Beer ready to keg, but no kegerator. What are my options?

[Foosinho]

I've got a beer that should be ready to keg tomorrow (I will of course check gravity first - it's my first all-grain), and *hate* bottling, so I want to use the keg system I bought a few years ago before I took a hiatus from brewing.

But I have no way to chill a full keg.

SWMBO and I are talking about freezer options (I'm looking for something cheap on Craigslist, since this is going in a storage room in the basement all I care about is functionality, not aesthetics), but it might be a few weeks still until we get one in the house and set up.

So what can I do to enjoy the lawnmower beer before we're past prime lawnmower beer time?

My thinking was that I could keg and pressurize warm, and fill growlers (maybe with a cheap DIY bottle filler to keep foaming down / carbonation up) to toss in the fridge to chill prior to drinking.

Is that reasonable? Will warm (66-68 degrees - my basement is very solid temperature-wise) wheat beer pushed through warm lines have foaming problems?

Will a screw-top growler (which I have one or two of in storage) keep beer served this way drinkably carbonated? Or should I invest in one of the really nice expensive swing-top growlers the LHBS sells?

Anything I'm missing? Other approaches I should consider? While I'm hoping to get this kegerator business sorted out before I make my next batch, I don't want to wait to drink this beer!

 

[Yooper]

Dispensing warm carbonated beer into a growler will cause so much foaming as to render the beer flat when it's opened. This would NOT be a good option at all.

 

[khannon]

In addition to this, while I understand the draw of a craigslist find, if you are going to invest in the process of a kegerator or keezer, the refrigerator/freezer part is not the expensive part when you factor in the rest of the equipment and your time. Buying something new may last longer, and save you electricity that will probably save you $$ in the long run.
Just my thoughts,
Kevin

 

[Foosinho]

So... what options might I have? (Please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle"...)

I should mention, SWMBO actually wants me to buy a new freezer, or a scratch-and-dent still under warranty, while I'd rather spend less. More money to direct to other projects. EDIT: Hmm.

 

[55x11]

So... what options might I have? (Please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle"...)

I should mention, SWMBO actually wants me to buy a new freezer, or a scratch-and-dent still under warranty, while I'd rather spend less. More money to direct to other projects. EDIT: Hmm.

Your options as as I see them:
1) build (or buy) a keggerator. A freezer with temperature control will do, if it fits a keg - you can build a collar and build taps later.
2) keep the beer in the fermentor (or in a warm keg) until you build (or buy) a keggerator.

Keep in mind that if you have space for a freezer, it could be as little as $100 expense. Also you can build a collar in one night. Maybe 3 hours of work.

 

[oujens]

How long has the beer been in the primary? Do you think a week or two would give you enough time to find your freezer? Some people will keep their beer in primary a minimum of 3 weeks. If you want to get it carbing now I would just bottle it unless you think you can get a freezer in the next week or two. Might as well enjoy the beer when you want it. It would also be possible to naturally carbonate in the keg while you search for your freezer, but again if you don't know when you might be able to get one bottling might be your only option.

 

[oujens]

So... what options might I have? (Please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle"...)

I should mention, SWMBO actually wants me to buy a new freezer, or a scratch-and-dent still under warranty, while I'd rather spend less. More money to direct to other projects. EDIT: Hmm.

Its always great to spend less than retail for equipment, but if that option is on the table I would buy new or scratch and dent if you really want to avoid bottling. You hold onto that lady!

 

[khannon]

So... what options might I have? (Please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle" please don't say "bottle"...)

I should mention, SWMBO actually wants me to buy a new freezer, or a scratch-and-dent still under warranty, while I'd rather spend less. More money to direct to other projects. EDIT: Hmm.

There are smaller kegs that might fit inside your fridge? I was just saying that the amount of time I spent building my keezer, even if I saved a couple hundred bucks, if I had to redo the whole thing because I bought a freezer secondhand that conked out, I would be very sad.

 

[Jim311]

You could lightly carbonate it up at room temp. Then dispense into growlers as needed and chill. Better yet get a carbonation cap that screws onto a 2liter bottle and hit it with some more gas to bring back the carbonation you lost during the pour.

