Temprite Vs Refrigerated Kegs

[Skipsta]

Hi all, another new member Skipsta here. Just starting my third brew now. 1 brew bottled, one just racked and the third laid down today. Haven't even tasted one yet, but as Big Kev says I'M EXCITED.

My questions is about the relative pros and cons of refrigerating your kegs against installing a temprite.

I'm lucky enough to have a mate in Melbourne who runs pubs and he has offered me an older (but still working) Temprite. I am building an outside (under patio) bar and was origianlly going with the fridge option, when this came up. The temprite would take up less space than a fridge, but I heard the temprite won't chill a beer as cold. Further, the beer in the keg when using a temprite would be at room temperature. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Would this allow the beer to continue to age (and thus improve). Is there the benefit with a refrigerated keg that the sediment would sit low to the bottom?

I'm wondering what you keggers out there prefer. I have been a member of a few other net forums, like fishing, and computer forums and the wealth of accumulated knowledge is worth it's weight in gold.

Cheers

Skipsta

 

[Wortgames]

Hi Skipsta, welcome to the brotherhood.

For my money, cold kegs are probably better, but a free temprite is not to be sneezed at either.

If you've got the space, cold kegs won't spoil as quickly, they will probably clear better and are easier to carbonate.

Having said that, I don't see any reason you couldn't do both - keep the kegs refigerated somewhere convenient, run lines to wherever you want your taps and use the temprite to give the beer a final chill just before it hits the tap. Best of both worlds.

:beer:

 

[Black Dog Brewery]

Hi Skipsta,

Welcome to the forum and brewing.

I am in the process of also building an outside bar also. Apparently (according to SWMBO), My bar doesnt take priority over the rest of the renovations and hence its not fully operational yet.
I have chosen to go with the Temprite option and have been using mine on and off over the past 2 years for the same Fridge location issues. Wortgames is correct about the gassing of the kegs and while it is easier when the kegs are cold I do managed to carbonate them successfully. With a Temprite you also have the option of leaving it turned off until you need / want a beer. It does take a little while to get cold but not usually an issue. As for it being not cold enough - I have never had an issue in fact Im looking at how to adjust it up slightly as I tend to not enjoy my beers as cold as they would normally be served at the local.
The one thing I am going to watch for when I fully install the outside Kitchen / Bar is that the Temprite does put out a fair bit of heat and that in a confirmed space the keg temp may be pushed up. I will be looking at a insulated box to store my kegs in.

Also do some reading on "Balancing your beer lines" when planning the location of the fridge / temprite compared to the taps.

Good luck with it.

Cheers BDB

 

[paul]

Most people here dont have access to a temprite at a good price so thats why we all run fridges or freezers. They are available everywhere and old ones cost little

How many cooling coils does a temprite have in it?

 

[Tony]

Hi Skipsta.

I have looked into this in detail in the last few months.

I just bought a house with a bar but i am having dificulty working out how to get a chest freezer in there to hold the kegs.

I looked into the temprite option but after talking to a few people i have deciced to persist on the freezer option and chill the kegs, not just the beer on the way to the tap.

a couple of the problems raised to me were the fact that hot beer will stail faster in the keg than if its cold. It is more prone to develop an infection than if its cold, the beer lines outside the fridge running to the temprite would need flushing regularly like the pubs do because of stale beer in the heat and in un-pasturised beer like our home brew........ yeast groath in the lines.

My old man has worked for a megaswill company for about 25 years and he knows his stuff.......... also prominent menbers of this forum with lots of kegging experience have turned their noses up at the idea.

hope this helps.

cheers

 

[ausdb]

I'm lucky enough to have a mate in Melbourne who runs pubs and he has offered me an older (but still working) Temprite. I am building an outside (under patio) bar and was origianlly going with the fridge option, when this came up. The temprite would take up less space than a fridge, but I heard the temprite won't chill a beer as cold. Further, the beer in the keg when using a temprite would be at room temperature. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Would this allow the beer to continue to age (and thus improve). Is there the benefit with a refrigerated keg that the sediment would sit low to the bottom?

Even in pubs with temprites the beer was cellared at less than ambient temp, the old fashioned temprites (flooded evap units with a F750 valve) were run off a fairly large refrig plant and held a lot of refrigerant and usually had a surge drum hooked up inline with them. Exactly what sort of "temprite" is he giving you?

 

[Skipsta]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Ausbd, I have no idea, before today I had never even heard of a a temprite. He said it was an older one, but serviceable.

The real benefits I thought of was a. It's free and b. it would take up less space than an entire fridge. I will be using a font, not a tap in a fridge, so if I could avoid the need for a fridge, my bar would be a hell of a lot easier to design.

My mate did mention that beers (commercial) should be drunk within a fortnight as they start to go stale, this is most likely due to the ambient tempearture as mentioned earlier in the post.

I don't want to rush my beer down before it goes stale, I want it to get better and mature in the keg.

Ah well, if it doesn't work out, I can always sell the temprite to fund the fridge.

Thanks again guys.

 

[fifteenbeerslater]

I agree with BDB. I have a temprite with four beer coils in ice cold water. Works extremely well in a tin shed that gets up to 40 degrees so i can't see a problem under a patio, just keep your kegs out of the sun. The best part is you can store as many kegs as you like next to your temprite and let them condition for a few months if they last that long :beerbang: . With a temprite you will have no trouble flooding your font as well.
Cheers 15BL

 

[ArnieW]

Hi Skipsta,

first I'd say go with it - that sounds like a great opportunity!

