Serving from a keg on its side

[smadaus]

I am fairly new to home brewing and am in the process of switching over to all grain. I'd really like to do another batch but I am really regretting cleaning and sanitizing all of these bottles. I am looking into kegging and I have an idea of what I want to do but, I am not sure it will work. So my question is, can you lay a 5 gallon corney keg on its side to serve out of? If I would get a system to lay it down in my frig and tap it while its on its side then I could make it work for me. I have talked to a couple of people and they said it wouldn't work but didn't have a reason they just said they heard that it wouldn't work. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks.

 

[Bellybuster]

depends on the keg, some have a dip tube that goes to a indent at the side but most have a dip tube to the centre. It certainly wouldn't be ideal but it could possibly work with the kegs with the bottom/side dip tube. I can't imagine a reason to do so though.
You have a fridge that could fit a corny on its side??????

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

It could be made to work. The pickup tube would have to be modified as it currently draws from the bottom center of the keg.
How would you rate your tube bending skills is the question

 

[Iseneye]

There are issues but not insurmountable. First question is why can't you stand it normally? I am guessing that you're trying to squeeze it into your household fridge with food in it? You also have to think about the gas bottle and regulator.

If you can't get it upright and you're new to all grain I suggest you stick to bottling. There are advantages to bottling where you can have more than one beer available at a time. If you can only squeeze the one keg in somewhere you'll be stuck with that until it's empty.

 

[smadaus]

I was trying to save time by saying the refrigerator but I am actually looking to modify a 120qt Coleman cooler so the keg can lay down in there and drill a hole for a tap. The reason I want to do this is because in the winter I would like to keep the keg outside and it will freeze if it's not in the cooler. Also some people said that laying a keg on its side could cause you to over gas it due to the increased surface area of gas on the beer. I don't know how accurate that is but has anyone else experienced this?

 

[gnef]

I don't mean any offense, but my personal opinion is that if you can't get all the support equipment needed for kegging, you should stick to bottling.

A cooler kegerator is barely a half measure with the way you are describing it. A jockey box would be one way, but only for a portable temporary setup.

To make kegging less stressful, and to eliminate as many issues as possible, it is best to get a dedicated fridge, full sized CO2 tank, dual gauge regulator, and all necessary serving hardware.

My personally recommendation is for you to save and buy the parts as you can, and then once you have everything that you need, to go ahead and start kegging then, and keep bottling until then.

 

[kh54s10]

Another thought. A cooler left out in the winter will not keep the beer from freezing if the temperature gets low enough. They are not insulated that well.

Look for a chest freezer on craigslist or your local paper. You will need a temperature controller. It will not cost that much more than trying to modify a keg and a cooler.

 

[smadaus]

I would have no problem affording the right setup, that is not the question. As I said I am not using my refrigerator, I am trying to convert a Coleman cooler because it is portable and is somewhat compact. I will be bottling for most of my beer but I go on vaca in the winter and would like to take a new brew with me in a keg. Also I have left bottled beer in a cooler for about a week in single digit temperatures without it freezing, I am not sure how different this is from a keg but I would imagine that it would be roughly the same. I have also thought about wrapping the tap in an insulated blanket or something to prevent that from freezing over. Definitely not a perfect setup but innovative at the least and I really appreciate the feed back.

 

[Gavin C]

Question on sideways storage and serving from a keg

This is a possible solution but will pose clarity issues owing to the unstable sediment in the keg. It should work. (I think)

Regular and Horizontal orientations.

 

[cannman]

The solution is to keep a small piece (1 foot) of plastic tubing with a keg connection barb inserted for weight attached to the dip tube. You may need to saw of a portion of the dip tube to allow for clearance. Another idea is to use the same plastic tubing, but replace the dip tube with a co2 tube post, and use a longer piece of tube.


Tube tube tube!

