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Originally Posted by USAF_Vol  Vercing, I have looked into buying one of the those. My wife has already given the stamp of approval due to me showing cost comparisons and savings.
My only concern is how long it will last, trouble to keep clean (I read that there are alot of cleaning requirements for them) and dealing with the nitro.
My brother in law are thinking about buying a fridge and converting one into a kegerator. |
If your wife has already given her approval, then you MUST make it happen. Quick, before she changes her mind...
I looked into going the cheaper route by buying an old fridge and converting it, but I finally decided that I wasn't going to save enough money to justify it. By getting one new I got a new fridge (which ought to be less of a crapshoot than buying one out of somebody's back yard), I didn't have to spend X number of hours pouring through Craigslist and driving to people's houses, I didn't have to modify it myself, and it probably has a higher Wife Acceptance Factor because it doesn't look like something I did myself. I decided all of that was worth paying extra. If you have the time to devote to a small project, modifying an old fridge would probably be a lot of fun.
Mine's about two years old now and I haven't had any trouble yet. I clean the lines about every two or three kegs, which takes about 20 minutes. I usually take that as a nice opportunity to enjoy some kind of non-Guinness beer out of a bottle.
You would definitely want to address the nitrogen issue before you bought anything, as it is much more difficult to find a place that will sell it to you than straight CO2. Call around and find a vendor first; if the Airgas corporation has a store in your area, they're almost certain to have it. They refer to the mixture as "beer gas." It works like propane for your grill; you buy an empty nitrogen tank (for ~$90), and then they swap it out for a full one every time yours runs out. It costs about $15 and lasts for 7 or 8 kegs.
There are only two things which I wish I had done differently. I should have just gone ahead and splurged for one of the dual-keg models; it would be nice to have a rotating IPA along with Guinness. There are times when I'd like to serve something else, but I think I'd regret taking Guinness off for the three weeks or so that a keg usually lasts. The other thing is that I should have gone ahead immediately and purchased one of those handtrucks with the scooped-out back that the liquor store uses. I finally bought one a couple of months ago and it was 150 of the best dollars I've ever spent. Carrying full kegs of beer around is no fun. If you do this, get a keg handtruck from the start.
My cost for a pint of Guinness is right at $2. We've served something like 2600 pints out of this thing, so this thing has paid for itself several times over already. I honestly don't know why I waited so long.