To add to those who've spoken of a temprite, I have one myself and I don't have a staling problem with my beers (I've had it for about 18 months now). I guess if you run a commercial brewery and you get pasteurised megaswill with no yeast then it can never get any better. I've not had bug problems either by keeping kegs at ambient temperature, even though it can get quite hot in my garage in the middle of summer.

In an ideal world we might all keep our kegs at serving temps, but it is really easy to use a temprite. Having done both, I don't think it at all necessary to keep kegs cold. If I were offered a large cool room though, I'd be happy to use it.

cheers, Arnie

 

[drsmurto]

A few temprite questions.

I am about to acquire a 3 tap font with a temprite setup from a now defunct community club. They wont spilt up the lot so i can just have the font. Could sell off the temprite but i am very interested in comments that beer can be stored in kegs at ambient temperature for more than a few weeks. Exactly how long have people done this for. How easy is it to get the refrigerant gas (which appears to still be a CFC?). Can normal 19L corny kegs be used?

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[mayzi]

as little as I know about it Dr, there are gasses out there that are replacing the CFC's with no conversions. I can't remember the name at the moment though....typical(its a letter number combo 'R'.. something I think). I think there's a few fridgies kicking around on here that would be able to tell you though I'm sure.

Used to work in a couple of pubs, can't see a problem with running the corny's, the beer just passes through some coils before it gets to the tap. Then again thats on the temprites i've seen and worked with, there's a big range out there.
well that info's probably about as useful as a kick in the cods.

 

[TerritoryBrew]

as little as I know about it Dr, there are gasses out there that are replacing the CFC's with no conversions. I can't remember the name at the moment though....typical(its a letter number combo 'R'.. something I think). I think there's a few fridgies kicking around on here that would be able to tell you though I'm sure.

Could be the following...

R22
R507
R404A; or
R134A - Very Doubtful though.

Information supplied by my little brother, the fridgie. He says it depends on how big and how many font you are running.

Cheers,

Reece

 

[mattieharding]

Could be the following...

R22
R507
R404A; or
R134A - Very Doubtful though.

Information supplied by my little brother, the fridgie. He says it depends on how big and how many font you are running.

Cheers,

Reece

Evening all,

Just to introduce myself im Matt only been on this forum for around a month now and im a fridge mechanic, and in the process of building a bar myself. I think im going to build a coolroom panel box and stick a lil evaporator inside it, make it big enough to fit 3 or 4 kegs and some lolly water too.

The gas a temprite will be on depends on the age of the temprite most of the newer ones are different colours depending of the gas. R22 ones are green and some 134A ones are beige. You cannot put a R22 temprite onto a 134A system and the reverse also due to the different oils used. R507 hardly used, 404A $$$$, R22 being phased out getting dearer by the month and 134 is ok at the moment.

Most temprites will hold around 4kg of liquid in them, but again depends on the unit itself.

if ya need any detailed info PM me

Cheers hope gives ya some info.

 

[drsmurto]

Its an R22 unit and is about 3-4 years old. Was fully working before the club was sold so no probs with compatibility. There are suppliers in Adelaide from the quick look i had.

Here's the pics of the unit plus the font.

Any comments from expert users of this system regarding how long the gas lasts, ease of use, cleaning issues etc would be greatly appreciated. My bar isnt wide enough to fit a fridge underneath it without having to lean over it to pour beer so this seems like the perfect alternative.

Cheers
DrSmurto

View attachment 12195
View attachment 12196

 

[drsmurto]

*BUMP*

Have been doing more research on the temprite unit. Its connected to an external compressor so i would need to buy an old fridge compressor to run the temprite.

So to all the fridgies on here - how easy will it be to source a working fridge compressor and set it up to run the temprite (pictured above)?

I am hoping to get this to work as it will save me so much space.

Any ideas/comments greatly appreciated.

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[Wortgames]

I think you'll need more than a fridge compressor Dr. S.

An external compressor is actually also an external condensor etc - in other words, where is all your heat going to go?

You would need to find a small, complete commercial compressor unit with a condensor built in (looks like a small car radiator, and probably has a fan too). These are used in commercial fridges and coolrooms etc.

Trouble is they make a bit of noise and need good ventilation, so you probably wouldn't want to mount it under your bar anyway, and if you've got to pay a fridgie to make a custom rig, install refrigerant lines etc it is going to be an expensive project.

I don't know what your solution is, but I think I'd be looking at modifying the bar to fit the fridge (or chest freezer) rather than the other way round.

Alternatively, build a jockey box (or an insulated cupboard) and get a chest freezer for the garage to keep you supplied with frozen milk jugs?

 

[mattieharding]

*BUMP*

Have been doing more research on the temprite unit. Its connected to an external compressor so i would need to buy an old fridge compressor to run the temprite.

So to all the fridgies on here - how easy will it be to source a working fridge compressor and set it up to run the temprite (pictured above)?

I am hoping to get this to work as it will save me so much space.

Any ideas/comments greatly appreciated.

Cheers
DrSmurto

You need a compressor thats actually sized big enough to handle the temprite. Most domestic fridges at in the capacity of watts, one to run a temprite would be in kilowatts.

Matt