 

[Bellybuster]

120 qt colemans can stand on end

 

[Yesfan]

I would have no problem affording the right setup, that is not the question. As I said I am not using my refrigerator, I am trying to convert a Coleman cooler because it is portable and is somewhat compact. I will be bottling for most of my beer but I go on vaca in the winter and would like to take a new brew with me in a keg. Also I have left bottled beer in a cooler for about a week in single digit temperatures without it freezing, I am not sure how different this is from a keg but I would imagine that it would be roughly the same. I have also thought about wrapping the tap in an insulated blanket or something to prevent that from freezing over. Definitely not a perfect setup but innovative at the least and I really appreciate the feed back.

If money is no issue, then I think your best option is getting a chest freezer and a temp controller. For beer on the go, it's hard to beat a simple growler.

If you're willing to put the time into making a keg setup work with the keg on its side, then why not just put that energy into something else like a DIY temp controller. Then all you got to do is hook it up to your used freezer you bought on the cheap and the average amber glass growler will only run you a few bucks.

 

[rawlus]

There are lots of portable kegerator DIY threads in the DIY section. Is this is just for travel and somewhat a novelty, suggest using 3gal kegs instead of the 5 gal and making up a rolling cooler that will hold 2 kegs with taps and a paintball Co2 bottle.

Also be advised, ice cold temps take a lot of aroma and flavor out of many beers....

 

[Hoppity]

Curious project. Gavin's drawing makes it look feasible. Standing the cooler on end also seems feasible, as suggested by BellyBuster. It seems like a high effort, high maintenance project when compared to the traditional keezer in the basement/garage.

Do you really want to check the back porch daily during a cold snap to make sure your lines aren't frozen? The serving lines will freeze before a bottle of beer will in that cooler, and the keg will freeze last. Way too much babysitting, IMHO, almost like a reverse swamp cooler.

 

[Balloonknot]

This is a possible solution but will pose clarity issues owing to the unstable sediment in the keg. It should work. (I think)

Regular and Horizontal orientations.

thats a good idea, but as you said. There will be sediment almost every pull. Unless you filter the beer into a clean keg. i can also see you losing more beer that will be trapped as dead volume. The draw tube pulling from the bottome center of the keg may leave behind a few ounces at empty. This setup will probably leave behind a half gallon. You could as others have said modify your tube to pull from the bottom.

 

[Gavin C]

thats a good idea, but as you said. There will be sediment almost every pull. Unless you filter the beer into a clean keg. i can also see you losing more beer that will be trapped as dead volume. The draw tube pulling from the bottome center of the keg may leave behind a few ounces at empty. This setup will probably leave behind a half gallon. You could as others have said modify your tube to pull from the bottom.

I 100% agree with everything you wrote.

It's not the best solution by any means. The best soultion is not to serve the keg on it's side.

The keg could be angled a little bit to reduce the dead-space and draw off the sediment or a second longer diptube cut and angled to draw from the side (new base of the keg). I don't believe there is a good way to do it. Too much work for a problem with a much easier solution.

 

[jwelch1103]

With pin lock cornies, this can definitely be done but there probably will be clarity issues with your beer.
First time I dry hopped in a keg some of the hops pellets leaked and clogged up the liquid out pickup tube when I tapped it. I was at a beach party when it happened and I ended up swapping the beer and co2 lines going to the keg disconnects, setting the keg on its side and we finished that keg that night.
Also, I seem to remember reading here someone made, making, or going to make a kegerator with either a refrigerator or an upright freezer and setting the kegs on their side.
I can't speak to whether this would work with ball lock corny kegs.

 

[Trollheim]

It really depends on how honest you are being with us. Based on the last few threads, if you primarily plan on bottling expect for the winter trip I would just advise you build or purchase a cooler jockey box and bring the keg without you, hooked up to the box vertically outside of it. This would allow you to keg and store your fermented beer standing up at home without a cooler or anything. When the time comes, simply fill your cooler with ice, hook up the keg and co2 and dispense cold beer.

If you actually intend to keg and dispense at home a fridge or keezer is just so much easier and useful.

It also gives you another freezer for your wife to store other crap in.