Cheap Small Kegorator

[jchildress3]

I am trying to find the smallest most efficient kegorator design. i have not been able to find answers. i have a small area to put it and am tired of bottling. i am curious if it would work to coil 50' of stainless steel tubing into a fridge at 30 degrees. keeping the keg at room temp would that work to get my brew at a sufficient serving temperature. is it possible? or will i have to explore other options.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

The simple answer to the question is a small chest freezer. They are significantly more energy (and space) efficient than the competition if you only want to do one ball lock keg.

Bob

 

[jchildress3]

ok so the coil would not be very efficent?

 

[krenshaw]

can you give more example of small and cheap? that's all relative to each of us.. i agree the freezer/keezer approach would probably be your best bet, especially on the cheap side.. you can just use picnic taps instead of going through the process of building a collar at least in the short term

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

Ok, the whole story.

Keeping the keg at room temperature isn't going to be very good for the beer. Unless you drink a *lot* of beer, the keg likely will go bad before you are done with it.

At least around here, a small chest freezer is a sub $50 item on Craig's List. A commercial keg of beer is in the $30 to $100 range depending on size and type. If you save half of a $100 keg, that pays for the freezer.

If you go with the tubing, you will need to have it in a bucket of water in the fridge. Air to tube isn't a real good way to transfer heat. Unless it's large diameter tube, you will have a tough time pushing beer through 50' of it.

Full cost for something simple:

CO2 tank - need that either way, so it's "free"
CO2 regulator - same "free"
faucet (party tap) - same "free"
Don't need stainless tube - might save some money
Modify the internal controller on the freezer (there's a thread) - free
Maybe build a collar with $10 in 2x4's.

No much increase in cost beyond the freezer it's self.

Bob

 

[jchildress3]

i was hoping to have multiple kegs. i dont want to waste money getting a small kegorator for a single tap. my goal is 4 taps. so im attempting to find something that utilizes the least spake possible. my thought was that i can have 4 50' coils in a smaller fridge and just set my kegs on the outside. and im hoping it will be more of a long term solution as well. im basing this off of a jockey box idea. but i also read that your kegs need to be around 55 degrees for the jockey box to work. thinking that a standard cooler dosnt get around 30 degrees. so if the kegs are at room temp instead of 55 degrees. and the refridgerator is at 30 degrees will the results be cool enough for a perminate jockey box? dose that make sence?

But i also know that ice actually touching the coils has a lot to do with cooling the beer to the sufficent temperature. so im just curious if my idea would work.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

I'm guessing you are getting commercial kegs.

Commercial beer in kegs is not pasturized. It needs to stay below about 45F to keep from going bad quickly. Most places talk about being able to keep it for 120 days past date of manufacture if you store it below 38F.

Bob

 

[jchildress3]

oh wow i wasnt even thinking about keeping the keg refridgerated keeping it from going bad. my mistake. thank you guys for the help on this issue. obviously i did not think through the idea too well. but i appreciate the responces

 

[carlisle_bob]

oh wow i wasnt even thinking about keeping the keg refridgerated keeping it from going bad. my mistake. thank you guys for the help on this issue. obviously i did not think through the idea too well. but i appreciate the responces

Hi

If you go with a cheap freezer, the first load of beer will still cost as much or more as the stuff to store it...

Bob

 

[jchildress3]

yeah i just dont have the room for a chest freezer. i can get an upright but one that is small enough to fit in my apt. and look decent is more on the expensive side. so ill just have to keep bottling for awhile lol

 

[TBaGZ]

Hmm.... I am new into this brewing thing, but do a search for "room temp keg". Seems people store kegs of homebrew at room temp all the time. I think the only issue you would have is carbing them warm unless you are going to prime them, and let them carb/condition naturally like a bottle. OR I could really just not know what I am talking about.

I honestly would think you will need almost the same amount of space to store 4 50' coils as you would to store 4 cornys.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hmm.... I am new into this brewing thing, but do a search for "room temp keg". Seems people store kegs of homebrew at room temp all the time. I think the only issue you would have is carbing them warm unless you are going to prime them, and let them carb/condition naturally like a bottle. OR I could really just not know what I am talking about.

I honestly would think you will need almost the same amount of space to store 4 50' coils as you would to store 4 cornys.

Hi

Some beers do quite well stored close to room temperature. In fact they get better when you do store them that way. If your room stays around 55 to 65F you can store a number of different ales. If it gets up to the 80 to 95F range - you will have to be pretty selective.

Once you get over 45F with most "normal" commercialy available beers - not so much. The people who make them generaly want them stored down around 38 or so.

How not so much, depends on how picky you are. I know people who drink some pretty skunky beers. I happen to have some sitting in the fridge right now for "special" guests . It's not in a keg, even commercial bottles aren't perfect. There are a lot of varibles.

There's going to be a lot of money in the beer in multiple kegs. Loosing a keg or two will not be cheap.

Bob

Bob

 

[jchildress3]

is there a counter top 2.5 gallon kegorator out there? i cant find it at all

 

[IrregularPulse]

Price out material for 4 50' SS coils and "small" fridge big enough to house them all in a water bath.
Now price a small chest freezer.

A quick look shows 25' being ~$30. There's $120 for your tubing. Add your small fridge for $100. Might as well just a chest freezer and keep it more compact.

 

[carlisle_bob]

is there a counter top 2.5 gallon kegorator out there? i cant find it at all

Hi

There are mini-keg setups. Most of what you see for them are European brands.

http://www.bevmo.com/Shop/ProductDe...dium=cpc&utm_campaign=froogle&ProductID=20775

is a typical keg. That's a lot smaller than 2.5 gallons.

Bob

 

[jchildress3]

yeah i know there are party keg dispensers and what not. i just don't like party kegs so im curious if there is a ball lock 2.5 gallon keg option that is more counter top options.

 

[boredstate]

Maybe use a table top 6 or 8 bottle wine cellar with a 2.5 gal keg, picnic tap & portable co2 keg charger? You could probably retrofit a tower on it, too....