If you have some awesome beer technology to share, join us at the Pub for Beer Enthusiasts, Beertaps.com Pub.

One day, a few friends of mine were enjoying their draft beers out of their freshly converted kegerator when all of a sudden they heard a pop.  They didn’t think anything of it because they had been hearing different sounds all day.  One of the beer enthusiasts decided to pour another drink and got a half glass with a lot of foam.  After closer observation, the beer line had popped off the regulator and was damaged.  The beer drinking fun was over until the beer line was replaced.  A good bit of beer was on the bottom of the refrigerator too.  A nice mess to clean up when you have a CO2 tank pumping air through a line to make sure the beer keeps flowing.

I have actually witnessed the next mistake go both ways.  The CO2 regulator needs to be set to the right psi.  Not over and not under.  Can you imagine walking up to the kegerator and not getting anything out of it?  Or worse yet, can you imagine damaging a beer line because you had the psi too high?  Great ways to ruin a party.

But, the one that takes the cake is the amateur who decided to just drill the hole through the door without knowing what he was doing.  The hole was too big for the shank because this guy wanted to drill the hole as big as the nuts.  Enough said about that!  Scrap the refrigerator and go find another one.

So before you make any of these mistakes, make sure that you know everything you need to know before you get started:

Converting a Refrigerator into a Kegerator

There are many benefits to brewing your own beer and I’m going to take it one step at a time. When you are ready to get off this wild ride, take stage coach left and no one will think any less of you for it. But I bet once this journey begins, you will want to ride it until the wheels fall off.

First, brewing your own beer is a way of putting a mark on your own home bar. You can even get online and design yourself a label and then place it on your bottles, glasses and beer taps even. When company comes over, you can have them all try it. It might just become their favorite beer meaning you might just get company more often if that seems like something you would like to have.

Then, you can start marketing your beer to the local bars. Give them a taste and see if they like it. There are different ways to make this happen. You can get in touch with a local bar owner and tell them you would like to have a tasting at their bar. You offer some of your beer for free and then when people say they like the taste, the bar owner will most likely want to stock it. Make a thing of it. It’s supposed to be a fun time. So, have fun!

The next logical level is to enter into some beer events. Start locally, but again have fun. Go across the country if you want. The more exposure you get, the more buyers you get. Don’t be surprised when someone approaches you to see if you want a sponsor. Sponsorship can take you to levels you have never imagined. Nationwide distribution. Export. International attention.

By this time of course, you have expanded your enterprise to include so much more than a bucket and a kegerator. You have built your brewery into a high powered system that produces enough beer to satisfy all your orders. You’ve moved your operation to a local location that houses your brewery and invites the neighbors to wander in and have a beer. You’ve had to apply for your beer license so that you can start selling your beer and you’ve had to build a bar so that your neighbors have a comfortable place to sit. You’ve got a sign on the front of your place with your name on it and you’ve been highlighted in the paper as the local beer expert.

With a few different flavors now in your inventory, you can have a seat. Take a breath. You’re finished the first phase of Operation Your Brew. The rest of the ride goes anywhere you want it to go.

Learn to bartend to live the carefree life of a bartender!

Do you know how to make a Long Island Iced Tea, a Cosmo, a Kamikaze, or even a Cotton Candy? I’ve got those recipes plus over 100 more all in this easily downloadable e-book.

I teach you tricks on memorizing these recipes so that you never have to refer to your “Bar Bible.”

I have over 13 years behind the bar in my background. I have tended bar in 2 countries and 5 states. I have done it all: Biker bars, Hotel lounges, Strip Clubs, Sports bars, Neighborhood bar and grills, Karaoke bars, Night clubs, Pool Halls, and Country Clubs just to name a few.

I’ve gone to Bartending School. Heck, I’ve even taught at one. I couldn’t stand charging people $300.00 and up for information I was willing to teach for next to nothing.

I think this officially makes “So Ya Wanna Be A Bartender” the best bargain on the internet. It’s only a fraction of what anything else out there might cost.

Here are just a few more things you’ll discover inside;

• How to fake drinks you’ve never even heard of,  and have everyone proclaim your concoction as “The best they ever had.”
• A full list of all of the bar essentials you would ever need.
• How to match your glassware with your drinks.
• How to work your ice for even stronger tasting drinks.

And much much more…

Become a Bartender

But, I like sharing DIYs with others and had to figure out how they could enjoy this unique wine rack design without spending a ton of money on it.

