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adatesman
Trad climber
philadelphia, pa
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Hey Blitzo (or anyone else who's interested in the exchange thing)- The thread on RC about it is here:Link!, otherwise we could do a separate ST exchange. Makes no difference to me, although if there's a ST one I'd rather just participate rather than organize (since I'm mostly a lurker here).
I'll be getting the proposed rules for the RC exchange up later today, but it'll likely be along the lines of send 2 bottles to everyone in the group. Homebrew encouraged, but non-brewers are free to participate with local/hard to find commercial beer. We'll probably have a running discussion going with comments and feedback and chances are I'll do BJCP scoresheets for any homebrew that's sent since I happen be BJCP certified and do the beer judging thing fairly often.
At the moment it looks like we have ~8 people interested, which works well for the 2 bottle thing (under a case). Shipping looks like it may kill this idea, but if the group is small (or some people are local to one another) it might not be too bad. On a side note, bottles will likely have to be sent UPS, NOT USPS. It is quite illegal to send alcohol USPS and they get very grumpy about it and will usually return the package to you rather than deliver it. Technically UPS won't do it either, but they don't mind shipping "liquid yeast samples for culturing and evaluation". Its a bit more expensive, but is usually hassle free. There's an article here that talks about shipping beer for competitions or exchanges if you're interested.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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anybody have a kegerator for sale?
ever convert a mini fridge into a patio keg?
no, this is not a rhetorical question.
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adatesman
Trad climber
philadelphia, pa
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DrSpock-
Actually yes, I do have a kegerator for sale. Unfortunately it's probably not the type you're looking for though (Beverage Air 3 keg that has 8 taps on it) and shipping from PA would be obscene.
I've converted a couple minifridges and its not really all that hard to do. There's a particular model Sanyo that is/was available at Best Buy that is quite popular for conversion and if you're interested I'll dig up the info. The main issue you run into is the compressor shelf, which can pose clearance issues depending on the size keg you try to fit in there. Most homebrewers who keg use 5 gallon Cornielius kegs (which used to be used commercially for soda syrup prior to the bag-in-a-box thing) and usually you'll be able to fit 2 of them into a mini fridge if you do some creative cutting on the shelves on the door (or simply remove the panel from the door and replace it with plywood/plexiglass) and carefully bend the freezer tray out of the way. Commercial sixtels are normally the same size as Corny kegs so will usually also fit, depending on how tall your tap is and how you do the fittings at the top of it. Commercial quarters come in both tall and short versions and both are much larger diameter and will likely not fit, which means either building a collar to move the door outwards or stepping up to the more expensive/larger minifridges that are intended for holding half barrels. At that point you may be better just buying a beermeister though, and if you watch Craigslist they go through fairly often.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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hey, thanks for the sanyo tip!
i have a friend who drinks so much he has been to er 7 times in the last 2 years.
i am trying to get him off the hard stuff.
he drinks this terrible flavored vodka in plastic 1.75 bottles, no food or water.
went in for dehydration last week, no magnesium.
i tried to get him to at least drink good gin, but he says the glass bottles are too heavy, such is the mind of a drunk.
anyway, same story with beer, drinks hamms, which does nothing, but is cheap and light in the cans.
so, long>short, i am going to get him a kegerator and a sofa.
right now he has a plastic lawn chair, every time he comes in for a hard landing, it folds up like a cardbord box and it's more stitches.
so a couch where he can pass out on the patio, and a kegerator full of 15 gallons of premium beer.
that way, he has just a plastic cup to fill, the beer is cold instead of sitting out on the patio, the moosehead will kick his bad liver's ass good enuff to keep him off the cheap gin, plus, it has food and water and vitamins that he is not getting.
i hope it works.
we already went over the entire list of 50 or 60 beers from club bevmo, and his favorites are moosehead and sam adams lager.
fosters on backup.
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adatesman
Trad climber
philadelphia, pa
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Oh, Dr.Spock- the other idea is if you're not so worried about space then a used normal fridge will easily hold a half barrel and converting it is a simple matter of drilling the door for the faucet with a hole saw. Big upside here is that there's never any cooling or radiator lines in the door, so there's no chance of accidentally hitting one when drilling and letting the freon out (and turning your new fridge into scrap). My neighbor and I converted one of his old fridges a while back and the thing is a beast... I think we've fit 2 half barrels in there before and at the moment its got a half of Sly Fox Pils (local brewery), a sixtel of Sierra Nevada Pale and a corny of my homebrew hard cider/applewine. It'll also fit 6 cornys, but seeing as we "only" have 4 faucets on it we've never bothered to do that. :-)
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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that would seem cheaper than a 500 dollar pro kegerator!
plus, you could elevate the thing on a milk crate inside the fridge and just use gravity feed?
no CO2 for the drunk guy to blow up.
and, he could keep some actual FOOD in there besides, great idea, problem solved, probably one laying out in the street as we speak.
i was afraid he would fall and grab the tap handle, and empty the 15 gallons@149.99 all over the patio.
hell, he wouldn't even need a glass, just string the hose over the armrest.
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adatesman
Trad climber
philadelphia, pa
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Sorry Spock, no avoiding the CO2 tank. Normal kegs won't dispense by gravity feed and even then you're looking at oxidization issues unless using some sort of CO2 system (they make them for pseudo-cask serve systems, but they're expensive and don't really give the cask flavor anyway). If you're afraid of him forgetting to shut off the faucet it would be easy enough to hook a spring onto it, otherwise you could use a "cobra tap", which is the little plastic dohickey you find on some rental taps (they're spring loaded and normally closed). If you go the cobra tap route then there's no need to drill the door... just put a hook inside to hang the cobra tap/hose from and you're good to go. Plus then it's way easier to secure the beer from local teens by throwing a lock on the fridge foor rather than having to get one of those special beer tap locks...
