Kegging, Kegerators & Draft Systems

Bottling is the part of homebrewing people quietly stop enjoying first. Two hours of sanitizing, filling and capping per batch, two weeks of waiting for carbonation, and a cupboard full of bottles to wash before the next brew. Kegging replaces all of it with twenty minutes and a gas line. Almost nobody who switches switches back, which is unusual for a homebrewing upgrade.

What the entry actually costs

The honest answer is that there are two purchases, and most kits only cover one. The dispense side is a keg, a CO2 cylinder, a regulator, gas and beverage lines, and a tap -- that is what a “kegging starter kit” contains. The cold side is a refrigerator that will hold the keg at serving temperature, and it is almost never included. Budget for both or you will end up with a keg of warm beer and a picnic tap in the fridge door.

• Cheapest viable path: one corny keg, a 5 lb CO2 tank, a single-body regulator, a picnic tap, and a spare refrigerator you already own. Entirely functional; no faucet, no tower.
• Purpose-built kegerator: a cabinet designed for one half barrel or four cornies, with a digital thermostat and a tap tower. Tidy, fits a kitchen, and the path most brewers take. See best kegerators for homebrew.
• Keezer build: a chest freezer with a collar, an external temperature controller and through-collar shanks. More kegs per dollar and better insulation than any kegerator, at the cost of a weekend with a saw. The keezer build guide has the parts list, and kegerator vs keezer is the decision page.

The two specs that decide whether you are happy

Corny capacity, not keg capacity. A cabinet rated for one half barrel usually holds four 5 gallon ball-lock cornies -- but only if the internal height clears a keg with posts and disconnects fitted, which adds roughly an inch and a half over the keg’s stated 25 inches. Check the internal height, not the capacity claim.

Temperature range. Most kegerators are built to sit between about 32 and 45°F, which is all you need to serve. A few -- the KOMOS units are the common example -- run from the high 20s to the low 80s, which means the same cabinet can hold a fermenter at 68°F in the week you are not serving from it. If you are buying one appliance and want it to do two jobs, that range is the spec to look for.

Pressure, temperature and foam are one problem

Most “my kegerator pours all foam” complaints are not equipment faults. CO2 solubility depends on temperature, so the pressure that carbonates your beer correctly at 38°F will over-carbonate it at 45°F, and an over-carbonated beer cannot be poured cleanly through any line. Set the temperature first, look up the volumes of CO2 the style wants, set the regulator to the pressure that delivers it at that temperature, and then balance line length to the pressure. The CO2 regulator settings page works through the actual numbers, and how to force carbonate covers getting there in days rather than weeks.

Switching from bottles and want the cost and effort comparison before you commit? That is kegging vs bottling.

The second keg, and why one is never enough

A detail nobody mentions when selling you a kegging kit: it comes with one keg, and one keg sets your brewing schedule to your drinking schedule. You cannot brew again until the keg is empty, which for most people means brewing stops being something you plan and starts being something you wait for.

Two kegs lets you serve one while the next carbonates. Three is the number that actually works: one serving, one carbonating, one free for the next brew day. Reconditioned corny kegs come out of commercial soft drink service in large numbers and are excellent value, with one caveat -- replace the whole seal set before first use. The lid gasket, both post O-rings and both dip tube O-rings are all consumables, and an old one is a slow leak that quietly empties your CO2 cylinder over a fortnight while you blame the regulator.

The other upgrade that arrives with the second keg is gas distribution. A single regulator sets one pressure for everything downstream, and no two styles want the same carbonation -- a stout wants roughly 1.8 to 2.0 volumes of CO2 where a saison wants 2.8 or more. At one serving temperature those need meaningfully different pressures, so one of your beers is always wrong until you add a secondary manifold with an independently adjustable body per keg.