Kegerator or Chest Freezer: that is the question.

[Jablestein]

I imagine that this is sort of a "personal preference" with a hint of "budget" thrown in, but I've been homebrewing for about two years now and I'm looking to make the jump into Kegging my beer. The major decision I'm trying to make right now is whether I go grab a Kegerator or a Chest Freezer as a means of storing my delicious cold brew.

I'm a bit torn at the moment. When I look and see all the awesome Kegs in the "Show us your Kegerator" thread, it makes me really want one! You guys have some sweet setups! However, these seem to get pretty expensive, pretty quickly. I've considered maybe grabbing one of the cheaper Danby models from Costco, but I'm slightly terrified by some of the reviews I've read. It seems like if I want to get a quality Kegerator I'm going to shell out $600+ easily.

Which has me thinking about the more economical approach of a Chest Freezer + Temp Regulator. There seem to be a wealth of quality chest freezer options in the $200-$300 range. They might not look as sweet as a Kegerator but they get the job done. They also seem a bit better from a functionality standpoint as it would give me some room to store multiple kegs, maybe even lager a beer and misc stuff I want to keep cold (yeast, hops, etc). It also gives me the option of doing a Kegerator conversion with taps/towers in the future.

So I figured I'd ask the audience. Which way did you go and why?

 

[disney7]

I started out with a Keezer. I built a nice well insulated collar and added desiccant and a fan to circulate air. Made sure it was sealed up well. Still couldn't keep all of the condensation out of it. When I started seeing mold growing under the kegs I gave up, got an upright fridge from Craigslist, and converted it to a kegerator. I love the kegerator. It stays dry as a bone.

The fan/dessicant worked ok in the non-humid months, but during the summer it was impossible to keep dry. Chest freezers just aren't designed to run at temps above freezing. Mine was stored in my attached garage. You could have better luck if its in a conditioned space in the house.

 

[Jablestein]

I started out with a Keezer. I built a nice well insulated collar and added desiccant and a fan to circulate air. Made sure it was sealed up well. Still couldn't keep all of the condensation out of it. When I started seeing mold growing under the kegs I gave up, got an upright fridge from Craigslist, and converted it to a kegerator. I love the kegerator. It stays dry as a bone.

The fan/dessicant worked ok in the non-humid months, but during the summer it was impossible to keep dry. Chest freezers just aren't designed to run at temps above freezing. Mine was stored in my attached garage. You could have better luck if its in a conditioned space in the house.

I think starting i'd leave it be and wait a bit before I ended up doing a full conversion to a keezer with collar. It would most likely be in my basement utility room, so well air conditioned.

 

[vbwolpert]

I have been running a keezer for 2 years now with no collar. Just find one that is tall enough to hold kegs with fittings. My co2 is outside the keezer. I put dual 3 tap towers on the lid and everything works great limited condensation that i control with a fan works great. Also have a kegerator in the garage not as nice.

 

[Cyclman]

Upright freezer you can put kegs on the bottom and still have shelves for bottles. Some people have finished their chest freezers up to look super nice.

Kegerators seem like a rip off to me, unless you find a used one cheap.