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Author Topic: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored  (Read 2988 times)

Offline Connor Williams

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Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« on: July 17, 2019, 10:57:24 am »
Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored and was tired of the cases and cases of beer.

LHBS owner suggested the next step up from bottling should be kegging! So the homebrewer gave that a try. The homebrewer only had a 1 tap kegerator which sufficed for all of about 2 weeks before the next keg was ready to be carbed and served. He went to google and searched "Big kegerator" and discovered the world of keezers. After a Saturday of youtube videos, a Sunday of ordering a freezer, a week of waiting, a weekend of Home Depot and LHBS trips, powertools, assembly and cleaning, his own keezer was born!

This is why engineers should always have something to do! I'm a software engineer but still, I have a "buildy" mind and always love building things. This fun (aka expensive) project has been the highlight of my homebrewing passion and I love every bit of it! This makes serving my beer WAY easier and I will possibly eventually save money on bottling my beers. Between the 10 valve co2 distributor, an excess gas/liquid tubing and a mounted co2 tank, this system makes the carbing, cold crashing, chilling carbonating and serving aspects of homebrewing a breeze!

As mentioned I am a software engineer. These tap handles are currently just some of the ones that I have collected over the months of going to breweries and finding handles in their gift shop. However, they don't indicate what's on tap! I am throwing together a way to go even more overboard with a way to tell people what's on tap without needing to tell every person all 10 taps every time or have to ruin the look of this keezer with sticky notes labeling what is on each tap every time I have a party.

Want to see what it is when it's done? I'll be posting updates periodically on my instagram (@corndogbrewery) as I make progress!
(Not sure if social media mentions are allowed here so if not please accept my apologies and I'll remove it)






Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2019, 11:00:56 am »
Very nice set up.
Jeff Rankert
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Ann Arbor Brewers Guild
Home-brewing, not just a hobby, it is a lifestyle!

Offline BrewBama

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2019, 01:32:10 pm »
I’ve been to bars with fewer taps.  Cheers!


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Offline Slowbrew

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2019, 02:05:22 pm »
Nice setup!  But I don't envy your cleaning regimen.   :)

Paul
Where the heck are we going?  And what's with this hand basket?

Offline Robert

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2019, 04:56:54 pm »


  But I don't envy your cleaning regimen.   

 

Seriously, that is impressive.   I like the solution for the drip tray, always head scratcher on a keezer build.

Can I guess your next big idea idea is an AR app so when you point your phone at the handle it shows you the beer on tap?
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

I'd rather have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question.

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2019, 07:55:23 pm »
It looks great. Congratulations. Keep on brewing.

I do not mean to rain on your parade but most of commercial tap handles are not for a sale. If you bought them then person who sold you them stole them.
Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline richardk

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2019, 11:07:30 am »
I do not mean to rain on your parade but most of commercial tap handles are not for a sale. If you bought them then person who sold you them stole them.

On top of that, why not solve the issue of remembering which beer is on which valve by using handles with little chalkboards?

Or, a chalkboard on the wall behind the keezer?

I DO understand the desire to do something involved and convoluted, however, regardless of the "Why would you want to do it that way?" crowd.
Flavor is absolute; taste is not.

Offline kgs

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2019, 07:15:14 am »
It looks great. Congratulations. Keep on brewing.

I do not mean to rain on your parade but most of commercial tap handles are not for a sale. If you bought them then person who sold you them stole them.

I was curious about this because the poster wrote, "These tap handles are currently just some of the ones that I have collected over the months of going to breweries and finding handles in their gift shop." I looked up a local brewery and sure enough they sell tap handles in their gift shop. I looked up the first tap handle in Connor's lineup (Samuel Adams Boston Lager) and yes it is for sale, which means #7 can also be bought, and so on.

Connor went above and beyond by visiting these breweries versus shopping online, but we do sacrifice for our hobby...
K.G. Schneider
AHA Member

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Once upon a time, a homebrewer was bored
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2019, 04:40:31 pm »
It looks great. Congratulations. Keep on brewing.

I do not mean to rain on your parade but most of commercial tap handles are not for a sale. If you bought them then person who sold you them stole them.

I was curious about this because the poster wrote, "These tap handles are currently just some of the ones that I have collected over the months of going to breweries and finding handles in their gift shop." I looked up a local brewery and sure enough they sell tap handles in their gift shop. I looked up the first tap handle in Connor's lineup (Samuel Adams Boston Lager) and yes it is for sale, which means #7 can also be bought, and so on.

Connor went above and beyond by visiting these breweries versus shopping online, but we do sacrifice for our hobby...
Then carry on.


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Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com