And my mind went to town.  But, I was in a hurry to share with everyone.  I haven’t had time to build one for myself.  So, I wrote a Wine Rack Idea article about how it will work.  If you can follow the blueprint in the article, you can enjoy a unique wine rack that might look like it cost you a pretty penny.  But for those of you who may need clearer instructions and step by step pictures, I would be willing to write a DIY for everyone who wants it.

Let me know, email me at beertaps@aweber.com to receive notification when I get the DIY together.  You’ll get a confirmation message from me, Stan Schubridge, and then you’ll stay up to date.  And yes, you can unsubscribe at any time so that’s fine to stay on the list until you get the DIY.

So, here’s the home bar the easy way:

The kegerator is the first thing you put in your bar.  It keeps your keg cool and it adds style in an inexpensive way.

This kegerator can actually make the entire bar.  If you choose to use a kegerator like this to hold your kegs, you can make it a part of the bar’s counter top.  Then, you only need counter space on each side.  That’s a setup made easy, as easy as it gets. 

Grab a tap handle of your favorite beer and now you’ve got something to really get you bragging.  There are tap handles of all kinds, from your favorite domestic to your favorite import.  As a promotional tool, every beer you can think of has a beer tap handle for commercial uses as well as the home bar enthusiast.

But, just in case you have a beer of your own or some other “unrecognizable” libation, get the beer tap handle you can write anything on that you want. 

Tell people, “Try Me!”  Give your concoction a name.  Have fun with it and write, “Make Your Own Beer…” or whatever else you might come up with to prank your friends.

You’ve got the bar.  Dress it up in style.  The kegerator and a beer tap handle can turn any room into a bar.  Your bedroom, your dorm room (oops), your garage, your basement, your tree house…

Anywhere!

But when the bar is in place and you think you have it all, what kind of lame bar serves draft beer in plastic cups?  And I’ll be willing to bet that’s what you have.  Red plastic cups that you bought at the grocery store.  Hmm…all that work and then you tap out at the end.

Well, you can add some specialty glasses so that your friends are drinking in style.  This is where it gets tricky, but you can manage.  You don’t just want to get mugs of any kind.  You need to stock up your cabinets with mugs of all kinds.

Vintage mugs from old fashioned beers add such a touch of class.  Especially when you have friends asking you where you got the mugs.  That’s when you realize saving money on those red plastic cups wasn’t worth it after all.

But, don’t stop there.  You should have Pilsners and Pints, Dimpled Mugs and Retro Pubs.  Get mugs with different logos like Coors, Molson, Blue Moon and Killian.  It’s a blast to make sure that you drink out of the right glass for the right kind of draft.

Logo Beer Glasses

A Kegerator Conversion Kit is all you need and there is something that you may have never thought about, but it’s a surprise and I’ll tell you in a minute.  These conversion kits change any old refrigerator into a kegerator in minutes.  Install the shank and faucet directly in to the door of your refrigerator and hook up the Co2 inside.  You’ll be drinking from your kegerator in no time at all.

But, here’s something that not many people think about.  The Kegerator Conversion Kit can also be used for other home bar designs.  Wall mount it to a closet.  That’s right!  Turn your closet into a kegerator.

All you need to do is install the shank and faucet on the wall the way you would the door of your refrigerator.  Then, grab a large trash can full of ice just like you would for a normal keg party.  Hook up the Co2 inside the closet and you are ready to drink some cold beer with the keg hidden in the closet, fully functional for your party.  Of course, this is really only good for keg parties when you have them.  But, you can try to keep ice in the trash can as you keep swapping out kegs.

As this idea starts to spark the imagination, I want to see Kegerators everywhere!  Garages, Bedrooms, Kitchens, Living Rooms, Bathrooms, through the wall to the Patio outside…etc.

Beertaps has the Kegerator Conversion Kit you need!

It would be nice to know, wouldn’t it?

I loved watching Tara Reid get drunk on the Wild On… episodes that she hosted and on the Taradise show that had a short run.  You sit back and watch the show thinking, “Man, why can’t I land a gig as sweet as that?”

You get paid to roam around the world, find the best places ever and drink their alcohol to show people at home how fun it is.  That’s the gig of the century.  But, then the thought occurs to you that only blessed people like Tara Reid get gigs like that.

Well, not anymore.  Getting paid to drink is no longer a gig for the beautiful and talented.  It’s a job all of us can have.

It seems that there are plenty of beer companies starting a trend.  They love to pay people to drink their beer and give them feedback.

“Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70.” Tim Costello, author of Make Money Drinking Beer.

It does appear that the blessings have been passed on to the rest of us.  So, if you think you can participate in a drinking group where people will be drinking and talking about drinking, the learn more about how to make money drinking beer…