This Memorial Day weekend I'm heading to Ocean City, NJ (where the only oil in the water is from the cast of the Jersey Shore) to kick-off what's sure to prove a pretty awesome summer. I'll be renting a house with a few friends, relaxing, and of course, drinking lots of beer! In fact, I'll be debuting my portable kegerator (nicknamed "R2Beer2") to bring some homebrew with me. Once you have a kegerator in your home, it's really hard to go anywhere and not have fresh homebrew on tap. So, I decided I needed a kegerator for the road!
R2Beer2 is a converted IGLOO Ice Cube Maxcold 70-qt. Roller Cooler that I bought at Target. It can hold a 3 gallon corny keg and have room for a few bottles/cans as well. The cooler keeps ice for 5 days at an ambient temperature of 90F, which is perfect for the summer. I drilled a hole through the front for the shank and attached a faucet to one end and an elbowed tailpiece to the other (just to save a little room in the cooler) where the beer-out line is attached to. I got a 4" long MFL bulkhead from Austin Homebrew and drilled through the side of the cooler to install it. I'll hookup a small CO2 injector to the bulkhead on the outside of the cooler for serving and the gas-in line is connected on the inside. The whole project took about 45 minutes to assemble; I think I spent more time determining which parts I wanted/needed and ordering them online! I'll be serving the last of my Imperial Brown Ale in R2Beer2 this weekend, and when I return, I'll be filling the keg with some Irish Red Ale that I brewed last weekend for a camping trip at the end of June, where R2Beer2 will really be put to the test.
After my return from Ocean City, I'll be gearing up for the unofficial DC beer week leading up to SAVOR next Saturday. Tuesday night is ChurhKey's East Coast Craft Beer Cask Party. Wednesday night (if it rains and I skip playing tennis) is a Three Floyds tasting at the Brickskeller. Thursday night is an Odell's tasting, again at the Brickskeller. Friday night, at the Brickskeller once more, is their sold out Lupulin Reunuless featuring an all-star beer cast (Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada, Kim Jordan of New Belgium, Rob Tod of Allagash, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, Greg Koch of Stone, Nick Matt of Saranac, Bob Pease of the Brewers Association, Bill Madden of Mad Fox, and possibly the great Charlie Papazian). Finally, Saturday night is the main event, SAVOR at the National Building Museum, featuring 70 breweries and food pairings. And on Sunday, I shall take a break, relax, and have a beer. Following SAVOR week, I'll be heading to Minneapolis in mid-June for the National Homebrewers Conference, which will be legendary if last year was any indication--more on that later!
Enjoy your holiday weekends! Cheers!
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