Kegging without a kegerator?

Hey everyone, I'm thinking about jumping into kegging, and I find a good deal but won't have the ability to do a kegerator for a while.

My basement sits at 60...what kind of challenges am I looking at? I don't mind using frosty mugs and having sightly warm beer, and using ice buckets for parties.

Is carbonation going to be a pain? Is it worth it?

Carbing shouldn't be a problem. You would just have to use a carbonation chart and set your pressure according to ambient temp. Dispensing might be a bit of a problem though at upwards of 20 psi. You could vent the keg some to lower pressure when dispensing, but if you do that often you will be wasting a lot of CO2. If there is no hope of a fridge in the near future, you could probably get by with it for a while, but you will go through CO2 faster. Frosted mugs are definitely a good idea.

I didn't have a kegerator for the first 2 months of kegging. However, it was Nov so I left the kegs outside. It was around 40 degrees so perfect. As BBL said, just make sure you have the chart to know what pressure to put on your keg to get the proper co2 volumes you're looking for. Then, just adjust for serving when ready.

Thanks guys. Is there any reason I couldn't buy some extra long serving hoses to help with balance?

Also is there a quick "for dummies" explanation for why I wouldn't carb at 20ish for some time, then just drop to 12 or 15 for serving and just leave it like that for the rest of the time? I know my first few pours would be foamy but once the keg pressure comes down shouldn't I be good?

rifraf said:

Thanks guys. Is there any reason I couldn't buy some extra long serving hoses to help with balance?

Also is there a quick "for dummies" explanation for why I wouldn't carb at 20ish for some time, then just drop to 12 or 15 for serving and just leave it like that for the rest of the time? I know my first few pours would be foamy but once the keg pressure comes down shouldn't I be good?

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It will go flat over time if you do that.

I am going to just be the prick here I guess, but I am a cheap prick.

When I started kegging I wacthed CL list for about a month in a town of about 600k. After searching and searching I came across a kegerator that was new retail at walmart for 500 range, but it had been setting in a barn or a year unuse(125usd). So after cleaning that up I already had a couple Kegs that I bought off CL(old and needed everything 30usd) and had a tank off CL (2.5#30usd), i was into everything for under 200usd. I guess what I am trying to say if you are going to keg it is much easier than bottling, but you need everything. The easy way I have found is to make a WTB add for CL,it takes a while but you get what you need. Cheers

Yeah I've been surfing CL for a while. I've seen plenty but it's never less than 90% of new on the sales I manage to dig up. Personally, anything used that isn't at least <90% new I'll get new to know I take care of it the right way.

rifraf said:

Yeah I've been surfing CL for a while. I've seen plenty but it's never less than 90% of new on the sales I manage to dig up. Personally, anything used that isn't at least <90% new I'll get new to know I take care of it the right way.

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You could get it in pieces, get a setup from Beverage Factory from eBay $159 with shipping and then just keep an eye out for a fridge. Depending on the cost of the fridge you could be in it for less than $300.

Transamguy77 said:

You could get it in pieces, get a setup from Beverage Factory from eBay $159 with shipping and then just keep an eye out for a fridge. Depending on the cost of the fridge you could be in it for less than $300.

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That's basically what I'm doing.I can now afford to be patient on just the fridge, and if I stumble on great keg deals...more kegs!