Draft Beer System at Home

Published On: Tuesday, April 8, 2008

For beer aficionados and home brewers, the addition of a kegerator to your home is essential. Kegerators keep your beer fresher, save you money, and eliminate the hassle of dealing with all those bottles and cans. No matter what kind of beer is your favorite, you can either make or buy kegs of it at a time, eliminating a constant need to go on beer runs. Plus, you will most likely have beer available when all other resources have been tapped out (i.e. closing time at the beer store).

For those of you new to the home bar scene, a “Kegerator” is a device for dispensing ice-cold beer at home. Most kegerators are similar to refrigerators or freezers, but they have been modified to hold one or more kegs. Kegerators are invaluable to the beer aficionado who lives in hot or moderate climates. With the use of a Kegerator, a keg of beer can be kept at very cold temperatures for three to six months without losing flavor. Kegerators aren’t expensive. There are many ways to avoid paying much for your kegerator, such as converting an old refrigerator with a kegerator conversion kit.

As a home brewer, once I went to kegging my ale in Cornelius kegs, I hardly ever bottled again. Once the keg system is flowing (and it doesn’t take much effort, either) it simplifies almost every aspect of brewing. Now I only bottle one or two six packs with each batch for posterity and aging purposes, and the rest of the batch is simply poured into a sanitized Cornelius keg – this saves me about 2 hours from bottling time for each 5 gallons or so of home brew.

Whether drinking home brew or store bought ales, a draft beer system is always going to save you time and money. The savings from both your energy bill and money from buying in bulk will come to 50%-70% of the regular cost of buying cans or bottles at the store, and even more savings come from brewing your own beer at home. Brewing at home allows you to make the finest quality beer for the price of the lowest quality beer available in stores.

Making your own homemade kegerator is simple. One can take a clean refrigerator and make a kegerator out of it after only a few modifications. Once you have all the parts, it takes only about an hour to make the changes. Custom designs are one of the most fun parts of making your own kegerator: choose between one to four draft spigots – if you like old cars, maybe choose an old fridge for that vintage feel – and would you like an icemaker with that? You are sure to be pleased with yourself for going to the effort to acquire a kegerator once you taste the result – a clean, professional tasting draft beer in the comfort of your own home.

The key to keeping your beer draft system flowing smoothly is maintenance. You only need to clean out your beer lines about once a month – it takes only a fraction of an hour, and is just about the only maintenance your home draft beer system will need. Beer line cleaning kits are available online at such websites as kegerators.net.

There is a large variety of kegerators available. It is easy to find one to suit your needs, or even a kegerator conversion kit which will save even more money than having a bulky appliance like a kegerator shipped to you. Once you have your beer draft system going, it won’t take long for you to reap the benefits thereof.

For additional information on kegerators or draft beer topics please visit our kegerator article center.