11 Summer Beers for Your Kegerator

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Chief Kegerator Officer — No Comments ↓

Summer is officially here and that means summer BBQs, pool parties, 4th of July celebrations and summer beers. So what kind beer should you have on tap this summer for your guests?

Well, it’s hot in most parts of the country during summer, so you need a beer that compliments the season. Traditionally light lagers and wheats are the summer “go to” beers, but times are changing and brewers are creating new flavor mash-ups and summer-friendly brews perfect for summer sip’n.

Seek out these beers by the keg and you won’t be disappointed.

2015 Summer Beers List

Equinox POA – Lagunitas Brewing Company

A creamy, pale oat ale hopped up with a huge charge of Equinox and Simcoe hops.

Kirsch Gose – Victory Brewing

A bold and bright step outside the norm, the flavors of a unique, old world German brewing process excite your senses with the sharp and sweet burst of fresh cherries.

Mana Wheat – Maui Brewing

A crisp and refreshing wheat ale is lightly hopped to allow the fruity sweetness of the pineapple to shine.

Not the Stoic (Quad) – Deschutes

Brewed with pomegranate & molasses, 15% aged in oak wine barrels, 15% aged in oak rye barrels. Molasses is not just for winter anymore!

Grapefruit Sculpin IPA – Ballast Point

Grapefruit’s a winter fruit, but this easy-drinking ale tastes like summer. It showcases bright flavors and aromas of apricot, peach, mango & lemon.

Pivo Hoppy Pils – Firestone Walker

Everything you love about classic German Pilsner with a hoppy Bohemian twist. Pils is a bright straw colored lager beer with playful carbonation topped with beautiful white foam lace.

Hoptimum IPA – Sierra Nevada

Hopped, dry hopped and torpedoed for incredible hop flavor and complexity, Hoptimum is the pinnacle of whole-cone hoppiness and the biggest Imperial IPA.

Big Eye IPA with Fresh Ginger Root – Ballast Point

Big Eye IPA infused with fresh skinned, sliced ginger root.

Mr. Pineapple – SanTan Brewing

GABF Silver Medal Winner, Mr. Pineapple was originally conceived for SanTan’s annual Luau Day. Hazy straw gold in color, they add natural pineapple juice (Rainforest Alliance Certified) to a traditional wheat beer creating a refreshing tropical flavor.

IPA 2.0 – Stone Brewing Company

The second incarnation of their groundbreaking India pale ale, Stone brewers employed dry hopping and hop bursting to squeeze every last drop of piney, citrusy, tropical essence from the hops that give this beer its incredible character.

Pear Ginger – New Belgium

Mix your own adventure this summer with New Belgium’s Pear Ginger Beer. The latest Lips of Faith release.

Keg Pressure. Is it that important?

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Chief Kegerator Officer — No Comments ↓

CO2 saturation is an important nuance of many beers. Most beers have an ideal temperature and CO2 level that they should be served at for optimal taste. If the keg set up is even off by as little as 2 PSI of CO2 or beer gas, it can drastically affect the taste and texture of the beer being served.

Keg pressure being tested

A good understanding of the basic principles of beer carbonation will help a beer fan to know when a beer is being served properly or maybe more importantly, to know how to ensure that any home draft beer system is dialed in for the specific beer being served.

See our Dialing-In your Home Draft System guide to the perfect pour.

If you aren’t sure how carbonated your beer is or haven’t really thought about that aspect of beer drinking too intently, here’s the basic rule: lighter, less flavorful beers generally have more carbonation than rich hoppy or malty beers. This guideline isn’t 100% true, but it is fairly universal. What complicates matters is that the volume of CO2 that is absorbed into the beer can vary greatly depending on the temperature of the beer or keg. This is because the amount of CO2 or beer gas that is absorbed into the beer goes down as temperature goes up. Likewise, the amount of CO2 or beer gas that is absorbed into the beer can go up if the temperature goes down. Thus, problems arise when the temperature of the keg raises or lowers from the manufacturer’s specifications.

