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Draft beer machines @ home


graygo

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Looking to "invest" in one of these and they have been mentioned on various threads but I don't think I've seen a dedicated thread for them.

 

It looks like a toss up between a Krups Sub and a Philips Perfect Draft.

 

I've seen the Sub @ £99 and the Perfect Draft @ £199.

 

I'm leaning towards the Perfect Draft due to the 5l kegs needing changed less than the 2l Sub.

 

Anybody got any advice or seen any deals?

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Dean Winchester

I have both. I'd say choose it based on what you'll drink.

 

The PD is better IMO but if you drink with others (or alot...) then the cooling time for a keg is pretty excessive. If you can prechill them elsewhere then it shouldn't be an issue. Kegs are quite bulky so don't easily fit into a fridge... However, I find it's cheaper per pint once you start sending the kegs back. Stella and Jupiler is fantastic... Haven't tried much else yet as I only got it a few weeks ago.

 

The Sub torps are much smaller and easier to store. You do get a good pint out of them but I find the last one tends to be quite frothy and with you only getting about 3 1/2 pints out of each one you can be changing it quite often.

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My mate told me about this lately https://www.pint365.com/ think its a brewery test sell direct and looks like a decent choice of real ales. If you prefer less mainstream stuff and more IPA it looks a good shout. £39 for 18 pints too is decent value although some ales are dearer

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I remember back in the day when Party Sevens were all the rage. We even hired kegs and the kit to go with them. Lost weekends if I remember correctly. 
:olly:

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I've the Perfect Draft, roughly 10.5 pints per keg.... Good choice of beers..... I get my kegs shipped in from beerhawk £5 worth of tokens per keg when you return them.... 

 

 

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Dean Winchester
2 minutes ago, graygo said:

Thanks for the replies, looks like the Perfect Draft is the one for me.

 

Might start with the Stella starter bundle. 👍

 

https://www.beerhawk.co.uk/perfectdraft-life-artois-starter-bundle

 

I take it there's no referral deals or similar on the go?

I believe referrals are turned off for the minute hence why they've lowered the price of the machine.

 

I'd also suggest you get on Facebook and join the perfect draft keg tips group.... They have a special offer code when ordering kegs in multiples of 3 that will save you a fair bit too so worthwhile ordering the machine/bundle and then 3 kegs separately.

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I've had a Perfect Draft machine for about three years now. Wonderful piece of kit, can't fault it at all. Although packaging up the kegs and returning them to Beer Hawk used to be a pain, hiwever a shop in Dunfermline has recently started selling and taking back kegs, so happy days! 

 

The Stella mentioned above is great, miles better than the UK-brewed stuff in the shops and pubs. Lowenbrau and Leffe also tremendous. Starting to get some more interesting stuff too, like  Tiny Rebel and Goose Island. My current favourite has to be Thornbridge Jaipur IPA. 

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24 minutes ago, Craig_ said:

I've had a Perfect Draft machine for about three years now. Wonderful piece of kit, can't fault it at all. Although packaging up the kegs and returning them to Beer Hawk used to be a pain, however a shop in Dunfermline has recently started selling and taking back kegs, so happy days! 

 

The Stella mentioned above is great, miles better than the UK-brewed stuff in the shops and pubs. Lowenbrau and Leffe also tremendous. Starting to get some more interesting stuff too, like  Tiny Rebel and Goose Island. My current favourite has to be Thornbridge Jaipur IPA. 

I've  thought about buying a Perfect Draft machine for a while but the hassle of sending the kegs back puts me off. Does anyone know if there's a shop in or around Edinburgh that sell the kegs and also takes the empties back?

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I’ve had the PD for a couple of years,it’s outstanding.Ive used Yodel collect to send my kegs back and haven’t had any problems but last month I discovered that the Gothenburgh in Whitburn has a decent stock of kegs,they give you £5 in store credit for your empties.

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7 minutes ago, Jambo314 said:

I've  thought about buying a Perfect Draft machine for a while but the hassle of sending the kegs back puts me off. Does anyone know if there's a shop in or around Edinburgh that sell the kegs and also takes the empties back?

