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10-01-2009, 10:39 PM
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#1
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 66
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Underground Aging
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I need a place to bulk age kegs but I don't have room to build a cold room. I also don't have a basement or celler. What if I sunk a couple 50 gal barrels into my yard. How deep would I have to go to keep a constant temp year round? I live in the NW so weather is pretty mild most the year and my property is pretty sandy so It would not be much work to put them in the ground. Is this a stupid Idea?
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10-01-2009, 10:47 PM
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#2
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Paris, France
Posts: 124
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For ground source heat pumps which are looking for that "year round stable temperature", the general figure is about 6-feet. It varies by what part of the country you're in and could be as deep as 9-10 feet. Pacific NW you're probably okay with 6-feet I would say. I can't say this sounds like a great idea (to me). I just trying to think of the logistics and such. You don't have a place where maybe you could build something into a hill? What about leasing some property (or a building) that meets your criteria? I guess I would rather just store them at "room" temperature if it were me.
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10-01-2009, 10:51 PM
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#3
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 66
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ya 6 feet is a little to deep. I do have a hill side, but how far back into the hill would I have to go? I was hoping that if I got the top of the drum a foot from the surface it might work?
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10-01-2009, 11:07 PM
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#4
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Paris, France
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http://www.geo4va.vt.edu/A1/A1.htm Here is a map of underground temps around the country. According to this, 6-feet is going to get you a +/- 10 degree spread through the seasons. Depending on soil conditions, between 20-28 feet will keep you constant year round. As can be seen in this article, even trench-type ground source systems buried at 10-feet have temp swings.
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10-02-2009, 12:03 AM
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#5
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 66
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That was a great link! That pretty much answered all my questions. I guess I'll scrap that idea.
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10-02-2009, 01:51 AM
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#6
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Vendor
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Allen TX
Posts: 1,799
Liked 25 Times on 24 Posts Likes Given: 1
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It might be worthwhile. Make a test hole and measure the temp.
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10-02-2009, 02:56 AM
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#7
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 2,511
Liked 24 Times on 24 Posts Likes Given: 3
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I love this forum. You folks have the most off-the-wall ideas! 
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10-02-2009, 03:07 AM
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#8
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10th-Level Beer Nerd
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Location: Adams, MA
Posts: 19,853
Liked 239 Times on 190 Posts Likes Given: 53
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Balls-out, dude, go balls-out.
Build yourself a fallout shelter.

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10-02-2009, 04:05 AM
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#9
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Washington
Posts: 151
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When you say PNW, there's a lot of variation in what that means. Seattle? Yakima? Bellingham? Portland?
Depending on where you live, you might be able to swing it. Ten or twenty degrees seasonal variation may not be a killer if it's 40-60 degrees, and depending on your soil type you might be able to keep daily swings down to a few degrees if the top is buried 2 feet.
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10-02-2009, 09:37 AM
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#10
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Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Paris, France
Posts: 124
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http://www.bomb-shelter.net
 For the truly paranoid, you can get yourself some really, really fancy bomb shelters. I am sure that you could store hundreds of kegs underground in this thing! And, your beer would be safe from nuclear bombs, tornadoes, hurricanes, theft and many other natural disasters. They are pricey, but you have to ask yourself how important is your beer.
Last edited by 2-0turbo; 10-02-2009 at 09:39 AM.
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