I have two 5gallon soda kegs in this Sanyo minifridge that I converted.
What model of minifridge do you have? You have to be very careful, as some of them have the coolant lines running across the top. If you cut one of those, your fridge is ruined. There are a few tricks to find out where the coolant line runs. Let me know if you have any questions.
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Star San is the only way to go. Tons of people use it with no complaints.
Dont Fear the Foam!
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This is exactly what I intend to do once I finish my garage/mancave renovation next month. Can't wait to keg! :-)
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I use One-step without too many issues. Typically I make a big 4-5 gallon batch in my fermenting bucket, where I soak all my gear and then transfer it to the secondary. When that's done, I move it to a bucket where I soak any beer/wine bottles I've accumulated to remove labels.

It's a process.
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I forgot to delabel my last batch of bottles, so now my oktoberfest is sitting in a bunch of Sam Winter Lager bottles. I gotta remember to take off labels before bottling the winter ale.
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Brewing a Chocolate Pumpkin Porter - I hope it will be ready for Turkey Day
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Its currently in storage so I'm gonna check when I get home for thanksgiving. Thanks for the pic.
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Thanks for the sanitizer info guys. Must not fear foam
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Man, this is a great thread! I've got a nice Kolsch and Chocolate Oatmeal Coffee Stout in the fermenter. I've got an Octoberfest, Dortmunder, German Pils, Wet Hop Pale Ale, Roggenbier and Munich Dunkel in the kegerator. Got to work on making some room for those beers in the fermenter!

Who's going to participate in "Teach a Friend How to Homebrew" day? It's November 6th. I'm thinking of doing a Black IPA or a Cream Ale. I've never done either of those before. Cheers!
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Today's progress towards tomorrow's brew session.

IIPA tomorrow... I'll use a portion of this:
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Woot!! Hop Goodness!!:-)
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I had no idea that Nov 6th is "Teach a Friend to Brew" day, but cooincidentally I'm having a couple guys over to make a nut brown ale and sample various beers. Sort of a "guy's day."

Last night I added 3 lbs of raspberries to my Belgian Blonde, and tomorrow or Sunday I'll bottle my Imperial Vanilla Bourbon Porter.
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Just got the IPA in the fermenter. It was a train wreck. It'll still probably be good, but not exactly what I wanted.

IPA - Primary
American Lager - Secondary (Lagering)
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I need to start brewing again
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+1 here as well, NEVER ever fear the foam and don't rinse, I read somewhere, probably homebrewtalk that the president of the company that makes star san stated the foam actually becomes yeast food when the beer is racked on to it. Also rinsing could possibly bring in more bugs than you might have just cleaned. Something to think about anyway. Go with the foam, let it be.

Anyhow, I got northern brewer's bourbon barrel porter in the secondary with 2 oz. of toasted American Oak soaking in a pint of Evan Williams Single Barrel that will go in on Tues and sit for another few weeks, then bottling.

After tomorrow, Northern Brewer's Three Hearted Ale kit will be in the fermentor waiting for a dry hop of 1oz. each of Centennial, Amarillo, and Citra.... I'm hoping it comes off really West Coast.
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Holy Crap Tim! What have you turned into? :-)
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just put a Two Hearted ale clone (NB's Three Hearted) in the primary an hour ago, dry hopping on day 5 of primary fermentation. Whole house smells of Centennial hops and pale malt. :-)
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Just my :-). You might want to wait to dry hop until primary fermentation is totally complete. I'd rack to a secondary and then dry hop; while raising the temp slightly. c02 will carry most of the aroma from dry hopping while fermentation is still active. Yeast are the enemy of aroma! I've tried dry hopping in the primary and didn't have good luck with that method.
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:-)
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I had a pretty big brewing day today. I had a couple buddies over and we brewed a nut brown ale, and we bottled my Bourbon Vanilla Porter. It finished with a gravity of 1.020, so it's 8.5% abv. Tasted really nice. I added about 8 oz of bourbon that had been infused with 2 vanilla beans.


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I'm going to give this recipe a shot this week Warren. Thanks!
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