Fortunately, there is a rule of thumb that can help you to dial in a draft beer system so that the resultant beer tastes pretty close to what is the ideal pour, even if your temperature is a little bit off. If you are dialing in a home draft beer system, and you find yourself needing to serve beer when the keg isn’t at the ideal temperature, you can balance this out by increasing the PSI of the beer gas by +1 PSI for every two degrees Fahrenheit of temperature that the keg has gone down from the ideal temperature. This is because the beer is absorbing more CO2 gas into itself, thereby reducing the in line and in keg pressure. Similarly, you can adjust the pressure down –1 PSI for every two degrees Fahrenheit that the keg has gone up from the ideal temperature. This is because CO2 gas is escaping from the beer and causing more pressure in the keg’s headspace and lines.

Home beer makers may wonder what temperature and pressure they should specify for their homemade beer? One answer I can figure is to look at the manufacturer’s specifications for a variety of beers and pick out the specific beers that share the most flavor and body characteristics with the beer you are making. There can be a lot of difference even within types of beer. For example, if the beer in question is a pale ale, does it have a light or heavy body? Is it hoppy or is the hop character slight?

When inquiring about serving pressures for different types of beer it is important to make the distinction between the proper pressure for beer gas and for CO2. Beer gas is the mixture of CO2 and Nitrogen which is used by most commercial draft serving establishments, which is usually mixed by a specialized gas mixer that is hooked up to two separate tanks, one containing CO2 and one containing N (Nitrogen). Beer gas is available pre-mixed in tanks for home draft systems, but at a significantly greater cost than CO2.

Beer gas functions significantly differently than CO2 when pushing beer. The end result is that the beer tastes smoother when it is served with the beer gas mixture and in some ways the beer gas mixture is more forgiving in terms of foaminess than straight CO2.

To understand how CO2 permeates and effects the taste of different beer types, we need to understand the beer industry’s codification of this attribute. The carbonation level of a given beer is rated in terms of CO2 volumes. The lower this number is, the less carbonated the beer is.

The following is a guide that can help you to determine the ideal temperature and pressure to use for commercial kegs and home brew. This guide is in terms of straight CO2 instead of beer gas, which is often a mix of CO2 and Nitrogen:

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Most home draft beer dispensers work well at between 9-12 PSI for serving, but the numbers above may need to be adjusted according to the length of the beer line, temperature variations, etc. There are a lot of other variables, too. For example, beer can be foamy and difficult to serve if the keg has not had time to settle after transport. The type of beer lines used in the draft system can have an affect, as well as the length of the beer lines. Generally, it is better to start at the low end of the pressure range and work up to the ideal pressure, but keep in mind that the symptoms of a maladjusted draft system can be very similar whether there is too little pressure or too much. In the case of too little pressure, the CO2 is being pushed out of the beer by the atmospheric negative space, while if there is too much, then the beer is over saturated with CO2 and the gas is being pushed out by the difference between the closed system’s pressure and the pressure outside the draft system.

Religious Celebrations and Keg Dispensers: What's The Connection?

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Chief Kegerator Officer — No Comments ↓

Have you ever wondered if there’s a logical connection between religious celebrations and kegerators? Probably not, but in fact, there are many religious celebrations where having a kegerator on hand can add to the festivities. You see, when a bunch of people get together to celebrate a major event, such as a religious celebration, there is often alcoholic beverages, or at least beer and wine present. And if there’s beer, what better way to dispense it than from a keg, housed in an attractive looking kegerator that does the job of keeping it cold and keeping the keg out of sight?

A church bar/pub that mixes religion and the art of beer making.

Some religious celebrations that you may find kegerators at include bar and bat mitzvahs, christenings, baptisms, holy communions and such. It is not the religious part of the celebration that warrants the use of a kegerator, but the fact that most of these religious events are accompanied by large gatherings of family and friends to celebrate the religious milestones. So, if you are throwing a party with adults in attendance for any type of special event, having a kegerator on hand to dispense the beer can be a highlight of the party.

For some, planning a celebration tied to a religious event includes selecting a professional catering venue to hold and coordinate the event. This means that your religious celebration may take place in a catering hall, restaurant, club or hotel ballroom. Often when an event is held at a formal catering facility, the facility takes care of all food and beverages served at the event, and also supplies servers and bartenders. If this is the case and beer is being served, chances are that behind the bar sits a commercial kegerator, which houses one or more kegs of beer that will then be dispensed to guests on request.

Commercial kegerators are the types seen behind bars at restaurants and pubs (actually, they’re usually not seen because they’re under the counter and out of sight, but you know that they’re there). These types of kegerators can have one or two taps or more and can allow the dining establishment to offer multiple types of draught beer on tap to its patrons.

