can I keg & lager in one fridge?

The wife and I have been trying to decide what we want to do for beer storage and dispersal We figured if we're going to have a beer fridge, we might as well get a new kitchen fridge since ours is a pretty basic 15 cubic foot top freezer model, with no ice maker. So we now have (soon) a 26 cubic foot side by side with our old fridge soon to become a beer fridge.

I was leaning towards a tap-a-draft system, since a mini fridge kegerator setup is just too expensive right now and the only place we have room for a full size kegerator is in the basement. Neither of us have any desire to have to run to the basement for a beer. However, after lugging around appliances, we've decided that we'd rather stick the fridge in the garage, right outside the door off the kitchen, just to avoid having to try and carry it downstairs. This would be not terribly inconvenient to hold kegs...

This second fridge as going to be used for bottle storage and lagering however. The question is, can I get away with a single upright fridge for lagering and keg storage? I figure you can fit at least 4 kegs + CO2 in such a fridge right? Could I then have 3 kegs on tap and a 4th lagering a beer in the keg? With most beers lagering at ~40 degrees or so, it should work out ok with serving I would think.

I'm pretty sure all this will work but I'd love to hear from someone doing something similar so I can make sure there aren't any headaches to look forward to.

Sounds like a plan to me!

I thought that for lagering, you needed a couple of weeks at 45-50, a rest, then a gradual drop to the mid to high 30's? Am I mistaken?

rdwj said:

I thought that for lagering, you needed a couple of weeks at 45-50, a rest, then a gradual drop to the mid to high 30's? Am I mistaken?

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Yeah... But given the space maybe I can deal with slightly warmer keg beer for a few weeks...

debtman7 said:

Yeah... But given the space maybe I can deal with slightly warmer keg beer for a few weeks...

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I'd be interested in knowing how it works for ya. I've got a similar setup and SWMBO is starting to mention that one of us needs to move out of our basement fridge and into a new one. Once I gain some room, one-fridge lagering might work for me too.

I'm doing it! I am doing primary fermentation in a water/ice bath. Once I rack to secondary, i am going to put the carboy in my fridge at 42 degrees to lager for 4 weeks or so.

I think that it will work fine.