 

[NeoBrew]

You might think about chilling it 'kegger' style. Buy a cheap plastic garbage barrel and use ice to chill. If you have a good freezer you might be able to keep ahead of it with your own ice. If not, bags from the store would do the trick. An old blanket could provide a little extra insulation.

Not an ideal solution, but would be relatively cheap and would get cold beer down your gullet. ...desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

[TWAL]

Your options are pretty simple,either buy a freezer and controller and keg it or bottle it.
You want a magical option that doesn't exist.
The only other option you have is to keg,purge,pressurize and throw it in a fridge or cool stable place and let it condition while you sit around wishing you had a kegerator...
Costco has great deals on new chest freezers,I suggest you find someone w/ a membership.

 

[Foosinho]

So, I think I have a (new) plan (BTW, y'all are way more active tonight than I was expecting).

1) Check gravity. Keg if ready.
2) Have SWMBO start hunting for scratch-and-dent deals. If we get lucky, jump on something immediately and build a quick collar this weekend. (My existing tap is one of those picnic taps anyway; I hadn't even decided on whether I wanted a tower or to just stick taps in the collar yet.)
3) If no deal is immediately found, rig up the old college "keg in a bucket of ice". I think I can actually rig up some reasonable insulation with the resources I have at hand, and my basement is rock solid and cool temperature wise (fermentation never crept past 68 degrees F), so this may not be as terrible an approach as I originally thought. To be honest, this approach never really occurred to me, which is perhaps a sad indicator of how long ago my college days were. Or perhaps how much longer large quantities of beer take to disappear nowadays.

 

[Foosinho]

Costco has great deals on new chest freezers,I suggest you find someone w/ a membership.

Interesting. Their website (I had checked earlier) only shows a dinky 3.2 cf front-opening freezer. It's such a haul to actually get to either of the nearest Costcos that we rarely go on exploratory missions...

 

[oujens]

Just use the picnic tap for now and don't worry about the collar. I have a chest freezer and that is what my setup is. In the future I hope to upgrade to perlicks and build a keezer, but for now it works just fine. Make sure you build it the way you want it and don't rush it just to serve this beer.

 

[jplowe]

Keep in primary until you are ready. Short term solution

 

[treacheroustexan]

If you're using a picnic tap anyways don't rush a collar. My advice is go buy a freezer and temp controller or wait to keg until you have what you need.

 

[Hoppity]

Hit Craig's List for a small regular fridge and use a picnic tap. Buy meat on sale and freeze in your new bonus freezer area. It may pay for itself in food cost savings over time. You can turn it into a fermentation chamber in the future once you get a temp controller. Then you can plan your keezer to replace it and do it right without a "this beer" deadline.

 

[55x11]

You could lightly carbonate it up at room temp. Then dispense into growlers as needed and chill. Better yet get a carbonation cap that screws onto a 2liter bottle and hit it with some more gas to bring back the carbonation you lost during the pour.

I don't really understand this question, the growlers are like $20 a piece. Carb caps, are maybe $15 a piece.
CO2 tank - probably $70-100.
Garbage cans, bags of ice, it all adds up. Keg - probably $50 plus connectors, another what, $30?

Once you get ALL of that for your dispensing needs, and spend about, $200-$300, GET A FREAKING KEEZER!

It could be as simple/cheap as about $100 extra for small chest freezer that can hold 1-2 kegs and maybe $15 for temp control. No collar really needed if you are not super-motivated about connecting 4 planks of wood together with some screws/brackets, just use picnic taps until you get tired of those and build a collar.

Of course I would rather go multi-keg, larger freezer, something that can fit, I don't know, 3, 4, maybe 7-9 kegs (my case) for about $200-300. ($300 is what I paid, for a new freezer).

It's a long-term solution instead of throwing money away for sub-par, under-carbed, warm beer, or throwing bags of ice in a garbage can, literally.

Or, if money/space is an object, you can bottle. Nothing wrong with that, and it will save you a lot of money and a lot of space. But it will cost you time and effort.

 

[Johow]

My next batch of beer is going to be naturally carbed and bottled in 2.75 litre soda bottles. I just finished making a co2 dispenser for them. The reason I'm doing this is because I don't have room for a keggerator. I can pop a couple of these into my fridge and hook them up to my small co2 tank and pour with a picnic tap. I hope to use no more space in my fridge than a case of beer bottles might use. Almost 5 gallons of beer will fit in 6 2.75 or 3 litre bottle for about a buck each. Plus I'll have a small portable keg.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=585716
Scroll to the bottom for a look....