If you are coordinating the planning of the festivities for your own religious celebration and it will not be occurring at a restaurant or formal catering facility, you may have to arrange to have your own tables and chairs on hand and to set up an area for food and beverages. You can rent the items you need from a party rental company, complete with the long tables required to set up a buffet of food (along with the sterno and serving dishes) and a bar (along with a kegerator full of beer). You can hire your own servers and bartenders, or sometimes the rental company can even provide them for you so you can save yourself the extra step of having to hire wait staff separately.

However you choose to celebrate a religious milestone with your family and friends, you will find that having a keg dispenser can be a handy accompaniment to your celebration. You might never have thought before about the connection between religious celebrations and kegerators – and you might never again – but when it comes to planning a party or celebration, you will quickly see the benefits of having a beer dispenser on hand, if you choose to serve alcoholic beverages at the event.

Does A Kegerator Belong At A Baby Shower?

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Chief Kegerator Officer — No Comments ↓

Baby showers have always been a popular celebration for moms-to-be, filled with pastel hues of pink and blue and roomfuls of women crooning over adorable little outfits for the impending new arrival.

Recently, couples baby showers have become the rage – a new type of baby shower celebration that includes both the mom and dad-to-be, along with their friends and family members of both sexes. These celebrations have become more about celebrating the couple and the new life they are bringing into the world, and in some cases, the celebration has turned into a full blown party.

So, with all of the celebrating going on, does the idea of having a kegerator at a baby shower sound enticing? Moms-to-be can’t drink beer, or at least shouldn’t drink beer, so why have a kegerator at the celebration? Well, because it is a celebration! Many baby showers, even those that are ladies-only shindigs, offer alcoholic beverages to guests, even though the soon-to-be mom can’t imbibe.

When the ladies get together, there may be champagne, wine, or other mixed drinks, although there is often also beer for those that enjoy drinking beer. Once men enter the picture, there is a natural tendency to want to include food and beverages that will appeal to the dad-to-be’s guests, so having a kegerator on hand makes sense.

Home kegerators are basically beer fridges that house and cool a keg or half keg of beer. Unless you’re having an all-out, blow-out baby shower, or you’re inviting a ton of people, chances are pretty good that you will not go through that much beer at the party. But, if you are hosting the party at someone’s house that already has a home bar kegerator, then it makes sense to offer beer from the appliance, rather than running out and buying cans or bottles of the malt beverage. {Use our Beer Calculator to see how much beer you will need for your baby shower!}

If, on the other hand, the host or hostess does not own a kegerator, someone that has a mini kegerator might want to bring it along to the celebration so that there is cold, fresh beer available to the men in the room (and ladies who like beer!), without there being a ton of beer on hand (mini kegerators hold just a small 5 liter mini keg of beer).

When you think of a baby shower, surely the first thing that comes to mind is not a keg of beer sitting front and center amidst baby clothes, strollers and car seats. But, since baby showers are about celebrating, and since many people enjoy celebrating with a celebratory drink or two, kegerators can have their place at a baby shower too.

So, as long as the mom-to-be is not hanging around the keg (or at least is not drinking around the keg!), there is almost always a place for an adult beverage or two to celebrate new life and the promise of new opportunities. Of course, as with any type of celebration, it is important to make sure that guests drink responsibly. Baby showers are certainly not the place to overindulge, but rather to enjoy time spent with family and friends while getting excited about the new baby and helping to outfit the new arrival in style.

A Kegerator Wedding: Start Married Life Off Right

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Chief Kegerator Officer — No Comments ↓

The “big day” is arriving soon and there’s lots to do. Of course, there’s the much coveted wedding dress to pick out by the bride, along with countless other decisions to make such as where to hold the festivities, what the invitations should look like, and who should be a part of the wedding party. Then there’s the food and drink to think about, the entertainment – and by necessity, the budget. So, with all this going on, how do kegerators fit into the picture of this blissful day?

Kegerators can be a great choice for meeting the “adult beverage” requirements for those interested in having a more informal wedding reception. Not quite for the white glove service crowd, kegerators can get the party rolling by providing great tasting, cold draft beer for the wedding guests – on a budget. The kegerator can be placed behind a bar with a paid bartender to dispense the frothy ale, or if you want to keep the party even more informal (and want to cut down on the cost of hiring a bartender!), you can simply leave the kegerator out for guests to help themselves. See how much beer you will need for your wedding using our wedding beer calculator.