In other news, I just had a bottle of Weyerbacker 12 at a BBQ this afternoon. I hate to say it, but I think it may have even been better than their 11. Basically they do a limited edition beer yearly for their anniversary, and generally its the type of beer that's best with a couple years aging. Doubt you'll find it anywhere at this point as it was brewed in 2007, but if you can now's the time to drink it. I suppose the short description would be that it's a rye-based American Barleywine and absolutely fantastic. Good rye flavor with a good helping of tanginess/graininess (not surprising given the grist was 50% rye), lots of hop flavor, just enough bitterness (more than an English Barleywine, but less than something like Celebration Ale or Bigfoot) and a hint of sherry. Yum! Oh, and it's 10.2%ABV. The 11 was a I^3PA that put Dogfishhead 120 Minute to shame, so if you can find either the 11 or 12 you'd be well advised to buy it. Looks like they now distribute to a good portion of the east coast, so not as hard to find as they used to be (although it was always easy for me since they're local).
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Pate and drljefe have their own private brew:
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adatesman
Trad climber
philadelphia, pa
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More keg conversion info for you Spock...
Looks like the Sanyo I was thinking of was the 4912. This page looks to have a fairly good page on the conversion process and it will hold up to 2 sixtels/cornys (sixtel = 1/6 barrel = ~5 gallons, normal keg is 1/2 barrel = 15.5 gallons). This page says that in late 2008 Best Buy dropped the Sanyo from their lineup and replaced it with an Oster unit that's a bit taller and will also work well. It also says that any of the Sanyo 49xx series will work, and I recall seeing them at Sears and Home Depot on occasion. If you don't mind a little work (read: standing around waiting while enjoying a cold one), its not a big deal to move the beer from a half barrel into 3 cornies and use one of these rather than spending the $ for a minifridge that will hold a half barrel. Just takes a bit of creative plumbing and a bit of sanitizer.
Anyway, this list of typical keg dimensions will probably be useful when scoping out your new keg fridge:
And finally if you plan on using a regular fridge and keeping food in it you need to be careful where you have it... The compressor on a regular fridge will only turn on when the fridge section goes over a certain temp, so if its out in the unheated garage or back patio and the temps drop into the 40's there's a good chance everything in the freezer will defrost and make a royal mess. I found this out the hard way and lost an entire season's worth of fresh fruit I has squirreled away for brewing fruit ales the following Spring. :-(
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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I finished the last four Grolsch lagers I had out of the case of bottles(I'm brewing now and those bottles are the shiz). Thank god I got three kegs of various brews on hand. I don't want to start with the wine. I thimk this is going to be a long a wet night. God gless you JB!
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Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 6, 2009 - 03:12am PT
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The last time I partied with Bachar, he walked up with a bottle of Arrogant Bastard in his hand.
He held it up and said "Look! They named a beer after me!".
We're going to miss you John!
Billy
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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That is sweet.
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Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
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OK, back from the Meadows with a gluten-free beer report. Try Bard's, made from sorghum malt. Completely drinkable. Now I won't have to miss the post-climb bottle with friends. Yay!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Yo Blitzo!
Do I need professional help? I think you were right about the Maredsous 8. Now I have a really embarassing problem. I know exactly the truck that ran me over Sat nite. It was definitely a Bass truck. What you ask is the problem with that? Well, the problem is it was driven by my 83 year old Mom and she left me for dead! The horror! The shame! Next thing ya know I'll be jonesing for bolts on Double Cross!
A mere shell...
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Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 7, 2009 - 12:39am PT
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Ya know Double Cross doesn't need any bolts! Try Maredsous 10!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Thanks man, I knew you'd come through with good advice!
After Sat nite I'm just afraid I'll be sketchin' up on it and my Mom will solo past me on Middle Band!
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jul 14, 2009 - 12:36am PT
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Just discovered this 'un from Fort Collins.
Reasonably priced and yummy...
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goatboy smellz
climber
लघिमा, co
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Jul 14, 2009 - 08:52pm PT
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Another winner from Avery - The Beast Grand Cru Ale 16.31% ABV
From the back of the bottle, The Beast is a seducer - accommodating, complicated, powerful, dark and created to last the ages. Beyond this, it’s futile to attempt to describe Him. He will unveil Himself differently to each of His followers. The mark is in His constitution. Brewed with two-row malted barley, honey malt, and imported Belgian specialty grains (aromatic, pale wheat, roasted wheat, and Special B), hops (Magnum, Galena, Saaz, Hallertau, Tettnang, and Hersbrucker), brewing sugars (raisins, dates, blackstrap molasses, alfalfa honey, turbinado, and dark Belgian candy sugar), water, Belgian yeast and another hellion of a yeast strain.
YUM!
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Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2009 - 09:38pm PT
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Reilly, you just discovered Fat Tire? It's been around for years! It's not the best from New Belgium either. They just came out with a new label.
goatboy smellz, do you still have un-opened bottles of Avery's retired beers?
I love that brewery!
Yesterday I tried "Brew Free or Die" from 21st Amendment. Way too malty for an IPA.
Also tried "Wittekereke" Belgian Wit in a can and thought it was nice, but The New Belgian "Mothership Wit" kicks it 's ass!!!
Mothership Wit.
Cheers!
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