How cold should a kegerator be?

[sablesurfer]

Hello,
I am just wrapping up a kegorator build, and I will have to work around the broken parts of the fridge I pulled apart. It seems that the fridge parts have a broken temp sensor, as none of the settings ever turn off. I tested that the new box is getting cold with a cup of water and thermometer.

(The test accidentally had a positive result when I left the cup in there overnight....and it was frozen solid next day.)

Sooo....the condenser is working, the new box is holding temps, it is just the sensor now.

I have my regular form of temp control, but these boxes only go to a low of 44F. To me that is great/fine for serving beer. No idea why I would want a beer in the 30's.

But...what about lagering? I am guessing that 40'sF should be ok, but a lot of articles mention colder.

So what is a good middle of the road temp for a kegorator that will also be my lagering area?

 

[sablesurfer]

Fyi - these are my temp controllers. They are very easy to extend, recalibrate and work great on my fermentation chambers and controlling a space heater in a small room when my fermentor is full. (Also they are a smaller footprint and nicer looking than the Johnson controllers.)

 

[Pancoastbrewing]

Hello,
I am just wrapping up a kegorator build, and I will have to work around the broken parts of the fridge I pulled apart. It seems that the fridge parts have a broken temp sensor, as none of the settings ever turn off. I tested that the new box is getting cold with a cup of water and thermometer.

(The test accidentally had a positive result when I left the cup in there overnight....and it was frozen solid next day.)

Sooo....the condenser is working, the new box is holding temps, it is just the sensor now.

I have my regular form of temp control, but these boxes only go to a low of 44F. To me that is great/fine for serving beer. No idea why I would want a beer in the 30's.

But...what about lagering? I am guessing that 40'sF should be ok, but a lot of articles mention colder.

So what is a good middle of the road temp for a kegorator that will also be my lagering area?

They say the aim of lagering should be as close to freezing as possible. Of course, this means your lagering period will be longer (about two months or so). I always set my Johnson Controls external temp controller at 40 and finish lagering at about 35 days (completely arbitrary period, you can go longer or as short as a month). It's pretty much up to you length of time wise, although it never hurts to go longer. I would try to get it at least as close to 40F as possible. The idea is to really settle out all the floaties and let the remaining yeast smooth out the flavor. They are obviously going to be more active at higher temps. Keep in mind, setting the temp controller at 40 means most of the time the fridge temp will be below 40, so you should be fine with what you have now since you've already gone through the trouble of building the fridge.

 

[blizz81]

Is there...is there a probe on those?


For anecdotal experience sake re: serving beer, I find that a lot of craft beer bars serve their beers far too cold. When I recently got into kegging, I was happy to have the control to avoid this.


For me, I've found a probe bungee'd to the bottom of a keg with my Ranco set at 40*F is good, currently. I started a few degrees higher and have played with having the probe measure ambient air. Once it hits a room temp glass, not too cold for an imperial stout, not too warm for an IPA.


I'd think you'd probably be ok if you set it to lager at 44*F. May let it sit a bit longer. Would it be optimal? Perhaps not. An STC-1000 can be had for cheap to get you down further if you don't mind a bit of wiring. Keep in mind of course that if you do vary temp for lagering vs. normal serving, you'll have some carbonation difference. If I was lagering in mine, I'd be happy with the 40*F for that as well.

 

[sablesurfer]

Keep in mind, setting the temp controller at 40 means most of the time the fridge temp will be below 40, so you should be fine with what you have now since you've already gone through the trouble of building the fridge.

I actually didn't close of the wire insert place completely yet. Didn't want to trust the used surplus fridge totally. So I can get a temp probe in there, I could build out an SC1000 plug, but I like these because I don't have to...

Yeah, it's the lagering I am wondering about, as that was the main driver to finally build this out.

 

[sablesurfer]

Is there...is there a probe on those?

A short one, it is made for room temps, so I have to open it up and extend the wiring. The controller can then be recalibrated for the extra resistance of longer wires, which is cool.

 

[Pancoastbrewing]

I actually didn't close of the wire insert place completely yet. Didn't want to trust the used surplus fridge totally. So I can get a temp probe in there, I could build out an SC1000 plug, but I like these because I don't have to...

Yeah, it's the lagering I am wondering about, as that was the main driver to finally build this out.

As far as I know (and I'm completely an amateur), lagering temps and certainly length of time are more a matter of tradition than anything else. Obviously you wouldn't want it at 50 degrees for one week, but I don't think many people take it much further than 6-8 weeks around that mid 30s-low 40s range. I just usually get bored of waiting for it to be drinkable (cardinal sin, I know), but I'm also not selling it or entering it into a competition so another week longer or a few degrees colder wouldn't make a huge difference to me.