Mini Frig vs. Freezer

I am new to homebrewing and would love to be able to keg my beer and cider instead of having to put everything in bottles. I've noticed in a couple of threads that people are using chest freezers instead of refigerators to store their beer. I have a mini-frig that I was thinking about using and buying a beer line with a plastic faucet head to be economical. Is there a benefit to using a freezer? I don't want to be too cheap and regret it later.
Thanks for the advice!

I use a freezer, have had good success with this, I use one of those temperature probes that goes into the chest and the controller is on the outside, works well. It does build up condensation on the inside so it has to be wiped out frequently. Once you open it up there is plenty of room for at least three kegs (could get in 4 if I put the co2 on the outside). Also then there is room for a box of 20 beers on the ledge inside. Mine is about a medium size chest freezer. Short cycling the refrigerator using the temperature controller does take life off the freezer.

As for the mini fridge, I will let others answer on that one

Good luck and let us know what you decide and how it works for you. My brother is thinking of going the mini-fridge route so would be interested to know

Odiwan Brewobi

bommarkm said:

I am new to homebrewing and would love to be able to keg my beer and cider instead of having to put everything in bottles. I've noticed in a couple of threads that people are using chest freezers instead of refigerators to store their beer. I have a mini-frig that I was thinking about using and buying a beer line with a plastic faucet head to be economical. Is there a benefit to using a freezer? I don't want to be too cheap and regret it later.
Thanks for the advice!

Click to expand...

I use both. The chest freezer is in the bar in the basement, hooked up to a 4-tap tower. It holds 4 kegs, CO2, and my DIY chiller. The 2 tap Haier kegerator (Holds 3 cornys) is at the GF's house.
The biggest benefit of a freezer over a mini fridge is capacity. If you only need to keep 2-3 kegs cold at a time a mini fridge can work great! And there's nothing wrong with using a cobra tap to serve beer.
Case in point - I bought a single tap Haier kegerator. It holds one 1/2bbl keg, or (3) 5 gallon ball lock cornys. I installed another shank in the tower to make it 2-taps. When I want to serve from a 3rd keg, I just pop a cobra tap on it and open the door when I want some of that keg.

But, if you want more than 3 cold kegs, you'll pretty much have to go to either a modified full size fridge, or a chest freezer.
The fridge is nice if floor space is an issue. It's also capable of holding serving temps without an external thermostat.
A chest freezer is nice because you are only limited by your budget. I've seen keezer builds here that can hold 14 kegs! But you have to add an external temperature controller so your beer doesn't freeze, and they take up more floor space.

In the end, it's all just personal preference.

This is the Haier, before I modified it from one Sanke/tap to two ball lock corny taps...

Thanks so much for the replies. I think I'll stick with the mini frig for now. As of right now I don't think I'll need more then 2 kegs cold at a time.

Hey, I've got the same kegerator pretty much. How much of a pain in the ass was it to add the second shank into the tower? Have any pointers?

I was thinking I had to buy a completely new tower to add another tap, this is great news.

deezy said:

Hey, I've got the same kegerator pretty much. How much of a pain in the ass was it to add the second shank into the tower? Have any pointers?

I was thinking I had to buy a completely new tower to add another tap, this is great news.

Click to expand...

It's cake.
I used a step drill to make another hole about 90 degrees off the first one. Installed another shank (Actually, I ordered 2 new stainless tower shanks from MicroMatic, about $20 each, and replaced the crap one that came with it). Plumbed it up, and re-installed the tower. It was a bit tight, because the tower is only about 2.5" in diameter - But it worked out just fine.

The cool part about the stock tower was that it had 8 screw holes and 4 screws at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. So since my shanks were 90 degrees apart, all I had to do was index the tower 45 degrees, using existing holes in the base, and screw holes in the top of the kegerator. Didn't have to drill new holes in the tower or the kegerator! And, if I had a mind to, I could still install a 3rd shank and faucet right in the middle, and lower (to clear the upper 2 shanks), and make it a 3-tap kegerator...