I told you: details and photos were coming. Here there are. in even more excruciating detail than you could have imagined.

As noted earlier, the component I started with is the one that I thought could wait until last: the keg tub. (it's how things go) My plan was to go with two plastic tubs, and initially leaned toward using either Huskee(tm) or Rubbermaid Brute(tm) food-grade containers, getting two nesting sizes, and filling in the gap between with expanding foam. Looking at the dimensions of one of the empty kegs I have lying around the apartment (um. well, I'm that kind of guy) the sizes I would need were a 32 gallon and a 44 gallon tub.

These are a bit more expensive than I might have liked. And they're heavy. And they're not stocked at Home Depot, just at the restaurant supply place. (actually, a heavier gauge tub would have been better than what I ended up with; more on that later) So for these reasons, but mostly the expense, I went with regular plastic trash cans. Selection was sort of limited, so I had to get something smaller (20 gal. and 33 gal. sizes) but I thought that would be OK too. The two cans together cost $24 bucks, which is about $10 less than what I would have spent on the smaller of the two Brute containers. No one at Home Depot could find a lid for the larger can, but I figured I wouldn't need one, and picked up this set anyway.

The foam I picked up was something called Great Stuff, which is designed to fill gaps around window framing and crap like that. I bought a couple of cans, thinking I'd see how things went and then get more as needed; after all, they're only $5 each.



I didn't know if the foam would stick to the plastic can (it didn't) so when I did the first application I put a garbage bag on the outside of the inner bin. I also didn't know how much it might foam up, or what kind of pressure it might exert (it didn't do either, really) so I weighted the inner bin as well, to keep it in place and to hopefully encourage the foam up the sides.



In the end, it was all a big bust.



It sort of filled the bottom, maybe 6 inches up, and that's after using 4 cans. If I had a month, and worked a just a couple inches at a time, I could likely fill a gap between bins with this type of foam. (I'm not sure how much this would cost)

Another problem I ran into is that a 20 gallon trash can is too small. When I did finally get a keg in this rig, it sort of entirely filled the inside of the inner bin. I suppose I could have scrapped it-- but I had decided to just mount the draft arm on the trash can lid. (a procedure described below) Why? Well, I was running out of time, and I needed a portable set-up, since I was planning on taking this whole mess camping with me. So I had to save the one lid I had, which was for the wrong bin.

let's count my mistakes now, shall we? 1. wrong size tubs - 2. only one lid, for the way-too-small 20 gal. tub - 3. foam that didn't foam - 4. no time to go out and fix it, because mail-order parts delayed the build for a week - & 5. the cheap plastic bin could barely handle the weight of the keg plus ice.

If I had gone out and picked up the Brutes (a total of $79, not including whatever I would need for insulation) I would have had the sizes I needed, in an appropriate gauge, with a couple of lids. The foam wouldn't have worked out in either case, but I might not have tried it the same way with different equipment. I guess it's a wash. I'm out $44 bucks, but I still have one trash can that I guess I can use for something else.

It's a kludge, but I did come up with something that worked. I just chopped the inner trash can in two, so the top half would fit like a collar on top of the keg. More or less. I said the hell with insulation, and just dumped ice around the keg, using the larger trash can a lot like a regular keg tub. Which I already have.

Enough with the failures, let's take a look at what worked:



I've done draft set-ups before, so I did have a few parts on hand: A keg coupler (on the right) which fits the connection on top of the keg; gas in, beer out, and enough valves and what not inside to make sure everything flows in the right direction. There are different types of keg couplers depending on which brand of beer you want to get; the one pictured is for Guinness and Harp. (I've had it for years, and have run Guinness on plain CO2 before. no, it's not really the same) The wrench is a specialty tool, for changing out beer faucets, and above that is a "temporary" tap handle. (The faucets always ship without them. Likely because bars use the branded tap handles they get from distributors. I like the look of my chrome and black "temp" though, so I may not bother with finding an official Guinness tap handle) Since I already had these parts, I saved $60 or $70 bucks, for those of you keeping track at home.

