Five Kegs in Small Freezer

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Clint Yeastwood

Clint Yeastwood

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I wonder if people will benefit from this idea. Maybe it's old news, so sorry if I am behind the times.

I got me an 8.7-foot Magic Chef freezer, which is somewhat smaller and therefore less obtrusive than some other freezers in the same range. I happened to have a Torpedo Megamouth keg. It holds 5 gallons, but it's short, so you can put it on your keezer hump.

Today my Corny kegs finally got here, and I confirmed what I suspected. If you use one short keg, you can get 25 gallons of beer in this freezer. There is sufficient room on the hump for a 5 lb. bottle, and you can put a second 5 lb. bottle with beer gas in the corner. Maybe a 20 would fit.

To put a 5 lb. tank in the corner, you may have to put it on some kind of platform so the regulator will be above the Corny next to it. The regulator gets in the way.

Using the Torpedo, I can put a stout on the hump and serve it a little warmer, MAYBE. I don't know if all freezers are warmer above the hump, but some are. Some people like their stout a few degrees warmer.

This freezer is about 37.5" long, so it's pretty compact.

I think this will work.
 

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Looks like it is not possible to get a 20-pound bottle in there with regular Corny kegs. The bottle would be 8" in diameter, whereas a 5-pound bottle is about 5.25" and fits nicely. Maybe skinny kegs will work.

I don't really want a big tank in there, but I can't get small ones swapped or filled unless I drive an hour both ways.
 
I have new info about putting a small keg on the hump.

I set the keezer at 38, and when I used a laser thermometer, I got temperatures of 31 and even 29 on some parts of the keg. It appears the hump is colder, not warmer, in my keezer. I'm going to put a piece of plywood or something under the short keg to prevent it from touching the hump.

I think I need to make sure air can get between the hump and whatever sits on it, because the hump seems to make a big contribution to cooling, and anything that would block that seems counterproductive.
 
Can't tell from your picture or remember from past posts, but do you have a small recirc fan in your new keezer? It'll help even out the temp inside; just a small fan will do. I used a four inch version from Amazon connected to a temp controller. The probe was in a small container with RV antifreeze.
 
If you put a collar on your keezer, I'd run the gas line through it and store the co2 tanks outside of it to free up more space. I did this with my old keezer when I had it and loved the extra space.
 
Clint Yeastwood said:
I have new info about putting a small keg on the hump.

I set the keezer at 38, and when I used a laser thermometer, I got temperatures of 31 and even 29 on some parts of the keg. It appears the hump is colder, not warmer, in my keezer. I'm going to put a piece of plywood or something under the short keg to prevent it from touching the hump.

I think I need to make sure air can get between the hump and whatever sits on it, because the hump seems to make a big contribution to cooling, and anything that would block that seems counterproductive.
Click to expand...
Maybe put some appliance feet or something under the plywood and cut it round round to match the keg and maximize airflow.
 
Yesterday I grabbed some pressure-treated stakes I made for my failed garden, and I took some Titebond III and some clamps and made a wooden platform for the CO2 tank and one keg. I used glue because I didn't want to be bothered with getting screws just right so they didn't scratch anything, and making sure they didn't rust.

I think this will work.

01 31 23 wood platform on keezer hump small.jpg
 
You're in Florida, a rather moist region. Seems like a mildew ranch in the making :)
Why are you elevating an aluminum tank above an aluminum floor?

Cheers!
 
I have two moisture-suckers in the keezer. Hoping they will work.

I am doing this because the keezer hump is extremely cold, and I got very cold keg temperatures when the keezer was at 38.
 
Clint Yeastwood said:
I have new info about putting a small keg on the hump.

I set the keezer at 38, and when I used a laser thermometer, I got temperatures of 31 and even 29 on some parts of the keg. It appears the hump is colder, not warmer, in my keezer. I'm going to put a piece of plywood or something under the short keg to prevent it from touching the hump.

I think I need to make sure air can get between the hump and whatever sits on it, because the hump seems to make a big contribution to cooling, and anything that would block that seems counterproductive.
Click to expand...
the hump is not colder, can tell you that for sure. the cold air sinks to the bottom, thats the coldest place.

you have 4 typical kegs at the bottom. and the one megamouth on the hump. that's the explanation.

megamouth is all steel, it gets direct transfer of cold from the freezer surface, which is where the heat exchange takes place. the other kegs are on rubber, insulated from the freezer. they only get chilled by the air in the cooler. once you insulate the megamouth from touching the bottom AND/OR the side walls, you'll see it at a higher temp. since you actually want the megamouth warmer, i would not do a fan.

two things- i definitely agree you should put the gas outside. there's nice areas on the back of the unit surrounding the hinges where you've got about 2" clear of evap coils for drilling your holes.

two- that wood will definitely get moldy. i first used a cheap little cork trivee, i.e. hot pan pad. it worked great at insulation, but got moldy and gross. i ended up cleaning it and putting it in a ziploc bag, no problems. given the size of the megamouth, you might need something larger. i'm sure you can find something on amazon. or just get a piece of styrofoam, plastic, etc.
 
