Okay, it's time to reconsider those little keg refrigerators. Beer prices in my neck of the woods fluctuate more then the price of gasoline or natural gas to heat my house. I can ride my bicycle to work if I must but, the beer 
well that's a different story all together. 
Home Depot has special ordered some Danby brand 1/4 keg refrigerators with the tap, CO2 bottle and, other basics for $500 but, it is just too small and comparatively expensive to be a real contender in my mind. The local home brew store has a summit brand that will hold a full keg and has the all the goodies to go with it for $880. The kit to put it in a normal refrigerator is $260.
My initial thoughts are that a cheap "real" refrigerator with the beer tap kit would offer some advantages in that it would have additional room to chill beer glasses and store a few extra's. The disadvantage I see is that it is most likely to be placed inconveniently in a garage (detached in my case) or in a crowded laundry room.
The dedicated keg'erator seems to offer an advantage that it is more a piece of furniture that can be left out in a living area and, it could possibly be moved around (it has wheels after all) for a block party or out of the way for other social events (back to the laundry room ). The disadvantages that I see is its relatively (perceived) higher cost and reduced overall utility for day to day stuff like storing an extra frozen pizza or chilling beer glasses and such.
Are there other options I should consider? What experiences to do you guys (and gals ) have with home use beer kegs? FWIW, I'm looking for the metric taps for European beer primarily.
Life's too short to drink bad beer,
Sid
well that's a different story all together. Home Depot has special ordered some Danby brand 1/4 keg refrigerators with the tap, CO2 bottle and, other basics for $500 but, it is just too small and comparatively expensive to be a real contender in my mind. The local home brew store has a summit brand that will hold a full keg and has the all the goodies to go with it for $880. The kit to put it in a normal refrigerator is $260.
My initial thoughts are that a cheap "real" refrigerator with the beer tap kit would offer some advantages in that it would have additional room to chill beer glasses and store a few extra's. The disadvantage I see is that it is most likely to be placed inconveniently in a garage (detached in my case) or in a crowded laundry room.
The dedicated keg'erator seems to offer an advantage that it is more a piece of furniture that can be left out in a living area and, it could possibly be moved around (it has wheels after all) for a block party or out of the way for other social events (back to the laundry room
). The disadvantages that I see is its relatively (perceived) higher cost and reduced overall utility for day to day stuff like storing an extra frozen pizza or chilling beer glasses and such.Are there other options I should consider? What experiences to do you guys (and gals
) have with home use beer kegs? FWIW, I'm looking for the metric taps for European beer primarily.Life's too short to drink bad beer,
Sid