Although having a kegerator at a wedding may not seem like the classiest of options, the truth is that everyone who attends a wedding is there to have a great time. Most people enjoy a party where there is some good tasting beer – and many more wedding couples are choosing to limit the alcoholic beverage selection at their weddings to beer and wine only, or even just beer, to keep costs down while still keeping the fun up. So, in fact, a kegerator can be a great way to handle the dispensing of alcoholic beverages in style at your nuptials.

For those hiring a bartender or a catering service that also handles the alcohol, a kegerator may even be something that the bartender or caterer brings or has on site. Many catering establishments already have under counter kegerators set up in their bar areas. If you are having the party at a restaurant or other dining facility that has a liquor license, they very well may have a kegerator as well and can provide you with the option of offering draft beer to your guests.

If, on the other hand, you are planning a party in a different type of venue, such as in your own backyard, in a tent outdoors, or in another non-traditional location, you may be forced to bring your own supplies – including tables, chairs, serving pieces, and even the necessities for setting up the bar area, such as a kegerator. If that is the case, and you are not using a catering company to do the work for you, you can rent a kegerator or two to supply the beer you need for the party. Very often rental companies, the same ones that will bring and set up your tables, chairs and even the tent, can rent and set up the kegerators for you, too. They may not be allowed to supply the keg that fits in the kegerator, due to laws about liquor sales in your state, but if not, you can easily ask a friend to do the honors of picking up and setting up the keg or kegs in the kegerators so they are nice and cold when it’s time to celebrate.

So, if you are looking for a way to plan a wedding to celebrate with friends and family while keeping your budget in check, consider limiting your alcoholic beverage options to only beer and wine, or beer only, rent a kegerator or two (or ask if the caterer can bring them) and get on to the fun. The expense of providing alcoholic beverages at a wedding can be one of the heftiest components of a wedding budget, but there are ways to still throw the party of a lifetime to get your new life together as a couple started without breaking the bank. Simply rely on a kegerator or two to keep the cold beer flowing!

Kegerator Modifications: Splitting CO2 Lines

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Dylan M. Blackthorne — No Comments ↓

One of the great benefits of owning a kegerator is tinkering with and modifying it. One of the most popular modifications is to add an additional tap or two. To modify your kegerator to dispense additional beers, you will need to split your CO2 lines. You will probably want more than one tap on hand, so your kegerator can dispense from sanke kegs, soda or Cornelius kegs, or whatever keg may appear at your doorstep. Splitting your CO2 lines can be as simple as a t-joint or as complicated as a multi-tap regulator for dispensing different beers at different pressures. We will look here at the kits and equipment currently available on the market and processes for modifying you kegerator for dispensing any kind of beer from commercial to home and craft brew.
Co2 Splitter
For adding a quick extra beer tap onto your kegerator, a stainless steel or plastic t- or cross joint will do the job of splitting the CO2 to the different kegs – but gas leakage may occur if your keg tap isn’t maintained properly. This is the most inexpensive way of splitting your CO2 line, and all you will need is the appropriate taps for the beer you want to dispense, surgical tubing, hose clamps, and of course the kegs of beer. Adding an inline valve will even make it so that you can minimize gas wastage when changing kegs. The T-splitter will cost you less than $5 and the inline valve probably less, and you can find for these items online or at your local hardware store in the plumbing section. Aquarium supply stores may also have the fittings. You will still need beer taps – more on that later

A more refined approach to splitting CO2 lines is the use of a gas distributor. These units have one gas in and multiple gas outs to facilitate multi tap kegerator modifications. The gas distributor has valves for each of the line-outs, and you can use a gas distributor to split your gas out in multiple directions. Gas distributors are available in a number of configurations. Two way gas distributors cost roughly $40, while the larger multi tap distributors with 6-8 line-outs can cost $120 or more.

For a draft beer system that requires dedicated individual pressures for different beers, a secondary regulator panel or a dual body CO2 regulator is necessary. This is very advanced stuff most people need not go into this much detail, but these units will cost upwards of $150 just for the regulator panel, the price depending on how many regulators you need, or $120 and up for a dual body CO2 regulator. If you want to force carbonate your beer while dispensing beer from the same unit, a secondary regulator panel or dual body CO2 regulator may be the modification you want to make to your kegerator.

