and thin or short and wide). I miss home brewing, I used to just use the soda canisters.

If I'm trying out a new beer, or I know I won't be drinking much or having parties, I usually just go with a quarter, it's usually gone in a couple of months.

 

[bignateyk]

3 weeks will be too long, expect flat skunky beer, 1-2 should be ok, but even the end of the 2nd week will be rough. I've got most of the setup to make one, co2 tank, tap, regulator, just need the hose to connect it all and a fridge. You can get the 1/2 kegs (my plan) which are equivalent to around 2 cases.

Another option is the Heiniken beer tender. You can find one for ~$70, I've seen both heiniken and newcastle brown in their keg format, its a 5L keg (~ 1 case). I havent looked much into other beers available on that format.

The diy kit may be cheaper, but I'd be inclined to just grab the one in costco for $479 (1/2 keg kegerrator).

A half keg is about 5.5 cases. Those are the common sized kegs you see at beer distributors, bars, etc...

A quarter keg is the 2 case size.

 

[LordMorpheus]

I'd consider it if I were into home brewing - alot of the guys I know use pony kegs to finish their beers, and if you can just connect it (them?) to your tap(s?!) then I can see why that would be nice.

Your man cave would have to be the spot for all your buddies to watch football / play poker / work on their cars / etc. for it to be worth it, though.

 

[Tifababy]

3 weeks will be too long, expect flat skunky beer, 1-2 should be ok, but even the end of the 2nd week will be rough. (judging from how long the not popular beers last at the bar). Looks like someone above had luck with much older beer, hmm maybe I will look harder at garage sales for a fridge.

I've got most of the setup to make one, co2 tank, tap, regulator, just need the hose to connect it all and a fridge. You can get the 1/2 kegs (my plan) which are equivalent to around 2 cases.

Another option is the Heiniken beer tender. You can find one for ~$70, I've seen both heiniken and newcastle brown in their keg format, its a 5L keg (~ 1 case). I havent looked much into other beers available on that format.

The diy kit may be cheaper, but I'd be inclined to just grab the one in costco for $479 (1/2 keg kegerrator).

If you're using co2 and you keep the beer cold, there is no way it will flat and skunky after 2-3 weeks. It will be fine after 2-3 months. I've had a kegerator for the last 10 years and never had a skunky keg. When I was in college we would go through 1/2 barrel kegs in 2-3 weeks and had no problems. When I graduated and lived alone, I would go through a 1/4 barrel in 1-2 months with no problems.

No I have a two tap kegerator full of homebrew and if I get bored of a beer, I take it off tap and leave it in my basement for months with no problem. If the keg is properly sealed and there is no oxygen in the keg, it will last as long as a bottle.

There's no need to throw a party just to finish the keg unless you're bored of the beer and want to try something new.