How to Build a KEGERATOR or KEEZER for DRAFT Beer at Home | STEP-BY-STEP
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- Wondering how to make your own kegerator or keezer? I've done my best to explain every part of the process and provided all the equipment needed here in the description. Building a draft system was probably one of the biggest brewing upgrades I did early on and it made a massive difference in beer quality as its less prone to oxidation and also saved a tone of time and energy. At the end of the video I also discuss how to balance your lines and pour less foam.
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Beer Line Length Calculator: www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/...
Chest freezer: amzn.to/2qnpFcT
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CLAWHAMMER SUPPLY SYSTEM: www.clawhammersupply.com/?aff=11
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MERCH STORE: theapartmentbrewer.creator-sp...
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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / theapartmentbrewer
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FIND ALL MY RECOMMENDED KEGGING EQUIPMENT ON MY AMAZON STORE: www.amazon.com/shop/theapartm...
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0:00 Intro and welcome
0:30 Important notes
1:55 Why switch to kegs?
3:09 The chest freezer
3:42 Temperature control
4:42 CO2 tank and regulator
5:31 The collar for the chest freezer
7:39 Gas side tubing and distribution
9:41 Liquid side tubing
11:15 Taps
12:35 Tap handles
12:59 Drip tray
13:23 More custom modification
13:43 Line balancing and managing foam
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Full disclosure, most of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means if you buy through them I make a small percentage from the sale at no additional cost to you. All money earned through the channel goes back into the videos and brews you see on my channel. As always, don't just take my word for it, do your research before you decide to buy.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound: share.epidemicsound.com/0go1wp
#keezer #kegerator #build #beer #brewing #homebrew #kegging #keg - Навчання та стиль
I misspoke in the video. My chest freezer is a 7.0 cubic foot freezer, NOT 7.1 cubic feet. Apologies if that caused any confusion.
Brilliant video! Can't wait to build mine!
Great timing! I'm kicking off my keezer build today... always good to see what someone else went through.
Nice! There really are a lot of different ways to make a keezer out there!
If you buy flow control faucets, you don't have to worry about line length, that's what I did so I could serve beer at any pressure and not have to keep long beer lines in my kegerator.
Definitely a great addition!
Awesome video as always! Started homebrewing last spring as a result of your channel. I just finished my keezer build. Your comment about beer line is spot on. It is often one of those topics overlooked. For months, I had a plastic off flavor due to cheap vinyl beer line. Upgraded to 3/16" PET beer line. No off flavor! Thanks for helping out novice homebrewers like myself!
Glad you enjoyed the video! I'm happy I could help you get into the hobby, that comment just made my day!
As a fellow apartment dweller/brewer, this is the video I’ve been needing. Thanks!!
Glad I could help you out!
Nice! I'm waiting for warmer weather before I turn my chest freezer into a keezer. I also live in New England so I'm not about to start the project just yet. Now back to watching your vid.
Nice! Where in New England are you?
@@TheApartmentBrewer Rhode Island.
Perfect, a Keezer's my next project. Thanks for that 👍
My pleasure!
I was wondering how you put lines through. I didn't even think about putting in a spacer. I don't have the space at the moment, so I've not actually looked into building one, but it looks pretty easy. Nice video, with some excellent information!
So you dont necessarily NEED to put in a spacer, but it just saves me the work of having to map out the refrigerant lines and avoiding them. The spacer piece was super easy to do, glad you enjoyed the video!
This just showed up now, great video and see you Thursday!
Oh nice, old video still making the rounds I guess. Cheers!
Great video! I recently got the same freezer for temp controlled fermentation but you’ve got my wheels spinning as I also just picked up couple of used corny kegs and bottling is getting old!
Kegging is a total gamechanger!
Very good 🍺👍
Nice setup! I will someday hopefully upgrade to something similar. I like the idea of a a standing fridge so I can store hops as well in freezer.
Thanks Trent! Standing fridge is a great method as well, just have to be careful not to drill through a refrigerant line in the door, but the versatility is a bit better
@@TheApartmentBrewer that’s my biggest fear! Lol would be reading manuals very closely
I think there's something you can do where you do some sort of mixture of corn starch and baking soda (definitely check me on that) and if you smear that on the fridge and let it sit, it changes color where the lines are.
