Kegging Question

[Tao]

Im looking at buying a kegging setup (Keg, gas bottle and regulator and the rest) but what I dont have is a fridge. I noticed in your kegging guide that you mentioned you needed to get a keg cool 4c (that would be related to gas saturation I take it) however I dont have a fridge and I dont really want to get one (specific to brewing, I do have a fridge). My questions run like this:



-Do I need a fridge to keg (does the beer need to be at 4C)? (I drink my beer about 11C anywho, I know not to everyones taste)

-If I do need a way to cool the keg does anyone know of any smaller alternatives? I was thinking one of those eskys with a cooler attachment (but they are about $500). Are there any wraps like you can do for heating?

Any advice would be welcome.

(If this topic has been done to death, sorry, the search wasnt working)

 

[~MikE]

it you don't want to get a fridge for kegging, you'd be looking at a magic box...

you could try and convert an esky to a sudo fridge with a peltier plate and some old cpu HSFs and a PSU - have never actually done this...

 

[cdbrown]

You don't need to have a fridge, but you will need a way of bringing the temperature of the beer in the keg down to 11C when you pour. 4C is just a general temp guide for lagers, for the english ales then a warmer (cellar) temp is needed for the full flavour of the beer.

Is the keg going to be a permanent thing or just something used occassionally. If permanent then I'd recommend getting a small bar fridge with enough height for a keg to fit. If occassionally then you could just use an esky or something that will fit the keg, put some ice on it and it will cool down. Otherwise a chiller box in which you just cool the beer line as it comes out of the keg. There's a few of the cooling coils on ebay at the moment.

 

[crundle]

As cdbrown said, it depends on how often you wish to use the kegs, and how.

I have converted a 140 litre chest freezer into a kegerator for minimal cost, but I need the beer to be available at all times. If you wish to use the kegs occasionally, for parties and the like, then it may be better for you to use a miracle box on demand.

If you don't want to have the kegs cold, you may consider priming the keg to gas it up instead of using gas.

 

[Rurik]

I'm looking at buying a kegging setup (Keg, gas bottle and regulator and the rest) but what I don't have is a fridge.

Good move I highly recommend it.

-Do I need a fridge to keg (does the beer need to be at 4C)? (I drink my beer about 11C anywho, I know not to everyone's taste)

No you do not need a fridge to keg your beer. Treat your keg as one large bottle, clean and sterilise by your own favourite method then place your beer into keg add about 130g of dextrose and let the yeast do it's thing. This will mean having to wait to drink your beer, but is a bit of waiting a bad thing to drink good beer?

-If I do need a way to cool the keg does anyone know of any smaller alternatives? I was thinking one of those esky's with a cooler attachment (but they are about $500). Are there any wraps like you can do for heating?

You only need to cool your keg if you want to drink your beer cold. Which might I add is the traditional way of consuming ones beer in this country, but to each there own. Before I had the big keg system with fridge I used to place my keg in a (Big) bucket of Ice to cool it down. I would be interested in seeing other ways of cooling a keg down.

 

[muckey]

I have an old teprite that works well, I would guess give around 5-6 degrees in the glass on a summer day.

Problem isn't gas saturation. You can get the required volumes of CO2 at whatever temperature by adjusting the pressure. The problem is that kegs at amient require much higher pressure and if ambient changes lots over the course of the day/night cycle you could find yourself fiddling with th reg and never really getting a perfect pour.

I put in the time, effort (and kegs ) and have managed to reach a good compromise but I'm still going to convert a fridge for my kegs

( not a word butters, not a word! <_< )

 

[KGB]

I would recommend getting a bar fridge at least - I picked up an old ugly one on fleabay for $2!
Magic box is fine for pouring and without a fridge you'd definitely be best off treating it like one giant bottle and priming the keg. Sediment will sink and pump out in the first glass or so.

It can take up to 48hrs to chill down a warm keg to 4 degrees - you won't be looking at that long for 11 degrees but its not like chucking a slab of cans on ice and an hour later they're cold.
Prime and naturally carb in the keg, keep the keg as cool as possible and use a miracle box/jockey box for serving.

If you want to have it permanently set up for a beer whenever you like I would strongly recommend finding an old bar fridge. Nursing nhome and hotels etc offload them cheap all the time (sometimes free if you know the right people).

 

[Tao]

Thanks for the replies. I might just treat it like a giant bottle until I get the hang of it (also a lot cheater, only $100 or so). I will have to do some more reading.

 

[buttersd70]

I have an old teprite that works well, I would guess give around 5-6 degrees in the glass on a summer day.

Problem isn't gas saturation. You can get the required volumes of CO2 at whatever temperature by adjusting the pressure. The problem is that kegs at amient require much higher pressure and if ambient changes lots over the course of the day/night cycle you could find yourself fiddling with th reg and never really getting a perfect pour.

I put in the time, effort (and kegs ) and have managed to reach a good compromise but I'm still going to convert a fridge for my kegs

( not a word butters, not a word! <_< )

Just a small word.....
Muckeys system works fine, for the most part.....but having spent many an afternoon up at his place, screwing around with the pressure due to the fluctation in ambient temperature, and rarely getting a perfect pour, I would steer away from this unless you have the patience of a saint.

 

[Rurik]

Thanks for the replies. I might just treat it like a giant bottle until I get the hang of it (also a lot cheater, only $100 or so). I will have to do some more reading.

You will still need gas and a regulator to dispence,

 

[quantocks]

pickup a cheapie kegerator on ebay, comes with tap/font, drip tray and the whole lot for around 400 bucks, including dual gage reg,

all you need is gas and keg