I’m building a fridge that holds 5. It would only hold 4, but I’m putting the junkie CO2 outside, so 5 for me.
Oh believe me, I’m often tempted to add a 5th! I even spaced the taps on the fridge front so that a 5th keg could be easily added. It would be a matter of building an enclosed white box for the CO2 tank, as well as figuring out where to drill through the side for the gas line. I am quite content with 4 options and also quite lazy, so I doubt it will happen anytime soon.
My keezer has 3 taps but can hold 6 cornies. Currently I have all three taps busy, and two more picnic taps in operation inside. This is the most homebrew I’ve ever had on tap at once, and actually just hooked up one of the picnics because I’m having old friends over tomorrow night for a beer theme dinner, and including appetizers it’s a 5-course meal, with a different beer offering for each course! Gonna go with 5-ounce beer pours in tasting glasses.
my kegerator has 3 taps on the out side. it holds six kegs and all six are hooked to gas. i have a picnic tap to test the kegs that are on back up. i am very happy with this configuration.
Awesome… sounds like a good time!
quattro!
…and nearly operational.
:cheers:
Awesome… sounds like a good time![/quote]
Have to admit (although off thread), it wowed my guests, and came off very tasty and fun. Tip of the hat to Lucy Saunders from her book (edit) “Beer & Food” for the steak and Waterzooi recipes, both fantastic! And Majorvices and MashWeasel for inspiration for the saison and scottish ales, and of course, Denny for BVIP, and Old Sock for the Oud Bruin! I ran out of prep time and never made the saison sauce for the stuffed mushrooms but it wasn’t needed. Carved the beef medallions from a top sirloin roast from Costco.
1st Course (appetizer):
Food: Stilton cheese and crackers
Beer: Scottish 80 Shilling Export Ale (“Leetle Kilter”)
2nd Course:
Food: Shrimp, bacon, chives stuffed, roasted portabello mushrooms with melted Jarlsberg cheese; served with Saison-mayo-Dijon sauce.
Beer: Saison (French Farmhouse Ale) subtly infused with kaffir lime tree leaves, Indian ginger (Galangal) and a hint of lime zest.
3rd Course:
Food: Hand-carved top sirloin medallions in Green Peppercorn-Barleywine sauce. Also served with Spinach salad with Caesar dressing.
Beer: Oaked Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter or Old Boardhead Barleywine (commercial beer)
4th Course:
Food: Waterzooi. A chicken and veggies Flemish dish from Ghent, Belgium, with a “flavor that will warm the soul,” including Belgian Tripel Ale as an ingredient.
Beer: Chimay Tripel Clone
5th Course (dessert):
Food: Local Tart Cherry Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream.
Beer: Belgian-style “Nieuwe Bruin” (”New Brown”); a soured Oud Bruin style beer.
Awesome… sounds like a good time![/quote]
Have to admit (although off thread), it wowed my guests, and came off very tasty and fun. Tip of the hat to Lucy Saunders from her book “Food & Beer” for the steak and Waterzooi recipes, both fantastic! And Majorvices and MashWeasel for inspiration for the saison and scottish ales, and of course, Denny for BVIP, and Old Sock for the Oud Bruin! I ran out of prep time and never made the saison sauce for the stuffed mushrooms but it wasn’t needed. Carved the beef medallions from a top sirloin roast from Costco.
1st Course (appetizer):
Food: Stilton cheese and crackers
Beer: Scottish 80 Shilling Export Ale (“Leetle Kilter”)
2nd Course:
Food: Shrimp, bacon, chives stuffed, roasted portabello mushrooms with melted Jarlsberg cheese; served with Saison-mayo-Dijon sauce.
Beer: Saison (French Farmhouse Ale) subtly infused with kaffir lime tree leaves, Indian ginger (Galangal) and a hint of lime zest.
3rd Course:
Food: Hand-carved top sirloin medallions in Green Peppercorn-Barleywine sauce. Also served with Spinach salad with Caesar dressing.
Beer: Oaked Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter or Old Boardhead Barleywine (commercial beer)
4th Course:
Food: Waterzooi. A chicken and veggies Flemish dish from Ghent, Belgium, with a “flavor that will warm the soul,” including Belgian Tripel Ale as an ingredient.
Beer: Chimay Tripel Clone
5th Course (dessert):
Food: Local Tart Cherry Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream.
Beer: Belgian-style “Nieuwe Bruin” (”New Brown”); a soured Oud Bruin style beer.[/quote]
Nice! I know it was off-thread, but thank you for posting that!
