PS I have my fridge, I have a keg ready, now I just have to assemble the kegerator. I was going to put the faucets in the side (my garage is not deep and if I put the faucets in the front, my wife's vehicle will be in the way of my standing in front of the fridge to pour). However, I read that refrigerators have cooling coils in the side and that I shouldn't cut holes in the sides of them. Does anyone have experience with this? I could turn my fridge to the side so I can walk out the garage door, and pour from the front, but that exposes the back of the fridge and doesn't seem like it will be attractive.....help!

My house that I just moved into is too dry. I need beer in it ASAP.

I feel the same way about the service at Monks, the place is always jammed pack and when I can go to Eulogy and drink for cheap since my buddy bartends there thats usually what I do.

All that being said, youre right the draft selection is better at Monks, the physical interior is also better at Monks. Sometimes the 2nd floor at Eulogy smells like a locker room...

I ended up grabbing some campden tabs from my neighbor then trying it on Saturday, 5 days later, and it tasted good so I bottled it up.

There are alot of things on that list that would recommend bc Ive had them, but Ive never had that Ommegang Aphrodite Sour so I would say go for that for sure, since its a special release.

Anyone else around Boston going this weekend:

http://beeradvocate.com/bbf/saturday

In most cases, its the exact same beer. Literally. Half of a tank will go into bottles, half into kegs. If there are flavor differences between the two, it comes from things outside the brewer's control, like cleanliness of draft lines, storage of cases, etc. People also seem like they lose track of how much they drink more easily with draft, giving rise to complaints that a certain beer will give them a hangover on draft but not bottle.

There are some exceptions though, notably Sierra Nevada's pale.

Don't do any drilling until you figure this out.

Google for methods of determining where the coolant, there are some involving cornstarch and water or something that seems simple enough.

But don't risk losing your nascent kegerator in a rush to pull a pint.

Dear lord.

I'll endeavour to make it.

^^ I've seen folks looking for tickets on Twitter today.

Just sayin'.

Anyone have good knowledge on adjusting water to improve beer quality. From what I've read different waters are suitable for different styles of beer. What I can't really figure out on my own is how to adjust my base water for these different needs.

My base water without additives has:

PH: 8.8
Calcium: 102ppm
Magnesium: 34ppm
Sodium: 71.4ppm
Sulfate: 100ppm
Chloride: 134ppm
Bicarbonate: 0ppm

Thanks!

Ok then no.

Thanks!

Service has never been stellar there.

Highlight there was going there the day before First Union (Core-States) what ever you want to call the Philly bike race. We are sitting down to dinner with my now wife and a friend and his now wife. Friend and I both raced bikes. Him much better then I and both of us much worse then our friend who was racing the next day. Friend's now wife gives him this look, like you better behave. Next thing we know Phil Ligget (probably the number 1 cycling commentator in the world -> John Madden maybe) sits down at the table next to us. We refrain from talking to him until we settle our first bill. Then we procede to talk to him for the next hour. He was asking for suggestions on beers to try. It was pretty cool.

And he mentioned our friend as a local favorite the next day in the race. Which was cool. What wasn't cool for him was he came by on a different bike for the first 5 laps of the race. So the race didn't go do hot for him.

Was just going to post that I am heading to West Chester tomorrow. Hopefully to finish up my kegerator. Although since my dad is retired, his sense of pace and urgency is not the same as mine, so maybe not. If you still may have a need for a slurry. Send me a message, I will log on before heading to work.

The Sour Saison was going crazy within 24 hours of pitching. I have never had a beer ferment like it. Temp was lowish too (like 68). Chunks of crazyness floating in it.

The Brett Porter gave me a scare. As it took close to 48 hours to show any signs of life.

I've been searching for a good while now, and I don't see anything to lead me to believe that I have coils in the side of mine. There's a couple of pictures in this manual (pg 33 looks best) and it looks like all coils are in the floor or in the top of the freezer. Whatcha think?

http://shared.whirlpoolcorp.com/asse...%202195381.pdf

Yes, it's a cheap little thing--but it was free!!!

I'm thinking I'll drill two small holes from the inside, less than 1/4 inch, and probe with a hanger wire, just to make sure, but I should be good to go I think? Don't have cornstarch to use, will any other paste mixed with alcohol work to test as well?

cornstarch costs like $1 at any food store.

The main problem is when people drink the beer directly out of the bottle. Draft is in a glass by definition, and beer in a glass is, imo, much better than out of a bottle.

I'm aware of that. It's not cost of the cornstarch, it's the window of opportunity I have to get this finished and the lack of time to get to the store..........................

didn't realize it was so hard for ya to get to a store today - it wasn't my intent to imply you don't have a dollar

In general, I prefer draft beer over bottles. There are, however, exceptions. I've never had a decent Southampton pint, but their bottles are pretty good. And I prefer nearly every Belgian beer in the bottle rather than their draft counterparts - I feel that's because they get to age and kegs get emptied pretty fast. Of course a keg could be aged, but that's just not standard practice...

Mark,

You know whether any breweries package their kegs at high volumes of CO2? We don't bother, because hardly any bar has a system balanced for much more than 2.7 volumes, and if they get a keg at 3.5 they'll just not put it on. So I was wondering if a keg of Chimay white, for example, is packaged at the same volume as their bottles, which I presume are bottle conditioned and at 3+ volumes.

Not to my knowledge. I've never heard of it, either. Everybody I've ever had direct dealings with did it the same as you, with the exception of St. Somewhere which conditions their kegs the same way they do their bottles - a little sugar and champagne yeast added to the beer just before it goes into the keg, which is never refrigerated at the brewery.

I don't know about Chimay specifically, but I've seen videos/pictures of their facility and it sure seems pretty modern to me, so I doubt they do anything different than the fellas down the road at Stella Artois.

A keg could be a perfect vessel for aging since it's air-tight and opaque, but the impression I've always gotten is that high-end Belgian beer (not Hoegaarden, Leffe, etc) in kegs is an after-thought or a concession. At least all the serious beer snobs who influenced me along the way gave me that idea.

I do know some people from the Brouwerij Sterkens personally, and they didn't like the idea of putting their beer into kegs because of long-held tradition. I also know they're businessmen and a large part of their family holdings has sprawled into commercial food manufacture in Europe. With those facts in mind, I wouldn't be surprised if they change their tune, and equipment, if the correct opportunity arose.

Beer fridge is operational, I do need another drip pan though for the other faucet and a possible third faucet if I ever do that. First beer on tap--hefe.....chimay clone and chocolate stout will be next.



No coils in side of my fridge fwiw....

D- for shoe placement

trying this now for first time. terrific beer. on the bitter side, which i'm starting to like more since i'm all sweeted-out from trying so many Belgians.

edit: now that i've had a few more sips, maybe it's sweeter than i first thought. still a great beer and one of my faves so far.