How long to chill a keg?

[Cpt_Kirks]

Assuming a 72*F 5 gallon keg full of beer, how long will it take to bring it down to 40*F?

First, how long after the keg is placed in a 40*F kegeraror/refrigerator?

Second, how long if the bottom half of the keg is placed in ice?

Is there a formula for calculating this?

 

[JKoravos]

How long do you have?

 

[Boodlemania]

I find it takes a good 3 days for my kegs to get cold/stabile after putting in the fridge.

 

[Fantastical]

A day usually works for me. Give it a swirl every once in a while to increase surface area and temperature conductivity.

As for ic I wouldn't know. Anytime I've put my kegs on ice I've had them in a fridge before hand. My guess, depending on the temperature that day, is that the ice will melt before the beer gets sufficiently cold. I suppose it depends on the amount of ice as well.

 

[scottland]

Depends on the fridge temp. My keezer is set at 34. It brings a keg down to about 40 in roughly 36-48 hours.

An ice bath would definitely speed up the process.

 

[heferly]

my kegerator tends to run pretty much non-stop for a day and a couple hours after loading in a new keg...probably not thoroughly cold, but still carbs up after 2 days, going in the kegerator warm, at 30 psi