Keg Status

Guinness Kegerator Faucet

It turned out that I needed a few more parts than I thought. I knew that I would need a different coupler to go on the keg and I knew that I needed to change the gas mixture in the tank. I didn’t know that there was a special faucet for a better pour and I didn’t realize that they wouldn’t fill up my CO2 with the Nitrogen mixture. Apparently the N2 guys wouldn’t use a valve connection converter because even though the converter would be rated up to 3k psi, the process of filling it will cause a bit more pressure than that since they are filling it from a higher psi source to be able to get the tank up to that pressure. So if you haven’t built a kegerator yet, it might be wise to get the nitrogen tank instead of the CO2 one because they can fill that will carbon dioxide, but not the other way around. I guess I am making that assumption based on the fact that they do put about 25% CO2 into the blend, so they are getting CO2 in there somehow. Since I wanted to use the same pressure regulator, I also bought a converter that will go on the nitrogen tank so that my CO2 regulator will work, but I later realized that it wasn’t rated as high as I had hoped. It couldn’t only handle 2k psi and not 3k psi, so there was another purchase.

Here is the list of things I purchased to convert my regular-american-beer kegerator to support guinness

• U-System Keg Coupler. Came with some extra beer hose. Found on ebay for $30 + $9.55 ship
• Tap Faucet. Stout Style. And tap handle. Found on ebay for $24 + $9 ship
• Nitrogen Tank filled with N2 and CO2 blend. Purchased it pre-filled at local shop. $95
• N2 tank to CO2 regulator connection. $17.95 + $6.95 and I don’t need it
• N2 Regulator. purchased from beverage factory. $45.95 + $8.19
• And of course a Guinness Keg at a local shop for $148

So if I had done some research earlier I might have saved a bit. Separate shipping charges on each transaction really hurt. And if I thought that I might like guinness 2.5 years ago, I could have planned for all of this by buying all of the right parts and only needing 2 extra things come guinness time. The keg coupler and the faucet, then fill with N2 + CO2 and go.

Guinness Kegerator Interior

Price of parts: $212.90,  Price of Keg: $148, Price of Shipping: $33.69, and Price Total: $394.59. The price to build the original kegerator was around $400 with the first keg included and that had a $100 freezer + $35 temp regulator + unknown price faucet tower. So guinness parts are a bit more expensive, but it seems to be worth it.

First beer has been poured. It’s at a good 40 35 degrees F and the pressure is set to 25 28 psi. It seems to be close to what I would expect from a bar and it tastes great. There are a few more pictures on flickr.

I knew there were a few different things required to have a Guinness setup so I looked at more details of what was required so that I could enjoy 50 Liters of this in my home.

The Nitrogen setup won’t require any changes from my current CO2 setup since the tank, regulator, and hoses will work for CO2 and N2; just need someone fill it. And finding a place that will do the 75% N2 25% CO2 blend wasn’t difficult.

The tap is the only other thing that needs to be changed since Guiness uses the U-system coupler instead of the D that most American breweries use. I was looking for a place to rent one since I am not sure how many times I will use it, but I had no luck. They would rather sell it than let people use it.

Guinness is a great beer and will be worth the effort to upgrade the kegerator.

It’s been over two years since I built the kegerator and I remember thinking the next step was to turn it into a keg bot with many features connecting beer and internet. I read about a presentation where someone had created a device that served mixed drinks. I was again inspired to transform the kegerator into something more.

The basic feature: a way of measuring how much beer is dispensed and getting that data online.

A bit more advanced: record who is pouring a glass and send a twitter @ message to them saying “I’m fueling your addiction” or something clever. Maybe tie in with Foamee.

Maybe too expensive: use RFIDs to make it easier for the drinkers to get their beer without a hassle of inputting a twitter account.

I’ve been curious to know what percentage of the beer in each keg is drank by myself. It always seems like I drink more than everyone else.

Finished it in record breaking time. 11 days beats the old record of 12. It was only a few glasses too; should have been done earlier.

The kegerator is now holding Amber Bock in preparation for a party. Drink it down!

I’ve set up donate att kegstat us so that people can use paypal instead of cash. No one likes cash.

Status: emptied on 4/8/8

ETA on new Keg: Unkown

The keg status blog is up. At kegstat.us you will find updates of the status of the kegerator such as current beer and when it was tapped.

Current Keg: Yuengling. Tapped: 3/25/8