 

Not aware that of anywhere in town. However, these machines are getting a lot more popular of late (presumably due to the pubs shutting!), so I'd imagine it won't be long. 

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38 minutes ago, Jambo314 said:

I've  thought about buying a Perfect Draft machine for a while but the hassle of sending the kegs back puts me off. Does anyone know if there's a shop in or around Edinburgh that sell the kegs and also takes the empties back?

 

Shop Local in Dunfermline take back empties.

 

Machine and kegs same price as Beer Hawk, might pay them a visit.

Edited by graygo
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2 hours ago, hmfcbilly said:

My mate told me about this lately https://www.pint365.com/ think its a brewery test sell direct and looks like a decent choice of real ales. If you prefer less mainstream stuff and more IPA it looks a good shout. £39 for 18 pints too is decent value although some ales are dearer

 

I like the pumps. Have you experienced your mates yet?

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N Lincs Jambo
1 hour ago, graygo said:

Thanks for the replies, looks like the Perfect Draft is the one for me.

 

Might start with the Stella starter bundle. 👍

 

https://www.beerhawk.co.uk/perfectdraft-life-artois-starter-bundle

 

I take it there's no referral deals or similar on the go?

 

Just checked out that site. If my maths are correct and you get a fiver off your next keg when you send the old one back, that's 52p a pint? Feck me that's cheaper when the Antiquary in St Stephen's St was the first pub in Britain to sell Stella on draught back in 1979 😂

 

Wonder if I can get the mrs and kids to gang together for my Christmas/Next year's birthday present!

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23 minutes ago, N Lincs Jambo said:

 

Just checked out that site. If my maths are correct and you get a fiver off your next keg when you send the old one back, that's 52p a pint? Feck me that's cheaper when the Antiquary in St Stephen's St was the first pub in Britain to sell Stella on draught back in 1979 😂

 

Wonder if I can get the mrs and kids to gang together for my Christmas/Next year's birthday present!

 

 

Most kegs are around the £31 mark 

If you get 10.5 pints per keg.

It works out at around £2.47 a pint that's with your £5 deposit included.

 

Worth it if its a decent pint mind you.

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40 minutes ago, N Lincs Jambo said:

 

Just checked out that site. If my maths are correct and you get a fiver off your next keg when you send the old one back, that's 52p a pint? Feck me that's cheaper when the Antiquary in St Stephen's St was the first pub in Britain to sell Stella on draught back in 1979 😂

 

Wonder if I can get the mrs and kids to gang together for my Christmas/Next year's birthday present!

 

I think your arithmetic is out chief.

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6 minutes ago, Tott said:

 

 

Most kegs are around the £31 mark 

If you get 10.5 pints per keg.

It works out at around £2.47 a pint that's with your £5 deposit included.

 

Worth it if its a decent pint mind you.

 

That's more like it.

 

£30.50 less 10% for the Stella.

£5 back on the empty.

 

I make that about £2.14 a pint.

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N Lincs Jambo
12 minutes ago, Tott said:

 

 

Most kegs are around the £31 mark 

If you get 10.5 pints per keg.

It works out at around £2.47 a pint that's with your £5 deposit included.

 

Worth it if its a decent pint mind you.

 

4 minutes ago, graygo said:

 

That's more like it.

 

£30.50 less 10% for the Stella.

£5 back on the empty.

 

I make that about £2.14 a pint.

 

Bollox, I divided instead of multiplied by 0.568. Ah well, that's Xmas fecked for NLJ 😂

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2 minutes ago, N Lincs Jambo said:

 

 

Bollox, I divided instead of multiplied by 0.568. Ah well, that's Xmas fecked for NLJ 😂

 

I reckon it's paid for itself after a couple of hundred pints. 

 

:olly:

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N Lincs Jambo
57 minutes ago, graygo said:

 

I reckon it's paid for itself after a couple of hundred pints. 

 

:olly:


The problem is the initial investment when you have a mrs and three daughters 😂

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2 hours ago, kila said:

 

I like the pumps. Have you experienced your mates yet?

