Storing keezer in garage during winter

I currently have my keezer in the basement. I will be moving into a town house with no basement and no space to put it out in the open. My only option at this point would be the two car garage. We have Illinois winters here so my concern is will I be inoperable in the winter months as in the past it was indoors. Any suggestions from others who are in this predicament.

I live in Northern Colorado and have my converted side-by-side fridge kegerator in the garage. Winter temps have not been a problem.

So I could have it set at 45 on my Johnson digital controller in the winter while it's 15 outside?

I would think so. It shouldn't be that cold in the garage. Mine is not insulated or anything and it stays fairly warm. Even when 0°F outside, my garage does not get down to freezing.

The cooler temps in your garage shouldn't be a problem. It just means that your unit will cycle on and off less, which makes it more efficient in the winter. Now high temps, on the other hand, can be a problem with some units. With the increased work trying to keep things cold it can tax the compressor in extreme cases. That and the condenser can have a harder time cooling things down as good. Otherwise it's just a lot less efficient than if it were winter. Either way you should be fine if the temps aren't extreme at either end of the spectrum...

I grew up in IL, and I can tell you with certainty that I've seen fridges in a garage go well below freezing temps for weeks at a time. I've seen more than a few cans of soda inside fridges turn into slush. So personally I would definitely be a bit concerned about it. These guys living in CO and TX aren't quite familiar with what our winters are like! (Thankfully, I don't have to worry about these things any more )

Since you have an external temperature controller, I'd leave the keezer completely unplugged, and use your temp controller in reverse -- turning *on* when the temp drops below, say 35 degrees. Most of them can be set up to control heating as well as cooling. Hook it up to a heat element (I'd say "light bulb" but that could skunk beer in the lines) of some sort that will remain in the keezer to bring up ambient temps when it drops. This way you use all your current hardware, and only have to buy one additional piece, a tiny electric heater.

bwarbiany said:

These guys living in CO and TX aren't quite familiar with what our winters are like! .

Click to expand...

This is why I mentioned it would be ok if temps aren't extreme..
Obviously if they are extreme, that's another situation. In that case I'd say your recommedation to warm up the keezer is good advice.

bwarbiany said:

These guys living in CO and TX aren't quite familiar with what our winters are like!

Click to expand...

You're F'in kidding me, right?

LLBeanJ said:

You're F'in kidding me, right?

Click to expand...

No. The week before I moved to California was the week of Christmas 2000 in Chicago. That entire week, I don't think the outside temperature ever got above 15 degrees. Typical nighttime temps were < -10 deg. Unless you've got great insulation in a garage, your garage temps will be well below freezing. I'm not as familiar with Fort Collins, but I know that Denver is a lot more temperate than Chicago in the winter, and doesn't get as many sustained long-term frigid temperatures as we got.

Then I drove to CA, threw my ice scraper in the trash, and now laugh at people who still have to deal with it

bwarbiany said:

No. The week...........

Click to expand...

I think LLbeanJ is referring to the fact that you just said something so presumptuous as this...

"These guys living in CO and TX aren't quite familiar with what our winters are like!"

It kind of makes it sound like you think anyone living in these two states is clueless!

This could be taken the wrong way by some folks..

Not to mention, parts of CO get pretty cold...

Ran my keezer in my garage this last winter with no issues. Lagered and served with a Johnson analog controller. I will admit that this last winter was not polar by any measure.

I'm in the western suburbs of Detroit - not Chicago - so YMMV.

I made it through last winter in between Milwaukee and Madison. I have a basement under the garage so the floor may stay warmer. Get an indoor/outdoor thermometer so you can see the inside keezer temps. If it gets too cold go with a ceramic lizard heater. I just have a single stage Johnson control...figured I'd plug in a goose neck lamp with the heater in it if things get too frosty. That' my plan at least.

bwarbiany said:

The week before I moved to California was the week of Christmas 2000 in Chicago. That entire week, I don't think the outside temperature ever got above 15 degrees. Typical nighttime temps were < -10 deg. Unless you've got great insulation in a garage, your garage temps will be well below freezing. I'm not as familiar with Fort Collins, but I know that Denver is a lot more temperate than Chicago in the winter, and doesn't get as many sustained long-term frigid temperatures as we got.

Click to expand...

What you're describing sounds a lot like what we experience here. There's usually at least one stretch of 3-5 days each winter where overnight lows are in the neighborhood of -15° to -20° and daytime temps don't make it above 0°. My understanding is that the winters in Denver and Chicago are fairly similar as far as temps go, though we do get quite a bit more snowfall.

