Cold Kegs to Go!

[kMc21]

Here's my take on an easy build for cold portable cornies. I was wanting to get together a portable serving rig to take <more than a growler of> beer with me to parties, etc. I love the portable cube coolers with 2.5ga kegs and do want to make one of those someday. But to make something quicker and simpler where I can just pull a keg out of the fridge and tote it along I think the keglove and ice blanket systems are the simplest way. Then you don't have to deal with lugging around a trashcan and melting ice. However, $60 for the glove and ice blanket seems a bit steep, so it invites a homegrown solution.

Inspiration came from this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/corny-keg-chilling-insulator-238348/

But I think I can improve it still by:
1). closing the airspace between the keg and the reflectix at the top and the bottom bot better insulation.
2). finding a cheap alternative to liquid ice packs that will provide plenty of chilling power.

 

[kMc21]

I looked for any sort of gel or liquid ice packs that could be used to wrap a keg, and even looking at ebay, etc, all the options would break the budget for this build. To work, it has to be considerably cheaper than a keglove.

Enter the freeze-pop. 9 inches long each, meant to be frozen and contained within the plastic, and long and slender so a sheet of them can wrap around a keg. And very inexpensive. I got 100 for $2.99.

Now I don't trust the plastic in these things to hold up to several freeze-thaw cycles and general handling, so I wanted to wrap them in another layer. I used a 11" vacuum-seal bag which fit them quite well.





Two sections of these pretty much cover a ball-lock keg entirely, and they get nice and compact so it will be easy to stick in the freezer.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

This looks awesome. Also, it will fit into my golf bag that holds a keg. Entrez vous drunken golf on tap!

 

[day_trippr]

That...is...awesome!

Freeze-pop a keg for cheap $$! I love it!

Cheers!

 

[kMc21]

I could wrap it in reflectix and be done, and it would probably be just fine. But..with the freeze pops, there is a 3/4" gap between the outer insulation and the keg on the top and the bottom. I made a simple collar to fill the gap out of styrofoam (and re-purposed some trash that was waiting to be thrown away). Cut an 8 3/4" circle on the band saw with a thickness of 3/4". I wrapped it in vinyl electrical tape for durability. One of these will go on the top and the bottom of each keg.







Now to put it all together, just roll it in a double layer of reflectix and cinch it tight at the top and bottom with straps:

 

[Spellman]

That is pretty genius and looks very good considering the supplies used. I have one of those gloves and ice blankets and they work ok. They are a huge pain to get on and get the ice into. Last year I built a jockey box and that in my opinion is the end all. Now I want to make a second much lighter and smaller one to just do 1 tap when I don't need the big heavy setup.

 

[rekoob]

NICE!!!

I will keep this in the back of my head for future build.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Clever, those North Americans!