central beer

[gimp]

I'm thinking about installing central beer in the frat house. You know, kegs in the basement, pumping all throughout the house. Then I could drink beer on the toilet! yay! Anyone ever done this before?

[TheTramp]

You would have two different but importane problems.

1) You'd need a pretty powerful system to move the beer through multiple taps over such long distances.
2) You'd have a real problem keeping the lines clean. Beer line that are left unused and unchilled for too long go sour quickly and you REALLY don't want sour lines. All your beer will taste like crap.

Personaly I'd just get a kegerator and plug it in where you guys hang out most.

[wyn1370]

Originally posted by TheTramp
Personaly I'd just get a kegerator and plug it in where you guys hang out most.

make sure to add wheels

[gimp]

I don't think I'll have a problem getting a powerful system.

I hadn't thought about the beer going sour in the lines though.

There are 2 basic solutions I can think of for that problem.

1) Clean the lines after each use.
2) Keep the lines filled with something else (soapy water or something), all the time, except when they're being used.

I know I could hook either way up, it's just a question of money. If it's gonna come down to me setting up some complex system of valves, and spending more money, or just walking downstairs to the fridge, I might just have to walk.

[SlartyBartFast]

Originally posted by gimp
There are 2 basic solutions I can think of for that problem.

1) Clean the lines after each use.
2) Keep the lines filled with something else (soapy water or something), all the time, except when they're being used.

Uhmm...
No and No.

1) Pour one glass, then clean? Eeep. Easier to walk to the fridge.
2) It's not soapy water you use to clean the lines. See here: http://www.beveragefactory.com/faqs/cleaning.shtml

Really, just get one of these: http://www.beveragefactory.com/refrigerators/beer.shtml

[gimp]

heh, I wouldn't clean the lines after each beer. I would just do it when people were done drinking for the night.

That is a sweet site, I'm gonna check it out more later. I know it would probably be more effort than it's worth, and it probably won't work. But trying to set this up will give me something to do besides watching tv all day.

[Smegma]

you would also have the problem of keeping the beer in the lines cold, i would think.

[SlartyBartFast]

Originally posted by Smegma
you would also have the problem of keeping the beer in the lines cold, i would think.

That can be done fairly easily. You have to run chilling lines with the beer lines. With the two in an insulating blanket, you pump cold fluid through the chilling lines.

[SlartyBartFast]

Here's a thought. Why not diverge from the simplistic stereotype of drunken Fraternity brothers spending their evenings drinking. Turn it into a respectable activity (That still primarily involves spending your evenings drinking ).

The activity? Brew your own beer.It's a small investment to get the home-brew equipment and it pays for itself very quickly even if you comercially prepared brew kits to make the beer. To really make it into a frat activity, a larger investemtn could outfit the house with a small micro-brewery setup.

[1stdeadeye]

Originally posted by SlartyBartFast
Here's a thought. Why not diverge from the simplistic stereotype of drunken Fraternity brothers spending their evenings drinking. Turn it into a respectable activity (That still primarily involves spending your evenings drinking ).

The activity? Brew your own beer.It's a small investment to get the home-brew equipment and it pays for itself very quickly even if you comercially prepared brew kits to make the beer. To really make it into a frat activity, a larger investemtn could outfit the house with a small micro-brewery setup.

Good Idea, but remembering my Frat days at U of MD, I don't think the average frat has the patience/ambition to do something so classy. That is why the Frat houses were trashed. The sororities on the other hand would be perfect, but they don't drink like the frats did!

[gimp]

We've brewed beer before. My boss at work was all into home brewing, so we borrowed his stuff, and just bought the ingrediants at Agway. Did it a few times, it is fun. It would be cool to do it again. We aren't a big party frat, so we'd rather spend our money on decent beer than lots of cheap beer. There is a nice satisfaction of brewing it yourself too. I micro brew setup would be sweet.

I hadn't thought of cooling the lines. Some of them would be running pretty far, so it will probably be needed. That should be easy to set up. Just more money to spend.