One factor to keep in mind when splitting your kegerator’s CO2 line is that your operating pressure will decrease depending on the length of tubing you use. When long lengths of tubing are used, the tubing expands and makes it difficult to keep the CO2 pressure at a constant rate. The same also goes for beer lines. If you cannot avoid having a long-draw system, you will need to use certain materials for the majority of the draw in order to ensure optimum beer quality and cleanliness. You should strive to have no longer than six feet of regular surgical tubing from CO2 canister to keg, or 12 feet of beer lines all together from between keg and faucet.

Although there are some exceptions, long-draw systems still push beer from the keg via CO2. The standard flexible surgical tubing is used, but coupled with a special “barrier tubing” soon after leaving the keg. Barrier tubing is thicker than regular surgical tubing and has a mesh cover, which keeps the vinyl tubing from expanding and causing CO2 pressure irregularities. With the use of a tubing flare tool, you can create your own stainless steel tubing for your beer lines as well, which are by far the most durable and cleanest options, although they are harder to build and modify.

Evolution of the Beer Keg

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Dylan M. Blackthorne — No Comments ↓

From wooden casks to stainless steel and aluminum, from spile and shive to Sanke tap, the evolution of the beer keg has also influenced the evolution of beer. Driven by the mass production demanded by beer fans the world over, brewers have tinkered with and improved the beer keg in many ways during its evolution. Some of these changes have also impacted the quality of beer and even the brewing process. Though the old style cask ales, or “real ales” are still in production in some parts of England and the U.S., modern beer is dominated, even in the microbrew and craft beer markets, by pasteurized and filtered beers. Here we will look at the evolution of the beer keg and the effect mass production has had on the beer it has kegged.

History shows us that the drinking of beer goes back at least 4,000 years. In that time, beer was most likely stored in clay urns and pots. But somewhere along the line, humans discovered that beer could be carbonated by sealing it in a bottle or cask and letting the yeasty “spirits” or “miracles” of fermentation go about their business. With this discovery came the first beer keg.

As far as historical records go, we can see a lot of light shed on the development of beer in Europe. Originally, European beer, i.e., beer-as-we-know-it-now, was predominantly kegged in wooden casks. These casks were usually made of oak or other hardwoods that had a reputation for being non-toxic. Beer at this time was un-pasteurized and usually unfiltered, which lent it to spoiling. This beer had an expiration date!

Most of the advances in brewing and kegging technology since then have focused on increasing the life span of beer. The most important of these was the process of pasteurization. Pasteurization is a process by which a product in a bottle or can is rapidly heated and then cooled. This process ensures that any organism that may be purposely or un-purposely left in the product (in this case, the beer keg) is killed. Through the use of pasteurization, beer kegs have been granted a much longer shelf life.

For some, the change in taste that the pasteurization process yields is too much to ask for the benefits of increased shelf life. An organization known as CAMRA, the CAMpaign for Real Ale, has taken up the cause of un-pasteurized and un-filtered beer. Through this group, folks interested in cask ales and real ales may find them in the U.K. Interest in cask ales is present in the U.S. as well, although the term real ale does not have the same weight as in the U.K., where strict guidelines have been established. Real ales are those ales that are still “alive” with living yeast. Cask ales are ales that are served from a cask, although not necessarily a traditional wooden one. These ales may be filtered, but they are usually cask-conditioned. This means that they gain their fizzy carbonation through the natural process of fermentation instead o the “force-carbonating” that is usually done by commercial beer makers.

The modern Sanke beer keg is designed to be rugged, easily cleaned (at least with the right industrial keg cleaning machines, and to hold a great amount of beer while still being light enough to be handled by one person. Unlike the cask, the progenitor of the keg, the Sanke keg requires little preparation and knowledge to operate. Sanke kegs took the Shive hole and the keystone of casks and put them into the same hole, locked in with a coil spring and valve, released with the push of the tap once attached.

Today, most cask ales are served from steel or aluminum casks, just as regular beer kegs are. They still require the care of an attentive landlord or barkeep, however. The gas must be vented and the beer prepared two to three days ahead of time. The benefit of a little extra tooling and care produces the result of an ale the likes of which might have been enjoyed 2,000 years ago! For all the modern influence of technology on brewing, it is refreshing to see that some people still like to do things the old fashioned way.

See related keg beer articles: History of the Kegerator, Beer Keg Directory, Beer Kegging Tutorial

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