@@TheApartmentBrewer woah I gotta look into this!
Big tip for drilling holes: put some scrap wood beneath where you’re drilling to make a clean hole
I also got a magnetic shelf with a paper towel rack for the drip tray, super handy
Nice keezer, thanks for the video! I am planning to build a kegerator. I would just suggest using JG quick disconnects instead of the swivel nuts and worm clamps.
That's a great idea I hadn't even considered. Cheap and readily available, plus can handle pressure well, however im not sure if they connect to the keg disconnects
I was wondering when you were going to reveal the keezer! Awesome
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very cool setup. I have a 3 part build of my keezer on my channel, but doing a summary video of the complete build I think I should do as well at some point soon.
My investment was over 2 grand, it is a 16 tap, 22.3 cubic foot chest freezer with a bilge fan inside, led lights, and a glass rinser on the drip tray. I further automated the fan and internal led lights using a relay. Fan is on with lid closed, light is on with lid open but fan is off so it does not evacuate the cold air. Finally the entire keezer is on wheels and wrapped in chaulkboard paper.
Dude that sounds incredible! I am gonna have to check those videos out, sounds like a really extensive project but well worth it!
Just finished watching that series, that's a seriously awesome build. Looks like a straight up barroom tap wall! Definitely a BMFK lol. Great videos!
@@TheApartmentBrewer thank you so much! Yeah it is a sizable setup for sure. I also have a two tap kegerator behind the bar and a 4 tap jockey box. The jockey box even has a glass rinser in it too!
@@TheApartmentBrewer chrck out the color change led mod I did. Ill be doing an update video soon.
ua-cam.com/video/KzQ1miQUOik/v-deo.html
Dude that is insane haha. I love it!
What's a good temp to set for the upper limit? I have the target tempbat 38 degrees Fahrenheit, with 40 degrees as the upper limit.
I have only just started kegging with the two 3.5 corny kegs that I got second hand on fb. I just ordered an Inkbird temp controller last night and I'm going to pick up a 7.0 chest freezer at Walmart later today. My wife is kicking me out of our extra fridge. I will probable continue using picnic taps for a while though. Good timing on the video for me, Thanks, Cheers!
Awesome! You'll love it, thanks for watching!
Oh, One question. Do you set the dial on the freezer to max?
Yeah, might as well. I don't think it really matters all that much unless you're trying to save energy.
Is there a reason why we're using 5/16" for the gas disconnect with 1/4" tubing, with 1/4" for liquid disconnect with 3/16" tubing? Are these industry standards?
Great video! Is it easy to remove the lid and connect it to the wooden collar? and how do you connect the collar to the freezer?
Yeah its pretty easy with most freezers. You can connect the collar with some adhesive silicone
Just a note on the probe in water solution, I do that, but I found that there was a constant 4 degree difference between the beer coming out of my taps and the temperature reported on the PID. I'd recommend using a thermometer to measure the outgoing beer (I just held a meat thermometer right under the tap while I poured a beer, make sure to actually measure the whole beer, the beer in the lines could be colder) and adjusting your calibration value on the PID. Doing this my PID is reporting exactly the temp of the beer leaving my keezer, cheers.
Thats a good point, since cooler air settles at the bottom of the keezer it may not be reflective of the entire volume's average temp.
@@TheApartmentBrewer I actually found that the beer was warmer, I think it's because the freezer can cool down the small body of water in the cup faster, so the big kegs lag behind.
Hey man, enjoying the content foe sure. I am just starting out home brewing. Got two brews aging and fermenting as we speak. I recently did an grape fruit IPA from the brewers best kits. Wondering it’s only been 4 days and my fermentation seems to be done. There is a fry hop I need to do. Should I wait the 7 days to make sure it’s done or just check the gravity?
So, if youre bottling its going to be a better idea to wait until you're 100% sure fermentation is complete otherwise you can risk bottle bombs. Usually that means three days in a row with the same hydrometer reading, or waiting about 2 weeks with a standard beer like an IPA. if youre kegging there's no danger in packaging early. In both cases though, while it may not look like fermentation is active, there is still stuff going on with the yeast and ultimately they're cleaning up flavors a bit. If fermentation is confirmed 100% done and it tastes good, youre good to package.