The hump is definitely colder, because I measured it. Maybe yours is different.

Your point about the steel construction of the Megamouth is well taken. I thought about putting wood on the bottom of the keezer for the other kegs, but I decided not to for the very reason you cite. The rubber should interfere with the transmission of heat out of the kegs.

The Megamouth is on the bottom of the freezer. I haven't bothered moving it back to the hump because I don't need the space right now.

I like the tanks inside the keezer. Always worked fine before. Far as I can tell, there is no way to get 6 kegs in this thing, so removing the tanks wouldn't bring any advantages.

I will keep an eye on the mold situation. I can always make something from aluminum or PVC later. PVC pipe is really easy to cut and glue. Maybe it's a good choice.
 
Clint Yeastwood said:
......I like the tanks inside the keezer. Always worked fine before. Far as I can tell, there is no way to get 6 kegs in this thing, so removing the tanks wouldn't bring any advantages.....
Click to expand...


What about bottled/canned beers? When I still had my keezer, I used the baskets that came with mine as places to put store bought 6ix packs. Since the hump took up some vertical space, that where I kept the store bought beer.

If your freezer has a drain, I'd take that pvc pipe, and some wire shelving, and make a false bottom. Then if excess condensation builds up, your kegs will be above it and not swimming in it. Then it's just a matter of hosing out the mildew swamp through the drain. Just an idea.
 
What happened to your keezer? Now I'm sad.

The hump in my keezer holds a short keg and a CO2 bottle, and there will be a beer gas bottle on a platform in the corner on the floor.

There is only a tiny amount of space above the kegs. Maybe 5". I would have to make new shallow trays in order to get them in there. But the kitchen fridge is right across the room.

Thanks for the false bottom suggestion. Oddly, this thing is completely dry. There are a couple of places where ice froze by the hump, but there is no liquid water. I wonder if the Eva-dry things I got are really that good. Maybe things will change in the summer.
 
Clint Yeastwood said:
The hump is definitely colder, because I measured it. Maybe yours is different.

Your point about the steel construction of the Megamouth is well taken. I thought about putting wood on the bottom of the keezer for the other kegs, but I decided not to for the very reason you cite. The rubber should interfere with the transmission of heat out of the kegs.
Click to expand...
so you acknowledge the physics … but insist they don’t apply? Huh. interesting.

in any case, I’m not saying you need to cram another keg in there, personally I wouldn’t. But getting the tank out is nice, helps to have some open space to work with if you need to move things around. especially with all the tubing, etc. that gets crazy in confined space. Just my 2c.
and if you want them all at same temp the extra space helps with air circulation if you ever add a fan.

i hadn’t considered pvc, that’s a really good idea. You just need a square sized to be slightly larger than the foot diameter. easy and cheap. good call.
 
Clint Yeastwood said:
What happened to your keezer? Now I'm sad.

The hump in my keezer holds a short keg and a CO2 bottle, and there will be a beer gas bottle on a platform in the corner on the floor.

There is only a tiny amount of space above the kegs. Maybe 5". I would have to make new shallow trays in order to get them in there. But the kitchen fridge is right across the room.

Thanks for the false bottom suggestion. Oddly, this thing is completely dry. There are a couple of places where ice froze by the hump, but there is no liquid water. I wonder if the Eva-dry things I got are really that good. Maybe things will change in the summer.
Click to expand...


Nothing major. In a nutshell, I wanted more space in my basement as the freezer took up a lot of it, I couldn't keep up with the pipeline (6-8 beers on tap if I wanted), and I really got tired of heaving full kegs up and over to load it with beer it. Keeping the condensation out was a pain too as I wasn't as diligent keeping that part clean either.

I have a simple 4 tap hand me down kegerator I got from my cousin. It holds just 4 ball locks, takes up a lot less space, and suits me just fine. Loading and unloading kegs is easier too. "Less is more" has been a driving force for me of late.
 
SanPancho said:
so you acknowledge the physics … but insist they don’t apply? Huh. interesting.

in any case, I’m not saying you need to cram another keg in there, personally I wouldn’t. But getting the tank out is nice, helps to have some open space to work with if you need to move things around. especially with all the tubing, etc. that gets crazy in confined space. Just my 2c.
and if you want them all at same temp the extra space helps with air circulation if you ever add a fan.

i hadn’t considered pvc, that’s a really good idea. You just need a square sized to be slightly larger than the foot diameter. easy and cheap. good call.
Click to expand...

Maybe off topic, but I used 4" pvc pipe and closet wire shelving to make a false bottom for my old keezer. One, I liked the floor to be even from side to side and two, my kegs weren't sitting in some muck if I forgot to clean it.
 
