Bottles Begone! Taking the Next Step into Kegging
Bottles begone!
I’m taking another step forward in my homebrewing journey, moving from bottling to kegging.
It had been nearly a month since I started messaging with a local seller on Facebook Marketplace about an Edgestar kegerator. From the description, it sounded like it had everything I needed—and then some. The seller included three CO₂ cylinders, all the necessary kegging equipment, and, most importantly, confirmed that the kegerator actually ran and got cold.
After getting it home, I realized I had picked up an EdgeStar BR2000SS, a dual-tap kegerator designed to hold two Cornelius kegs. It originally retailed for around $725, so even knowing I would have to replace some parts and put a little money into getting it beer-ready, I felt pretty good about the $160 price tag.
Not everything is ready to go, but I’m still pretty excited about this next step.
Getting the CO₂ Situation Sorted
On the way home, I stopped at a local gas supplier and exchanged the three CO₂ cylinders that came with the kegerator. After all the fees, the exchange cost me $117. The good news is that future exchanges will run just $16 per cylinder.
That gives me plenty of CO₂ to work with as I get my kegging setup dialed in.
Out With the Old, In With the New
Once I got the kegerator home, I started taking things apart.
I removed the tap tower and pulled all of the existing beer lines. None of that tubing was something I planned to reuse, so I’m sourcing new FDA-certified, food-grade beer line from a few local suppliers.
The faucets are also getting an upgrade. I’m replacing the existing taps with dual Intertap stainless steel forward-sealing beer faucets.
Intertap Stainless Steel Beer Faucet – SoCal Brewing Supply
Forward-sealing faucets seal the flow of beer toward the front of the faucet rather than farther back in the body. That design helps reduce beer residue inside the faucet, which can mean less sticking and fewer opportunities for mold or bacteria to build up.
From Bottles to Kegs
Over the next week or so, I’ll be cleaning up the kegerator, replacing parts and sourcing whatever else I need—preferably from local suppliers whenever possible.
The goal is to get this thing cleaned up, plugged in and cooling in time for the next beer I have planned.
And that beer is going to be all Citra.
It will also be a bit of a milestone beer for me. It will be the first beer I brew in my new BrewZilla, and, assuming everything goes according to plan, it will be the first beer I keg.
After spending the last several batches filling bottles, capping them and finding somewhere to store all those bottles, the idea of simply filling a keg and pouring a beer from the tap sounds pretty damn good.
Of course, there’s still some work to do before I get there.
But that’s part of homebrewing. Every batch seems to teach me something new, and now I’m adding kegging to the list.
Next update will hopefully be the First Sip video for the Paso Pioneer Ale.
Cheers!