USVI-On-Line

We were thinking about getting a beer/wine cooler for our youngest son's birthday-anniversary-house warming gift.

He has been into home brewing in a big way for years now. Our daughter-in-law loves to drink the homebrew, so I think she will appreciate the cooler too.

What features should we look for? We will probably order it online. Thanks Rick!

Anyone else have suggestions?

You went to the right source

The Y chromosome that complicates my life is a wine/liquor distributor, and he has a kickin' cooler in his house. I'll ask him about it.

However, if I were a beer fan, I've always secretly wanted a keg-erator. My uncle had one in his house, and I tried to get custody of it when he died.

Hey, I'm back from Jorge hunting in southwest Virginia.

Are you looking for something to serve draft beer or as a bottle chiller?

I have a True TDD-4. It hold four commercial 1/2 kegs with four taps. It's a 96 inch long commercial monster and costs about $2,100 before shipping.

Another very good brand is Beverage Air. A unit that can hold a commercial 1/2 keg and a CO2 bottle can hold two homebrew kegs.

Another consideration is modifying a domestic full size refrigerator (over and under, not a side-by-side) for draft. This is what I used for 20 years. Rapids and Micromatic sell conversion kits. Once you know what you want, check ebay for best prices. Some commercial companies sell things in inventory cheaper than expected.

Some places for parts:
- http://www.rapidswholesale.com/
- http://www.micromatic.com/

Note: make certain that whatever you buy can fit through the doors/stairwells/fixtures to get to the place it should go.

Cheers, RickG

RickG wrote:Note: make certain that whatever you buy can fit through the doors/stairwells/fixtures to get to the place it should go.

Cheers, RickG

Rick, that line rings of knowledge from experience! LOL! Did you have a challenge in the past?

Thanks for the tips Rick!

I was thinking of a bottle cooler before, but since talking to the "kids" this weekend, am now considering more of a countertop minikeg dispenser.

Kaina (our son), said they have recently bought a new chest type freezer and modified it to make lager beer. I guess I'd better find out if the modification included a tap dispenser in the lid.

I am pretty ignorant about beer, considering I was raised about 3 blocks from Anheuser-Busch brewery and next door to a mini-brewery. Thanks again.

I stared at this cutie the other day while my wife shopped for sheets or something...

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product ... U=14726489

California Girl wrote:

RickG wrote:Note: make certain that whatever you buy can fit through the doors/stairwells/fixtures to get to the place it should go.

Cheers, RickG

Rick, that line rings of knowledge from experience! LOL! Did you have a challenge in the past?

96 inches of love? You want a straight entry!



Cheers, RickG

verjoy wrote:I was thinking of a bottle cooler before, but since talking to the "kids" this weekend, am now considering more of a countertop minikeg dispenser.

Kaina (our son), said they have recently bought a new chest type freezer and modified it to make lager beer. I guess I'd better find out if the modification included a tap dispenser in the lid.

I use a chest freezer for lagering and I also have two cylindroconical fermenters from morebeer.com (he'll know what this). It sounds like your son is getting serious. This is the brewing season for us too.

As for the mini-keg dispensers, something to consider is that your son probably has a lot of opinions about the kind of draught gear he wants. You might be better off buying a glass-front bottle fridge, or giving him a Visa gift card or equivalent so he can get what he wants. The mini-keg dispensers work fine for commercial mini-kegs, but not so good for homebrew.

Cheers, RickG

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Steve-
I really like the looks of that minikeg tap!

Rick-
I know what my husband will go for and that is the gift card idea. It did occur to me that homebrew might not work in the countertop tapper.

I'm sure Kaina would love the four tap "cadillac" beer cooler. He still hosts a yearly reunion of his college music fraternity. They run through a LOT of homebrew!!! And they do a lot of singing.

Thanks for the picture.