Temperature in Kegerator

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Dave258

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What temp do you guys (and gals) keep you kegerator at? I had a problem over the weekend and had no heat in my house Saturday night into Sunday morning (during a snow storm) and it seemed to have thrown everything off.
One of my kegs the one in the back near the chill plate sounded a bit frozen. I opend the kegerator and let things thaw out, I need this beer carbed for christams, and now can't get the damn thing to regulate.
I also just noticed that at the bottom of the keggerator it is much colder(below freezing) then the top at 38* I should have known that, you learn in second grade that heat rises...
Do you monitor the temp at the bottom, or the top? Is 38* too cold, or I guess is it a matter of preference? Is it ok to leave the beer out to defrost? It was not frozen solid, just sounded a bit slussy(I did not want to open the keg). I only left it out for about 20 mins.
Thanks
 
I don't think its a problem to partially freeze, although you'll obviously want to thaw it and wait a bit before drinking. I keep mine colder than that. Around 36 degrees and I have a fan that keeps the air circulated. I do it because I use room temperature glasses and that warms it up a bit. Also, because I have so many different styles, its easier to keep it colder and let the stouts warm up, then drink the kolsch warm.
 
I keep mine around 36 as well, and I also have a fan that keeps the air moving (well, sucks it off the bottom and directs it to the tower via a hose). My probe for the temp controller is near the bottom of the kegerator.
 
I struggled with mine for awhile when I first fired it up. Three real issues. One, I had no circulation (fan), two, I kept opening it too much, and three, I was monitoring the temp in the middle with the Ranco probe, which meant I was guessing what the very bottom temp was. Ended up freezing a set of kegs at one point, and dealing with an over-abundance of foam. While others may do anyone or all of those things, I found that doing the following has helped immensely:

1. I added a PC fan to the bottom that blows the coldest air from the very bottom upward. It runs continuous, because I wasn't having much luck having a different fan that I tried first turn on only with the Ranco.... just didn't end up running very often.

2. I moved the probe to the bottom. Now I know what the coldest temp is, and that way I can ensure it doesn't freeze. I set the temp to 32 deg F with a +4 degree range before the freezer cycles on.

3. I bought a cheap indoor/outdoor thermometer for $8 at Menards. Mounted the base station on the back inside of the collar up top and the remote sensor on the bottom. Now reads about 41 at the top and 32 at the bottom when I first open it and read quickly.

4. Leave it alone.

Doing all of the above, especially avoiding opening it every five minutes just to look at the goodies inside has resulted in flawless pours ever since.... and the beer is a frosty cold 38 in the glass.... mmmmm.
 
I monitor and regulate the temp of the keg(s); I have a temp probe taped to the side of the keg between keg and some foam. Doing this I can keep the temp of the beer at 40F +/- 1 degree F.
 
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