I tend to clean my lines when I swap kegs out. Primarily so that the last beer doesnt interfere with the new beer going in. Which means my lines are typically cleaned once every 1-3 months (I have 2 kegs in my kegerator) Similarly, I'll change out the lines every other year or so. After about 2 years in the kegerator the lines get stained and will start to give an off flavor to the beer. If you're still tasting hops from that NEIPA you finished a few months ago in your american light lager...might be time to switch out the lines.
Could you do a video on how you clean your tap lines?
I might, I don't know if the process is video-worthy though. All I do is fill a keg half full with PBW and then flush the lines with it. Then I do the same procedure with hot water and then sanitizer.
Coke/Pepsi don't use corny kegs anymore. That's why the used one's shot up in price. Now they use essentially a box wine set up for pop syrup.
Hey, you listen to your subscribers! Thx buddy. :-)
My pleasure!
If I wanted only to use 2 kegs, what size freezer would you recommend? I'm not ambitious like you using 4 keg system lol. Thanks!!
Probably 4 or 5 cu ft. But be sure to check the internal dimensions so your kegs fit
I just setup mine today. 2 5-gallon kegs definitely fit along with 2 or 3 1 gallon kegs depending if you tank is inside or outside
Great vid. A few questions. It appears that Best Buy has a couple different 7.1 cu ft chest freezers under their own brand. One is 32” wide and the other is 37” and yet they’re both are listed as 7.1 cu ft. Maybe the longer one has more insulation? Just curious which one you used. Also, have you ever felt the need to use a secondary regulator internally to adjust the psi of one style vs another? I’ve been looking at the Kegland Duotite system which offers this at less money than the traditional secondary’s. Also, I’m curious why you ran your taps from far left towards center. Just a preference? Sorry for all the questions. :-) Love your vids!
Might want to check the other dimensions. Volume = Length x Width x Height. That said, the external measurements are less useful for determining volume, but it should give a rough idea of where the difference is being made up.
@@Vykk_Draygo I don’t have the numbers in front of me but it seemed that the depth and height were pretty much the same. Also it was slightly more expensive, which led me to believe that there might be more insulation in the walls, yet the internal space comes out the same? Not sure.
@@kurtwolter3984 So the freezer I have is this one: www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-7-0-cu-ft-chest-freezer-white/6385046.p?skuId=6385046
The dimensions are 21.7" W, 32.1" L and 33.5" D (without collar). It fits 5 gallon corny kegs with ease. I think a lot fewer people use secondary regulators than the keg hardware companies want you to believe. The only time you would need something like that would be if you're serving two drastically differently carbonated beers simultaneously, like a Belgian beer and an English ale. In my case, I just force carbonate one more than the other and shut off the gas to them both at the regulator...I don't really make too much of a fuss about it all. And I ran my taps through the left side because its WAY easier in my opinion to put kegs in and pull them out when you can just move all your lines to one side versus having them all spread across the center. Hope that helps, and never worry about asking questions!
@@TheApartmentBrewer Great info. Thx
Fucking hell! What a good video! Cheers from Argentina, mate!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Yes your LHB will have hose clamps and other parts you need, but save yourself some serious money and buy that hardware at the hardware store and autoparts store. LHB shops upcharge a hose clamp that should be 40 cents to $1.50
I may make a keezer in the distant future, but I actually really like bottling. It makes it easy to put beer away to age, especially when you are sampling it over several months or years. It makes it easy to gift beer. It's convenient for travel. And the biggest advantage: portioning. I like to keep my consumption to a single 22oz bottle a day for anything under 8% ABV and a single 12oz bottle for anything above that. I have special occasions, for sure, but my everyday consumption is very controlled. Knowing I am only going to pull out one bottle a day makes it easy to keep it from getting to be a bigger habit.
I definitely agree bottling has its perks. There are a ton of beer styles that really should be bottled instead of kegged, but its pretty hard for me to beat that convenience factor.
What about temp controller V
My temp controller is an Inkbird ITC 308
@@TheApartmentBrewer thanks 🙏🏻
$1000 is not as steep as I thought it would be.
Beer Lines should be cleaned out after each keg regardless of the type of tubing you have. Sanitization is just as important in a kegerator as it is during the brew and post brew process.
Agreed, I was not implying antimicrobial tubing excuses you from cleaning by any means. However it does provide a little buffer against infection should one forget to do that after a keg switch or two.