Home of the BrewNosers

Hello all. I am new to the site and relatively new to brewing (since the summer). I recently came across $300 dollars and I decided I want to start kegging my beer. I have been doing some research but I have a few questions..

I cannot for the life of me find a suitable used fridge capable of fitting a keg. I have looked at some new fridges, but these seem too expensive for me. I tried kijiji finding no success. anyone have any ideas on how I can get my hands on a fridge that will get the job done, for cheap?

I will be using 1 cornelious keg. not really sure whether I should go with ball-lock or pin lock. seems like the pin locks are shorter in height, therfore may be able to fit into a fridge easier. what are your preferences on keg type and why?

when it comes to the actual purchasing of the keg; I have explored a few options. 1) noble grape has the entire set up for around $300. 2) ontario beer kegs has the entire set up for $227 (including shipping to Halifax). Is "ontario beer kegs" reliable? will the equipment be in good working condition? Call me old-fashioned but I like to see/hold things before I buy them. Additionally I feel like there are some benefits to buying from noble grape, like the CO2 exchange type stuff. and maybe just face to face help they offer.

Thanks,
Student Brewer

First off, welcome! I was looking for a fridge around this time last year. The advantage is students are getting ready to leave and more fridges go up for sale at this time of year. Watch Kijiji. Be patient. Look for a fridge without a freezer. The ball lock keg, while a bit taller, is also slightly smaller in diameter - an advantage when dealing with teh compressor hump found in most mini fridges. I ended up buying a new 4.4 cubic foot Danby without the freezer section at Costco (impatient) and it fits my two ball lock corneys and a 5 poung CO2 tank.

As for OBK, I think most people on the site here would call them super reliable. Any orders I have had with them are filled promptly and arrive as promised. They are great to deal with. I also like Noble Grape for items as well.

Good luck on your search. The fridges do show up on Kijiji.

Leafsman has the right info. I'll just add that if you buy a setup from OBK, you'll be receiving a news CO2 tank, and will probably be more interested in refilling than exchanging (your chances of getting a new tank at NG are slim). There are at least two places that refill CO2 tanks in the HRM: Don Brenton's in Lakeside (just a bit beyond Bayers Lake on St. Margaret's Bay Rd) and Simplex Grinnell in Burnside. Both are 1/2 to 1/4 of the price of NG, and you get to keep your own tank. One plus for Noble Grape, the convenience factor of being able to swap and leave (assuming they have some in stock) is nice.

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Chalmers is right - the new C02 tanks from OBK are nice - shiny aluminum and no rusting if you are keeping them in your fridge.

NG did get in a shipment of aluminum tanks a while ago, but they may have cycled most of them out already. The one benefit of the NG exchange system is that they take care of hydrotesting.

If you ever decide you want 2 kegs, I haven't seen too many mini-fridges that can fit 2 pin locks, although most 4.4cu ft Danby's can fit 2 ball lock (thats what I have), I also got the Costco one new ($149).

If your looking for cheap, I built my first one out of a chest freezer. They are usually much easier to find on kijji for cheap (although you need to do temp control), but the stock temp control in these bar fridges isnt great either (but it works).

I ordered all my other stuff off OBK, I highly recommend them. One of my favorite things is you can upgrade to Perilick faucets (I also highly recommend the upgrade, but it may not be in the budget).

My initial budget only included picnic taps for the first year. I just upgraded to a tower with perlicks within the past few weeks.

The nice thing about perlicks is that even though the upfront cost is high, the resale value is also high, and will help get rid of the gear quick if you need to unload.

When you are using more than one keg would you just need the one 5lb CO2 tank?

Student brewer wrote:When you are using more than one keg would you just need the one 5lb CO2 tank?

Yup!

Yes, just one tank and regulator for one, two, or 5 kegs. You could split off the CO2 supply using a $2 manifold or Y-piece from Princess Auto (assuming you would keep both kegs at the same pressure). Alternatively, you can get a dual setting regulator, to deliver two different pressures (ie, one pressure to carbonate your beer, another to serve it, or two different style beers that benefit from different levels of carbonation).

One tank can pressurize multiple kegs. You can use a tee fitting to pressurize multiple kegs at the same pressure. If you want the kegs at different pressures, you will need more than one regulator.