I haven't mate as he hasn't bought one, just came across it the other day and sent me the link (he has the sub just now) but I like the authentic look of the pump. Only thing that puts me off it slightly is the beer is meant to be used in 5 days if not kept refrigerated. Not sure how easy it would be to store it if it still had half left!

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I have the perfect draft. It’s great and the likes of the Stella kegs is nothing like the shite we get in the cans, it comes from Belgium 

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11 hours ago, graygo said:

 

That's more like it.

 

£30.50 less 10% for the Stella.

£5 back on the empty.

 

I make that about £2.14 a pint.

 

I've joined the Facebook page that @Dean Winchester suggested above and you can get extra discount through them, real cost for Stella is £1.86 per pint.

 

 

FB_IMG_1602572968088.jpg

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Not much to add to what has already been said....had the PD machine for 3 years now, no issues and good range of beers, got it as i love the Leffe range

The facebook page gives you discount off multiples of 3 kegs, and Beerhawk guys are on there to let you know whats upcoming etc

 

There was a price hike a while back but still good for what you get

 

Also, the guys at beerhawk do a "convention" yearly, although this years was cancelled.....basically it was all the machine set up with every beer available and help yourself.....was an absolute mess in the previous years - first one was at their place in Wetherby and last year was at Harrogate....hopefully have it again next year, good to meet the folk on the forum as well

 

Get the PD machine mate....and soon be a fat, skint alcoholic like the rest of us..... :)

 

 

 

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I’m hoping with an increased popularity more and more brewers look at this platform, it’s already a decent choice but would be real good to have even more.

 

im also on the Facebook page and there are some decent Hearts skins for the machine around.

 

hopefully there is a few shops in Edinburgh that start stocking the kegs - closest is the fife one or in Whitburn 

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I got the PD for £200 last week. Not yet bought a keg, so not tried it. Saw that williambros have contacted PD and beerhawk about supplying beer for kegs but have had no response from them! Hopefully they open up to a large range of brewery's soon, giving a bigger choice.

 

I fancy the Goose IPA for 1st keg.

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12 minutes ago, Do The Dance said:

I got the PD for £200 last week. Not yet bought a keg, so not tried it. Saw that williambros have contacted PD and beerhawk about supplying beer for kegs but have had no response from them! Hopefully they open up to a large range of brewery's soon, giving a bigger choice.

 

I fancy the Goose IPA for 1st keg.


Williambros will be good In a keg so I hope that comes off, where did you see that? 
 

my PD is is in storage just now due to a house move but I will fire in an order for Xmas, they might have a deal on for Black Friday 

 

the Jaipur is a good IPA. Never been too impressed with Goose in bottles, never had it on PD though.....they are usually better 

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9 minutes ago, DarthVodka said:


Williambros will be good In a keg so I hope that comes off, where did you see that? 
 

my PD is is in storage just now due to a house move but I will fire in an order for Xmas, they might have a deal on for Black Friday 

 

the Jaipur is a good IPA. Never been too impressed with Goose in bottles, never had it on PD though.....they are usually better 

 

It was on williamsbros Instagram page, they look like they are about to release 5l mini kegs, and someone asked the PD question.

 

I like Goose IPA so know i'll like the PD version. Jaipur is another ill get sometime, its similar to Punk IPA.

 

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To my knowledge, the PD kegs are exclusively AB InBev brands, not sure whether you're likely to see any third-party beers on there.

 

Which is a shame, as I love Joker, Caesar Augustus etc dearly!

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5 minutes ago, Craig_ said:

To my knowledge, the PD kegs are exclusively AB InBev brands, not sure whether you're likely to see any third-party beers on there.

 

Which is a shame, as I love Joker, Caesar Augustus etc dearly!

they have some tiny rebel ones which i dont think are AB inBev brands. So they might be willing to collaborate with independent breweries to produce kegs for them

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13 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

they have some tiny rebel ones which i dont think are AB inBev brands. So they might be willing to collaborate with independent breweries to produce kegs for them

 

👍

 

Yep, just came back on to add that. So, hopefully we'll see some more interesting stuff in the near future.

 

Certainly seems like they've gained in popularity recently (think Costco started selling the machines?), so should lead to more range. Unfortunately seems to have led to an increase in the price of kegs too, but that might be due to political reasons which I'm not going to go into here...