My original post was speaking from experience living in a cold winter climate doing exactly what the OP was inquiring about. I've lived in two townhomes, both with a non-insulated 2-car garage (the previous one was south facing, our current one is north facing, if that matters), for the past 4 winters. We have a spare fridge that has been running in the garage the whole time. Haven't had any problems with either below zero winter or 100°+ summer temps.

In my response to your post, I just found your comment humorous in that you implied that those of us in CO have no idea what cold winters are like. At 5000' above sea level and being in the shadow of the Rockies, it can get a little chilly here from time to time.

LLBeanJ said:

In my response to your post, I just found your comment humorous in that you implied that those of us in CO have no idea what cold winters are like. At 5000' above sea level and being in the shadow of the Rockies, it can get a little chilly here from time to time.

Click to expand...

No worries. I know CO actually has real winter! And BTW I get to head out your way on business a couple times a year -- CO is one of the places that I'd consider living if my wife would let us escape CA. However I've always known Denver to be somewhat more mild than Chicago (one of the reasons I'd consider living there actually - I don't want to EVER go back to Chicago winters). I looked it up:

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCO0105
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/60187

I was actually really surprised to see that the average lows in Dec & Jan were almost the same. But the average highs were >10 deg warmer in Denver, and up in the 45 deg range. 45 degrees in January in Chicago is shorts weather!

I do think the OP needs to be careful. Depending on the level of insulation and the duration of a cold snap, he could end up with unintentional eisbock! Besides, when you're living in sub-zero weather, adding a heating element to serve your beer at 40 deg rather than at 34 is probably rather nice

Add a heating element (assuming 2-stage controller). I use this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XDTWN2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Or, have a repeat of last winter

LLBeanJ said:

You're F'in kidding me, right?

Click to expand...

Are you f'in kidding him....lol. I lived in CO(front range and breck) and Chicago..... Front range winters are seriously mild in general, and especially compared to Chicago. You always get a relatively warm winter day every few days in CO. In Chicago I saw sub 0 temps for a week or more and that's fairly common. In the front range it was rare that you have sub freezing temps for more than a handful of days in a row, and the bitter cold that is the norm for Chicago is pretty rare, and always short lived.

In your area specifically you have all that cow **** and methane to keep you artificially warmer.

TyTanium said:

Add a heating element (assuming 2-stage controller). I use this: http://www.amazon.com/Lasko-MyHeat-Personal-Ceramic-Heater/dp/B003XDTWN2

Or, have a repeat of last winter

Click to expand...

+1 on the two stage controller.

Although you should be fine without it at most times. Up until I built my keeper my Keezer was my unheated garage in NW Wyoming or back porch in Utah no extra cooling needed. Some cold blowing nights in Utah would yield me beer slurpys. I would pull the kegs inside until it warmed up.

I had a temp controlled fermentation chamber in a room upstairs. We mostly lived in the basement as it was too drafty in the rest of the house. During one batch of fermenting it started out well then my temps crashed. I was stumped at how I could break all the rules of biology, chemistry and thermodynamics at once, when I realized the house was too damn cold, which I knew from first hand experience already.

I swapped out the controller for a 2 stage one I had around and added a halogen work light to the circuit and placed it in the ferm camber to keep it at the right temps. If the freezer gets warm the freezer turns on to cold the light turns on. I gave it a 3 degree range so the two did not fight it out for control.

For your sake I hope the garage is attached so you don't have to leave the house and trudge through a Chicago Blizzard to prove your love of beer.

TyTanium said:

Add a heating element (assuming 2-stage controller). I use this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XDTWN2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Or, have a repeat of last winter

Click to expand...

I have been thinking about something like this for my Ferm Chamber. Where do you locate the heater/how well does it circulate? Also, how hard is it to hook up to my JC a419?

I put it on the small shelf in my freezer. It has a small fan, so it circulates great. It's designed for a small room, so a small freezer is no problem for it. No idea on your controller though, sorry. I just plug it in to mine.

Also GFCI protection. Condensation & space heaters don't always mix well.

My guess is you may not need a second stage controller with the heater, since it has it's own thermostat. If it is hot the freezer runs and the heater runs when it is cold out. You would want to test the heater though to see how much of a temp range it allows. A dual stage controller will allow you to set very specific parameters on all aspects of temperatures range, run and rest times.

I have the blue Johnson digital one is that considered two stage? It's attached and in the middle unit with units on both sides.