Additional parts were ordered from Superior Restaurant Supply. They have an outlet store here in Atlanta, but of course, none of the parts I wanted were in stock, so I had to order them from Minnesota. Which I did over the internet-- www.superprod.com --just as soon as I had the $250 bucks or so to cover this:

- chrome Draft Arm, single faucet, 2 1/2 inch diameter: $60. This is the upright bit that stands on the counter and holds the faucet. For $60, you also get six feet of 3/16" tubing and a standard beer faucet.
- Stainless Steel Stout Faucet: $90. Like I've noted before, this is not standard, so I had to buy one. It screws into the same socket on the draft arm as a regular faucet-- no worries, no fuss.
- A double-gauge nitrogen regulator: $46. One gauge shows pressure in the air bottle, the other shows pressure leaving the regulator. I already have a CO2 version, but the nitrogen uses a different threading where it connects to the tank. (I could have gotten an adapter to use my old regulator on the new tank, but I thought at some point I might want to run both CO2 and Beer Gas at the same time)
- and a plastic drip tray: $18.60. Which I didn't use, but may come in handy later. (you never know)
and on top of that I had to pay roughly $30 in shipping & handling. (which I would have saved if they just stocked this stuff here in town, damn it.) (but I digress)

These parts go together something like this: Using the beer wrench, first I removed the faucet from the draft arm, and put on my shiny new stout faucet



I drilled a hole in the center of my trash can lid (big enough to let the beer line through) and then mounted the draft arm over this hole using small machine screws (not provided, but I had something in my tool box)



the underside of the lid will look something like this, with the beer line from the faucet connected to the keg coupler.



The draft arm mounted and upright, with the connections made and placed on top of my poor-MacGuyver rig, looks a bit like photo 10.



This was last Thursday around lunchtime. UPS had delivered my beer equipment just in time, so I had a chance to throw everything together about an hour before I had scheduled to pick up the keg. Which I then proceeded to do. (who's keeping track of money so far? keg o' the black: $147 plus a $40 deposit.) I got my keg from Mac's Beer and Wine in Midtown; it may be a few bucks cheaper somewhere else but I didn't even bother to price it. I have a good working relationship with Mac. On the way back, I also picked up some ice. And at this point I had nearly everything I needed, including cold beer, but I was still missing one last component: Beer Gas.



I was going to get this first, remember? Locally, this is available from Linde Gas (which used to be Holox, which is where I got CO2 the last time I needed it) though at the moment they're sold out of Beer Gas. I had to call around a bit.

Eventually I found a company called Air Lite, which ended up being a guy named Raymond and a truck. I drove out to his place of business (after paging him a few times) because I didn't feel like paying the delivery fee, you know, on top of what I had already and was now about to shell out ($35 plus an $80 deposit on the tank). But even though I had called a couple days ahead and set an appointment, he wasn't home. I say 'home' because his place of business is his home, out on some rural farm road in Hiram, GA. If I had know that ahead of time, I might have paid the delivery fee and saved myself a 50 mile round trip. I was expecting some sort of office, with a receptionist or counter staff or something. I guess licensing requirements for this sort of thing aren't too stringent.

Actually, I had to make 2 round trips, because I drove it again about a week later. I made fairly sure he was absolutely going to be there the second time, but even so, I still waited 45 minutes before Raymond and his truck showed up. I got the damn Beer Gas, though, and just in time really because at this point the keg had been on ice for 3 hours.



One last note on the setup: CO2 will run beer at around 4-10psi, maybe a bit more depending on the length of lines. Beer Gas (a mix of N2 and CO2) will need to be at 30psi, or more. I don't feel like running Dalton's or the universal gas law to figure out why (what was that one again, PV=NRT or some such?) and it likely has as much to do with the restrictor plate in the stout faucet as anything else, but if you're used to standard draft, just remember you'll need to really crank this past anything you're accustomed to.

Ah yes, but what do you get for $596 and a couple weeks worth of frustration, followed by a single afternoon of throwing stuff together?



you get a lovely pint. times about 90. (I'm trying not to think of the per pint cost. It's actually cheaper to buy them at the pub. The investment should average out over time, though.) (eventually)

what's next? Well first, I'm thinking to hell with the bins. This needs a refrigerator, and it needs one right quick. I'll be pricing those, and likely picking up a cold-machine of one type or another sometime after I sign I new lease, at the end of summer. (no point in buying it now if I have to move it to a new apartment later).

And of course we all enjoyed this keg over the weekend...