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.

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.

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.

ETA on new Keg: Unkown

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