6 replies to this topic

[Fatman]

My brother is asking me for help in building a kegerator in an old mini-fridge, and the topic of towers has come up.We were looking at micromatic, and noticed the ceramic towers:https://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/towers-cid-36.htmlWhat's to them that's so expensive? $1000 for 2-tap aircooled? Even with all-stainless fittings and Perlicks, that's only like $150 for the hardware for a 2-tap setup. My brother is a ceramics teacher, and I think he could make the ceramic part pretty easily. What am I missing? Is "air-cooled" anything fancier than a hole between the kegerator and the tower?

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

My brother is asking me for help in building a kegerator in an old mini-fridge, and the topic of towers has come up.We were looking at micromatic, and noticed the ceramic towers:https://www.micromat...ers-cid-36.htmlWhat's to them that's so expensive? $1000 for 2-tap aircooled? Even with all-stainless fittings and Perlicks, that's only like $150 for the hardware for a 2-tap setup. My brother is a ceramics teacher, and I think he could make the ceramic part pretty easily. What am I missing? Is "air-cooled" anything fancier than a hole between the kegerator and the tower?

I believe air cooled would just mean that you are blowing cool air up into the tower.

[gumballhead]

My brother is asking me for help in building a kegerator in an old mini-fridge, and the topic of towers has come up.We were looking at micromatic, and noticed the ceramic towers:https://www.micromat...ers-cid-36.htmlWhat's to them that's so expensive? $1000 for 2-tap aircooled? Even with all-stainless fittings and Perlicks, that's only like $150 for the hardware for a 2-tap setup. My brother is a ceramics teacher, and I think he could make the ceramic part pretty easily. What am I missing? Is "air-cooled" anything fancier than a hole between the kegerator and the tower?

i'm thinking the same thing...man are those nice and SALTY...keep us posted on how things go if you decide to go DIY..

[RommelMagic]

I'm pretty sure the price reflects the "Made to Order" aspect of a ceramic specialty item.

[Fatman]

I'm pretty sure the price reflects the "Made to Order" aspect of a ceramic specialty item.

Maybe the "ceramics for beer" exchanges with my brother are a pretty good deal.I already have two sets of custom tap handles and a bunch of mugs.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Maybe the "ceramics for beer" exchanges with my brother are a pretty good deal.I already have two sets of custom tap handles and a bunch of mugs.

pics?

[Big Nake]

I would guess that it's just artificially high becasue it's a novelty. Maybe there is something unique to the process of producing them or whatever. When I recently bought a $125 fridge at Sam's Club, right next to it was a "Keg Cooler". This was simply a small (4 to 4.5 cf?) fridge that had a flat door liner and some sort of stainless steel fence-like assembly that ran along the top of the fridge... it was $450. There was absolutely no reason why it should be that expensive when you could do the exact same thing with the $125 version. Oh, maybe there was a hole already drilled in the top so the squeamish wouldn't have to consider doing that themselves. Still.