Clint Yeastwood said:
No idea what this means. I only took 6 years of physics, though.
Click to expand...
you acknowledge that the metal keg is being chilled in a different manor than the other kegs ( metal-to-metal contact vs air-chill) , which explains why it is colder than the other kegs (insulating rubber feet, air chill only) and yet you still insist that the "cold" is located at the highest point in the freezer, despite the fact that colder and denser air will always sink vs warmer air.

you're comparing apples to oranges, and using that to defy what we know about thermodynamics. not looking for a fight, just pointing it out.

if your 6 years of physics tells you that warmer air/liquid/etc sinks to the bottom while cold apparently rises, then i have nothing to say to that.
 
The things you're saying are not consistent with what I said.

When the keg was on the hump, parts of it were below 30 degrees. When I moved it to the bottom of the keezer and put it directly on the metal, it warmed up. I never said metal contact by itself was the problem. If it were, the keg would still be too cold. The problem is that the surface of the hump is colder than other surfaces in the keezer.

The CO2 tank is still on the hump, but now it's on the platform. The pressure in the tank went up because the tank was no longer in direct contact with the hump, which, as I said, is colder than other parts of the keezer. The small air space prevented the hump from chilling the tank to the temperature it reached when it was directly on the hump. Pv=nRT.

I thought about putting wood under the other kegs because it could keep them dry, and because there could be cold spots in the floor. Now I think the rubber should protect the kegs from liquid as well as cold spots.

The height of the hump is irrelevant to its surface temperature. The chill depends on how cooling lines are installed inside it. A member here said the hump in his keezer was warmer than the floor, so I put a keg on mine in order to try to get a slightly higher temperature. It turns out my keezer is not the same.
 
Clint Yeastwood said:
The things you're saying are not consistent with what I said.

When the keg was on the hump, parts of it were below 30 degrees. When I moved it to the bottom of the keezer and put it directly on the metal, it warmed up. I never said metal contact by itself was the problem. If it were, the keg would still be too cold. The problem is that the surface of the hump is colder than other surfaces in the keezer.

The CO2 tank is still on the hump, but now it's on the platform. The pressure in the tank went up because the tank was no longer in direct contact with the hump, which, as I said, is colder than other parts of the keezer. The small air space prevented the hump from chilling the tank to the temperature it reached when it was directly on the hump. Pv=nRT.

I thought about putting wood under the other kegs because it could keep them dry, and because there could be cold spots in the floor. Now I think the rubber should protect the kegs from liquid as well as cold spots.

The height of the hump is irrelevant to its surface temperature. The chill depends on how cooling lines are installed inside it. A member here said the hump in his keezer was warmer than the floor, so I put a keg on mine in order to try to get a slightly higher temperature. It turns out my keezer is not the same.
Click to expand...
apples vs oranges is what i'm saying. its fine, that's enough for me.

careful with wood in a damp/wet location.

good luck.
 
Yeah, I thought of that. Not sure I need it for temperature control, but it would protect the aluminum. Might be a good replacement if the wood thing gets moldy.
 
Well this is weird. My keezer is set at 38 with the probe in the middle somewhere. When I put a short keg on the hump, it got really cold, ruining my plans to put stout on the hump, where someone had led me to believe it would be warmer.

I put a wooden platform on the hump to break the thermal contact, and I put stout on the platform. Now the stout is coming out at over 50 degrees.

This is a great stout temperature, but I don't know what's going on.
 
Is your probe just hanging in the middle of the keezer? That might not be an accurate way to monitor the keezer's temp. When I had mine, I taped my probe to the side of a beer bottle that was filled with water and capped. The bottle set on the hump of my keezer and overall temps stayed in the low 40s.
 
This has turned out to be harder than I thought. I mounted the secondary regulators to the collar and thought I had all sorts of room, but they were in the way of the kegs.

My current solution is to make two brackets from steel and attach them to the collar. I cut keyholes in the steel so the brackets can be lifted off the screws. Seems to work.

I still have to make a 12"-high platform for the tank at left. It's hanging by the regulator.

02 09 23 sec regulator mounted on steel small.jpg


02 09 23 sec regulator mounted on steel close up small.jpg
 
Yesfan said:
Is your probe just hanging in the middle of the keezer? That might not be an accurate way to monitor the keezer's temp. When I had mine, I taped my probe to the side of a beer bottle that was filled with water and capped. The bottle set on the hump of my keezer and overall temps stayed in the low 40s.
Click to expand...
I have been looking at ways other people handled it. The one I like the most is strapping the probe to the side of a keg. I'm afraid a bottle of water will get too cold because it would be small and possibly sitting right over coolant lines.
 
The idea for a circulation fan is to provide some air flow around the kegs. If all the kegs are touching each other, I don't think you'd get much benefit from it but you could certainly try.

When I used a chest freezer beer cooler, I kept a couple inches around each keg. I didn't have the CO2 tank in there or the regulators like you have though. The hump part only kept some stray bottles and cans of beer.
 
It looks like small AC-powered fans are cheap, and for around $15, I can get a programmable socket that will cycle the fan however I want.
 

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