3 co2 1 nitro.
Three through the wall in the bar, one on the kegerator. Going to upgrade the kegerator to a double shortly however, so we can dispense root beer without having to open the door and mess with a picnic tap.
I have six. My old kreezer would only hold 6 kegs. The new one will hold 8-9. I can see myself purchasing two more as right now I have two kegs with picnik taps on them.
The problem is I will then need another gas line splitter.
I have 3 but I took a Beveridge Air fridge that was a meant for a half barrel and converted it to have 3 taps. The fridge fits 3 cornies tightly and the tank. I am pretty content having 3 on tap. Bigger problem is producing enough volume to keep all 3 actively used. I need to get on that.
I have 2 CO2 and 1 Nitro, I also keep a keg of hard cider on tap at room temp and have room for 2 more in my kegerator with picnic taps. So basically I have room for 4 CO2 and 1 Nitro in the kegerator and I keep one tapped (cider) outside of the kegerator.
For those that have 6, 8, 10 taps, do you brew small batches, drink a lot, entertain a lot…how do you balance a nice selection of beer and keep it fresh? I hate to admit it but I have some beers that stay on tap for 6 months or maybe more…not a problem for a belgian but not maybe not so good for a PA. The thought of brewing smaller batches doesn’t interest me much because in reality my limiting factor when it comes to brewing is time. It takes as much time to brew 5 gallons as 3 gallons and doesn’t really save that much in terms of ingredient cost.
What are some beers that can stand some time in the keg? Not really beers that need to age but beers that can stand some time? I have a belgian dubbel that is about a year old and still very good. I don’t drink it often but it does a nice job of filling a tap so I can offer some selection when we have company.
Mike
[quote=“blackcows”]
- For those that have 6, 8, 10 taps, do you brew small batches, drink a lot, entertain a lot…how do you balance a nice selection of beer and keep it fresh?
2)What are some beers that can stand some time in the keg?
Mike[/quote]
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Like you, I have three faucets, but in my kegerator I have room for 3 additional cornies inside, 2 of which currently have a picnic tap. I recently replaced my nitro line/faucet with co2 gas/faucet because I found that the nitro tap strips out too much flavor if not serving a robust beer (at minimum a dry Irish stout), and I have a Scottish 80 shilling for that tap currently and it’s heads and tails better on co2. I definitely invite people over, from work, the neighborhood (occasionally), my singles group, other friends to drink a couple/few and for dinner parties, to help move through the inventory, and sometimes bottle off of the kegerator to take some to share with family and friends. Some are low ABV/easy drinkers, and others are higher ABV. I brew a minimum of 10 gallons, that sometimes results in two kegs full, or sometimes half gets bottled. Since I really love big beers, normally at least half my taps are +/= 7% ABV, which if not heavily hopped, I find last at least a year while maintaining high enough quality to make me want one. Part of my solution in this regard is that I keep my kegerator at 33F - nice and cold preserves quality longer.
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Except for fresh hop beers, anything with at least 7% ABV just lasts longer: for me that means imperial stouts and porters, and also IIPAs, saisons, Belgians (I like to brew these!), Scotch ale… And again, keep that kegerator cold!
I have 6 taps. I usually do 5-gallon batches, but recently I’ve moved to 10-gallon batches for those beers that I know are going to go quickly (e.g. Cream Ale, Kölsch). I brew (on average) once a month.
From my experience, ESB, stouts, and higher-alcohol beers can stand the test of time rather well. Beers that don’t stand up well? Wheat beers and hoppy beers (although they last OK, the hop character fades)…
Six is a nice number, but at times it seems like too many (say, when more than one are empty) or not enough (when I’m looking for a beer I don’t have). :lol:
:cheers:
I have six, I brew 25 gallon batches so normally it’s not a problem keeping them all flowing but lately I’ve been going through the beer too quickly.
I have 14 taps, but they aren’t all beer. One is pretty much dedicated to hard cider for my wife, and 4 are for her to play with soda-making. The sodas also go over great at parties for kids and non-drinkers.
The 9 beer taps are great because I like variety and have a few parties. I brew monthly… so all 9 taps are usually full. When I had less, I thought I didn’t need so many… but I always found myself putting kegs in trash cans for parties to supplement the taps I had built into my kegerator. Now I just need the kegerator.
Four taps through the back wall of my bar. Behind that wall is my “beer bunker” with 4 fridges and all of my equipment, ingredients, books, tools, etc.
sob Ken, it’s beautiful.