 

[Foosinho]

Johow - there's an innovative approach I've never heard of.

55x11 - I literally have everything but the freezer. Keg(s), CO2 bottle, regulator, lines, elcheapo tap, growlers. So, ice is cheap, should I have to go that route.

But, it turns out, there really are some good deals on chest freezers right now. For example, Home Depot has a 6.9 cf Magic Chef freezer on sale for $158, which is not a heck of a lot more than I was looking at spending on Craigslist for a used one. And according to the specs and layouts thread, I should be able to fit 3 kegs in there without a collar (and 6 with). That should be plenty big enough for my needs.

I think I'm going to call a few stores to see if I can find an open-box or scratch-and-dent deal this morning. I'll still need a temperature controller, but I can order one of those online and it'll be here by the time the beer is carbonated.

I appreciate the comments. At the very least, it convinced me to double down and look again for new freezer deals.

 

[mongoose33]

I don't know where you are in Ohio, but Menards has 7.2 CuFt freezers for $221.61 after the 11 percent rebate. That rebate may end today or tomorrow (I don't know), but when you're at the $220 level, that's pretty good for a new freezer w/ a new warranty.

http://www.menards.com/main/freezers/frigidaire-reg-7-2-cu-ft-chest-freezer/p-1444429867069.htm

 

[Island_Dan]

You obviously already have the keg so why not prime the batch and put it in the keg to batch carbonate? It will naturally carbonate and condition in the keg over the course of 2-3 weeks which gives you plenty of time to find or build a kegerator. Not everyone which kegs their beer, force carbonates it. Many people still prime and carbonate in the keg.

 

[Foosinho]

All:

I got my CO2 bottle filled, and bought a 7 cf freezer from Home Depot, today. I've not yet transferred the beer, as I was busy replacing the faucet in the master bath (with multiple trips to the hardware store for parts). And now it's time for tonight's Major League Soccer slate.

So, tomorrow is transfer and start carbonating, as well as buying an Inkbird for temperature control. By next weekend I should have chilled, carbed beer ready from my keezer.

Thanks! I guess I ended up going with a more traditional route, but the price ($160) at Home Depot was hard to beat.

 

[mongoose33]

All:

I got my CO2 bottle filled, and bought a 7 cf freezer from Home Depot, today. I've not yet transferred the beer, as I was busy replacing the faucet in the master bath (with multiple trips to the hardware store for parts). And now it's time for tonight's Major League Soccer slate.

So, tomorrow is transfer and start carbonating, as well as buying an Inkbird for temperature control. By next weekend I should have chilled, carbed beer ready from my keezer.

Thanks! I guess I ended up going with a more traditional route, but the price ($160) at Home Depot was hard to beat.

Before I had my keezer built, I kept my kegs in a refrigerator that will now become a fermentation chamber. I had the CO2 tank and regulator in there, and used a picnic tap to serve the beer.

As long as you have the Inkbird controlling temperature (it's what I use), you can cool the beer first and keep it cold as you carb it.

 

[55x11]

Johow - there's an innovative approach I've never heard of.

55x11 - I literally have everything but the freezer. Keg(s), CO2 bottle, regulator, lines, elcheapo tap, growlers. So, ice is cheap, should I have to go that route.

But, it turns out, there really are some good deals on chest freezers right now. For example, Home Depot has a 6.9 cf Magic Chef freezer on sale for $158, which is not a heck of a lot more than I was looking at spending on Craigslist for a used one. And according to the specs and layouts thread, I should be able to fit 3 kegs in there without a collar (and 6 with). That should be plenty big enough for my needs.

I think I'm going to call a few stores to see if I can find an open-box or scratch-and-dent deal this morning. I'll still need a temperature controller, but I can order one of those online and it'll be here by the time the beer is carbonated.

I appreciate the comments. At the very least, it convinced me to double down and look again for new freezer deals.

for that price point, I would go new (I see you already did). It will last longer and is cleaner/nicer inside. Also new appliances are much more energy efficient than the old ones, so it may pay for itself eventually.