I need a homebrewer - Cigar Asylum Cigar Forum

I've been making wine for a few years, but I want to do beer now, and I want to keg it. The beermaking part I'm not too worried about, I plan to start with extracts, and my wine equipment should be enough. But I need help on kegging. I've got a small chest freezer I plan to use, and I want to start with a single keg, with plans to expand down the road. I've done some homework and have a rough idea what I need, but I could use some help with specifics.

Where's a good place to shop? I've seen regulators selling around $70, but a few sites have them for $40. Any good shipping deals on kegs, if I can't find them local? How about CO2 cylinders?

Are there any upgrades I should go with off the bat, rather than replace equipment somewhere down the road? I keep hearing the Perlick faucet is hands-down better than the 'standard', so I'm planning to go with that.

Any preferences for hose fittings? Flared fitting vs. barbed?

How about a good temp controller for the freezer?

And lastly, can you point me towards a good homebrew message board? There's got to be a Homebrew Asylum somewhere, right?
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http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=home+brew+forum

Seriously though, I have a friend who's won a few best of shows, and he's in MD as well. He kegs and I'm sure he can help you. I'll PM you with one way of getting a hold of him on another forum until I get his contact info along with permission to give it to you.
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There are a few good places to shop online. Two of the better options are Northern Brewer and Midwest Homebrewing (both located here in Minnesota). Norther Brewer's store crew is very good. Numerous medal winners work there, and one write the occasional article for BYO magazine.

Northern Brewer has a $7.99 flat shipping fee, it's 1-6 days but a flat fee. I prefer the used kegs (I'd buy used for the price) from Midwest though. I've not a bad one yet.

Empty tanks can be purchased as well. You'll have to find a local homebrew shop or welding/gas shop to fill it.

For regulators, make sure you purchase a dual-guage one. Mush easier to be able to see the pressure going into the keg and pressure left in the tank.

I have a Ranco temperature controller. It's digital, fully programable and you can switch between heating control or cooling control. Very handy if you need more control (if you want to brew lagers, you will). It's more expensive than the other non-digital models, but it's worth it.

There's a very good homebrew message board connected to the Norther Brewer site. One of the best homebrewers in the nation, Jamil Zainasheff posts on there often.

Finally, make sure you know what you're getting into with the chest freezer. You'll need to do some modifications to it to fit the Corny kegs and fittings in it. After that, you'll be able to set up a gas splitter and have more than one take running.

If you have any other questions, feel free to IM me.
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I keg and have 1 20 pound tank with double regulator and one 10 pound with single, 11 or so ball kegs and a beer gun. I don't have a tap system at home, I'll bottle or bring kegs to a party.

I've bought most of my stuff online when I see things on sale. 25-35 bucks would be good prices for used kegs shipped, having them cleaned doesn't mean much, you can use PBW or peroxide yourself. Taking them apart and changing the O rings is good practice. The poppet valves are not changed in kegs I've seen advertised as reconditioned ... so they may be of questionable state anyhow. I don't replace them all .. just have a few on hand for repairs if needed.

Shipping cost generally kills the price buying shipped kegs, but I have seen them on sale for 20-25 delivered.

I use 95% barbed fittings but have one flared for the beer gun.

I have found the green board (www.brewboard.com) to be pretty good but I don't hang out there much (I'm EKGoldings there)

Kegging is the best thing I've ever done in homebrewing ... it makes it a heck of a lot more fun. No yeast in the beer. Beer is ready faster. I wish I started kegging 25 years ago.

You can get a cheap single stage regulator .. you really don't need to know the pressure in the tank (just the keg pressure), loss of pressure is not linear and you can weigh the thing and get a much more accurate estimate of how much is left. A 10 pound tank holds 10 pounds of CO2 and the tare weights are stamped on the tanks. Welding supply place might also e a good place to look for tanks, although they will be ugly, guaranteed. You might find better prices or better quality than what is sold in homebrew places for regulators there too. I played around with partial pressurization with nitrogen then the rest with CO2 ... definitely makes a difference, even for pale ales, but probably overkill unless you're a serious guinness fan.

Any specific questions shoot me a PM or if you're back in BB ever LMK and I'll show you my setup (and sip a few while smoking cigars of course).
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Thanks for all the info guys. Regarding the freezer, I'm planning something like this: http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/freezer/freezer.html I like the idea of being able to put everything back together again should I ever need to. All my carboys are tied up with wine for the next few months anyway so I've got plenty of time to setup the freezer, and wait for sales on equipment.

How long does a bottle of CO2 last? Space is a little bit of a concern, and I'm only thinking a max of 2 or 3 kegs down the road (1 at first), is a 5 lb bottle enough?

I do enjoy a good stout, but I don't want to jump down this slope TOO fast, going to start with regular ol' ales first. The nitro system is on my 'somewhere in the future' list though.

Sean - I make it a point to get back to BB once a year, usually for football but with gas prices and my work schedule I missed this year. I've got a buddy living down there so I'm thinking about catching a basketball game, or maybe just wait for warmer weather and go for a visit. I'll look you up when I do.
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