New to NS, Beer Making, and the Forum

[nsflatlander]

Hello,

First off, thank you to those people that help create and maintain this forum. It's great having a service like this at our disposal.

I'm from Winnipeg originally, and moved to Nova Scotia a little over 5 years ago, my wife (whose from the eastern shore) and I have begun to put down roots...literally. We have a little hobby farm of sorts, and I can't say enough about how much I've learned to love this province.

And on to the BEER...

I've always been a big fan of good international beer (Boddingtons, Guinness, Leffe, you get the idea) , that I could get at the liquor store, but it was a local craft brewer "Half Pints" in Winnipeg that really got me obsessed. It didn't hurt that it wasn't too long after moving here that someone told me about Premier Wines, and I quickly realized that my craving for quality, highly outweighed what I could afford.

Which is how I ended up here.

I've make a few Festa kits (Bock, Cream, and IPA) and have done the Abbey Dubbel extract recipe from Nobel Grape. But, I'm tired of bottling, and not completely satisfied with the results. Which is probably a result of simply always wanting better and different types of beer.

So, I'm here to find out what's involved to convert the fridge in my basement for keg/tap and I think it's time to move on to All Grain, growing hops, and just plain experimentation!

Thank you,
Scott

[mr x]

How did you find the site?

[nsflatlander]

First time I found it was a while back when I was Googling for info on the Lions Brook and Nyanza startups. This time, a friend reminded me about the site. I was at his place last night enjoying a few brews, talking beer making, and then I was up half the night trying to figure out how to get all the equipment and supplies I now want to acquire, in the house without my pregnant wife noticing.

[akr71]

[Araxi]

Welcome, I'm from Winnipeg also, been here 1.5 yrs.

[chalmers]

Welcome!

[Jimmy]

Welcome, and I changed your name for you

[bluenose]

[nsflatlander]

Thanks for the greetings everyone, and thanks Jimmy for changing my username!

I'm thinking step one is going to be to find out what's involved with modifying the fridge into a kegerator (not even sure if I have the term right yet). Off to research now.

[LeafMan66_67]

[Graham.C]

It's not too hard to turn the fridge into a kegerator. If your handy you can do it cheap, if you want you can buy a conversion kit from Nobel grape or Ontario Beer Kegs.
Some questions you need to answer:
1) How big is the fridge and how many kegs can you fit it in.
2) Do you want to use coke or pepsi kegs (ball lock or pin lock), this is related to question 1 as they have slightly different diameters.
3) Do you just want some coiled up picnic taps inside the fridge, a big liquid cooled tower that sings your favorite song every time you pour beer, or something in between. Basically how much do you want to spend.
4) If you go with taps, you probably want perlock. This is not a question.

[Stusbrews]

^ I have to agree about the perlicks...I went with the cheaper standard ones, and 3 months later had to replace em... just too much trouble to get a beer!
Not a good impression when you gotta fight with the taps!

[Tony L]

Welcome Scott.

I too changed over my standard taps with Perlicks. Best investment I made after kegging itself.

[LeafMan66_67]

I went with the coiled up picnic taps in the fridge for almost a year while saving a bit of cash. Upgraded to tower with perlicks last weekend and they are GREAT!

[Araxi]

Hey guys, what makes the perlicks so good? I have standard taps on my keezer and I see you guys mention the perlicks a lot.

[Araxi]

Actually found a excellent explanation here
http://morebeer.com/products/perlick-fa ... 525ss.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mr x]

Yup, they're probably the most useful 'splurge' item you'll ever buy. I have yet to find a single individual regret the expense.

[Araxi]

Never gave it much thought until now but after reading the comparison it is definitely a superior design.

[LiverDance]

Yup, they're probably the most useful 'splurge' item you'll ever buy. I have yet to find a single individual regret the expense.

+1

[nsflatlander]

Wow, I hadn't been back to this thread because I figured the welcome wagon wore out. Thanks for the advice. I've been doing a fair bit of research, and bugging a brewing friend to the point of insanity. I'm thinking passthrough perlicks, with 2 pepsi kegs. Mainly because I don't think I'll go through more than two fast enough, and it's sounding like I'll be able to get the kegs for the price of a deposit. Once I round up the funds and get started I'll post some picks of both my successes and mistakes. Thanks again.

[mullinsjason]

Welcome