Congratulations! That shiny new kegerator is yours. You’re finally going to have that home bar you’ve always wanted.
As wonderful as that may sound, though, your home is not a bar, and what works well at the local watering hole might not necessarily be the best option for your den. Furthermore, those off-the-shelf kegerators and refrigerator conversion kits could leave you frustrated with fountains of foam.
But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. With a few tweaks, that generic kegerator hardware can, indeed, pour great beer. And once you’ve gotten it dialed in, it’ll serve you well for years to come.
Make Good Connections
Somewhat like cell phone chargers and electrical plugs worldwide, keg hardware comes in a variety of mutually incompatible configurations that all perform identical functions:
- Putting carbon dioxide into the keg
- Taking beer out of the keg
That’s it. Seems pretty simple, right? If only. There are several types of couplers in use for commercial kegs, as well as two kinds of disconnects widely used in homebrewing:
Commercial Keg Couplers
Type A >> Most German brands
Type D >> Most North American brands (Sankey)
Type G >> Many British brands & Anchor Brewing
Type M >> Einbecker and Schneider
Type S >> Most Continental European brands
Type U >> Guinness brands
Homebrew Keg Disconnects
Ball lock >> Soda kegs of Pepsi Cola heritage
Pin lock >> Soda kegs of Coca Cola heritage
Off-the-shelf kegerators will likely come equipped to dispense North American kegs that use the Type D system, commonly called Sankey. All commercial systems rely on a single coupler to both deliver gas and draw beer. Homebrew kegs, however, require two devices, commonly called disconnects: one for gas and one for liquid. In both cases, a gas line delivers carbon dioxide from an external cylinder, and a beverage line carries beer from the keg to the faucet.
Although all of these systems are different, it’s actually pretty simple to switch from one to another if you retrofit your beer lines with swivel nuts that screw onto to a ¼" MFL flared fitting. Conversion pieces are readily available: Just ask your local homebrew retailer for a couple of ¼" MFL tail pieces for commercial couplers, or if you’re using ball lock and pin lock disconnects, request hardware that uses threaded flare fittings instead of hose barbs.
Once you’ve switched over to a swivel-nut based system, you can use any keg from around the world, as long as you have the right couplers or disconnects to tap it.
Get Better Faucets
The vast majority of off-the-shelf kegerators and kits come with standard beer faucets, the same ones you see in most bars. These faucets are rear sealing, which means that pulling _forward _on the handle actuates an internal piston that pushes _rearward _and opens a valve in the back of the faucet. These work just fine in high-turnover scenarios in which servers open and close faucets repeatedly over the course of many hours.
At home, though, it’s likely that your faucets will, from time to time (and despite your best efforts), need to sit for a period of days without use. In these situations, residual beer contained within the faucet can dry out and turn into one of the most resilient adhesives known to humanity. The end result is a faucet that’s sticky at best and, at worst, may require gentle use of a hammer to reopen.
The solution? Forward-sealing faucets. These beauties rely on a unique ball valve configuration that opens and closes in the front of the faucet. Thus, the actuation mechanism never dries out and never sticks. Furthermore, most forward-sealing faucets are made from good old-fashioned stainless steel. They may cost a little more, but they’ll last a lifetime, and cleaning is a piece of cake.
Swapping faucets is incredibly simple. All you need are your new faucets and a beer-faucet wrench, which is available for well under $10 at your finer draft-beer retailers. A quick twist of the faucet collar with the wrench frees the faucet. Just don’t forget to disconnect your beverage line from the pressurized keg first!
Find Balance
Draft systems need to be balanced, but this has nothing to do with finding inner peace or remaining upright (in fact, if you do it right and the beer starts flowing, remaining upright may no longer be a concern!). Draft system balance is all about doing two things:
- Maintaining the proper level of carbonation in your beer
- Achieving an aesthetically pleasing pour in roughly eight seconds
Home kegerators use what’s called a direct-draw approach, which means that carbon dioxide from the external cylinder serves to both maintain carbonation in the beer and deliver it to your glass. Many bars, on the other hand, use a so-called long-draw system, in which carbon dioxide is kept at a fixed level to maintain carbonation and added nitrogen supplies the pressure to push the beer through the lines to the faucet.
In a direct-draw system, one must balance supplied gas pressure with resistance from the beverage lines so that, by the time the beer reaches the faucet, it has slowed to a flow rate of about two ounces per second (60 ml per second). Much faster than that and you risk pouring nothing but foam. Much slower and you’ll be there for a while waiting for your glass to fill.
Achieving balance usually means buying longer beverage lines than those supplied with your kegerator or conversion kit. For some reason, most systems come standard with 5-foot (1.5-meter) lines, but it’s not uncommon to need as much as 10 feet of beverage line to really slow that beer down to a decent pour. Swapping lines is simple, and as long as you’re at it, consider upgrading to one of the new anti-microbial or barrier models. They keep your beer tasting fresher longer, and they won’t impart any plastic off-flavors.
For details on how to calculate the length of beer line that your system needs, see “Finding Balance Through Kegging.”
Don’t Fear the Foam
Normally when a brewer says, “Don’t fear the foam,” it’s in reference to Star San. But the phrase also applies to pouring the perfect, foam-free draft from your kegerator’s faucets. Step one in foam prevention is to balance the system with longer beer lines. Step two is to make sure your beer stays cold en route from keg to faucet.
Carbon dioxide’s ability to remain in solution is sensitive to temperature. Even warming your beer by a degree or two encourages dissolution in the beverage line, which translates into foam at the faucet. So once you’re sure that those draft lines are as long as they need to be, your final step to achieving the perfect pour is to minimize temperature changes within your kegerator.
Conversion kits that send beer through a refrigerator wall are less likely to have such issues than draft-tower systems. Draft towers are notorious for allowing beer to warm between pours because the towers just aren’t insulated that well. And then there’s the issue of stratification, in which cold air tends to settle at the bottom of the refrigerator, leaving relatively warmer air near the top.
The most effective solution for stratification is to invest in a small fan, called a muffin fan, and a length of flexible tubing. Such a system directs cold air from the bottom of your kegerator up into the tower itself, helping keep the lines cool and discouraging temperature stratification. (For more about the muffin fan see “Do You Know the Muffin Fan.”
If your draft tower isn’t insulated at all, consider purchasing some inexpensive foam pipe insulation at the hardware store and wrapping it around the beer lines in the tower.
You may never escape the fact that allowing many hours or days to elapse between pours gives your draft lines an opportunity to warm up. In such cases, that first pint will always have some foam. But, with a fairly simple cooling system in place, and some additional insulation, you can keep that foam to a minimum.
Self Service
Draft systems may seem complex, but they’re surprisingly simple to maintain once you dial in all of the settings. Remember, every system is a little different, so take all advice with a grain of salt and rely on your own experience and judgment to develop the kegerator that works for you. Get that right, and you’re sure to enjoy a draft system that will serve you well for a long, long time.