Kegerator Project.

I purchased all of my kegging equipment from Kegconnection, they have great prices, and excellent customer service. I was helped by a gentleman named Todd ,who I understand is the owner. Despite having received regulator guages that were damaged during shipping, Todd promptly replaced them without any questions asked. I even asked if he'd like me to return the damaged pair, and he said to just keep them. Sweet, no additional shipping costs to me!

Other hardware for the build was purchased at Lowe's, Ace Hardware and the 1-1/16" Craftsman combination wrench shown in the photo (I'll get to that later) was purchased at Sears, of course.

1 can of Great Stuff window and door spray foam (Lowe's)

1 tube of PL Polyurethane adhesive (Lowe's)

24" length of 1/2" copper pipe (Lowe's)

1-1/16" Combination wrench (Sears)

6 Stainless steel hose clamps (Ace Hardware)

I started my kegerator build this past Friday, and had a couple of hours each day to work on it through the weekend. I started with this mini-fridge. Frigidaire model #FRC445GM.

Witbier Brew Day...finally!

Amidst having a 4 week old son, not being able to get to sleep until 2-3am each morning, and the plethora of family and friends visiting, I was finally able to get a brew day in.

Here is the little...ummm, big guy (9lbs 5.5oz at birth). Today, he is exaclty 1 month old and he weighed in at 11lbs 8 oz!

Everyone loves a baby...

Wit Guy White Ale
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 4/24/2010
Style: Witbier Brewer: Broken Glass Brewery
Batch Size: 5.00 gal Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 8.01 gal Boil Time: 90 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 79.00 % Equipment: My Equipment - Brew Pot (15 Gal) and Coleman Xtreme Cooler (52 qt)
Actual Efficiency: 78.91 %
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5 lbs 5.8 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 58.01 %
1 lbs 15.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 21.00 %
15.5 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 10.50 %
15.5 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.50 %
0.24 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 7.1 IBU
0.97 oz Tettnang [4.80 %] (15 min) Hops 8.5 IBU
0.97 oz Tettnang [4.80 %] (5 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
0.25 oz Chamomile (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.50 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 oz Orange Peel (Fresh) (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Servomyces Capsule (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400) [Starter 4000 ml] Yeast-Wheat

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.056 SG (1.044-1.052 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.008-1.012 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Color: 4.9 SRM (2.0-4.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 19.1 IBU (10.0-20.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 6.6 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.63 % (4.50-5.50 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.74 %
Actual Calories: 249 cal/pint


Mash Profile Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge Mash Tun Weight: 13.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 9.24 lb Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 75.0 F Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 6.26 gal Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 11.55 qt of water at 163.5 F 148.0 F 60 min

Mash Notes
Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

Brew day went well over all, I did forget to get a pre-boil gravity, but remembered to grab SGs from my 3 runnings which were:

1. 1.090
2. 1.039
3. 1.023

(ie. 90(1)+39(3.25)+23(2.75)=280, 280/8[pre-boil volume]=35 or 1.035, 280/5[final volume]=56 or 1.056)

Pre-boil was 1.035, 7 point difference between my estimated pre-boil SG of 1.042

OG ended up at 1.056, my SG/OG was 1.054 @ 79.4° = 1.056 adjusted.

I hit my target right on!

Looking at the last sample I probably could have sparged with another 1.5 gallons and probably wouldn't have had to add 1 gallon of pre-boil top up water.

Regardless, I'm confident this beer is going to be delicious! Plus it will be my first kegged brew. Having said that, my next post will be kegging oriented.