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for those with a perfect draft it says it cools the beer to 3 degrees, do you need to wait for it to get to 3 degrees or if say it is 5 degrees can you pour a pint if you are gagging on a drink?

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5 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

for those with a perfect draft it says it cools the beer to 3 degrees, do you need to wait for it to get to 3 degrees or if say it is 5 degrees can you pour a pint if you are gagging on a drink?


You can crack on anytime you like really 

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Anywhere under 6 degrees should be okay really. Comes out a bit frothy above that.

 

It's a shame there's not a temperature control, as some beers are better a little warmer, whereas the lagers of this world are ideally served at 3-4 degrees.

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I've got a Krups Sub and it does me fine. Pours a good pint. I'll probably look into a Perfect Draft when we move to a bigger house.

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I have The Sub and I would say go for the Perfect Draft. The Sub is fine, but that's it. The Subs are only 2l so fine if you are just wanting a wee glass here and there, but if you are having a few at the weekend then it's a pain. It also comes out very foamy when you first use a Sub, so your first pint has to wait a while to settle or you pour it away to get the non foamy stuff.

 

I haven't bought any Subs for a while but when I was buying them a couple of months back stock was an issue, with ones like Morreti quite difficult to get hold of.

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2 hours ago, Sooperstar said:

I have The Sub and I would say go for the Perfect Draft. The Sub is fine, but that's it. The Subs are only 2l so fine if you are just wanting a wee glass here and there, but if you are having a few at the weekend then it's a pain. It also comes out very foamy when you first use a Sub, so your first pint has to wait a while to settle or you pour it away to get the non foamy stuff.

 

I haven't bought any Subs for a while but when I was buying them a couple of months back stock was an issue, with ones like Morreti quite difficult to get hold of.

Fully agree. I have same and now not bought Subs for some time. Frothy pints every time and that was it being left alone for ages. Non forth pint is lovely and really chills it. Just can’t be bothered with the hassle anymore. 

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How long does a keg last once opened? Not the biggest drinker, unlikely to drink 10 pints over a weekend and don't drink every weekend so would a keg last 2-3 weeks? 

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16 minutes ago, hmfc_liam06 said:

How long does a keg last once opened? Not the biggest drinker, unlikely to drink 10 pints over a weekend and don't drink every weekend so would a keg last 2-3 weeks? 

2 weeks for the subs. Suggest the kegs in perfect draft are at least the same.

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5 hours ago, Sooperstar said:

I have The Sub and I would say go for the Perfect Draft. The Sub is fine, but that's it. The Subs are only 2l so fine if you are just wanting a wee glass here and there, but if you are having a few at the weekend then it's a pain. It also comes out very foamy when you first use a Sub, so your first pint has to wait a while to settle or you pour it away to get the non foamy stuff.

 

I haven't bought any Subs for a while but when I was buying them a couple of months back stock was an issue, with ones like Morreti quite difficult to get hold of.

 

I’ve got a Sub Compact and I find I only get a lot of froth in the beer if the sub keg are not cold enough. I always have one cooling in the fridge now as a ready replacement and that seems to help. I found the sub kegs were difficult to get during the lockdown but they’re a bit easier to get now, I ordered a box of them on Tuesday and they’re being delivered tomorrow.

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43 minutes ago, hmfc_liam06 said:

How long does a keg last once opened? Not the biggest drinker, unlikely to drink 10 pints over a weekend and don't drink every weekend so would a keg last 2-3 weeks? 

The number on the front of the PD is a countdown from 30 days, giving you an indication on how long the keg is best for. So you have 30 days.. :lol:

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10 hours ago, Do The Dance said:

The number on the front of the PD is a countdown from 30 days, giving you an indication on how long the keg is best for. So you have 30 days.. :lol:

 

30 days is fine. Definitely thinking about getting one.

 

Black Friday is a good shout.

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3 hours ago, Sooperstar said:

If the Perfect Draft ends up on a Black Friday offer I might upgrade.

 

I'd be surprised if you can pick one up for less that the £199 Beerhawk are currently looking for. Not seen it cheaper than that for years.

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