dandw12786
Well-Known Member
So I'm getting ready to build my keezer, and I'm fighting with where to place it in the house, looking for some help. My options are garage or basement utility room.
The issue with the basement utility room is that I really don't want to be walking down two flights of stairs every time I want to pull a pint. But it'll fit, and I won't have to deal with the temp swings of the garage. Plus, it'd be in the room that I do fermentation in, so I could do all of my racking and stuff in the same room and not have to lug kegs around. But sending guests down to the basement to get a beer and having them walk around my fermenters and stuff could be kind of annoying.
However, I'd really like it in the garage, and that's why I'm posting this. The garage is on the main level, so I'd just walk out a door and be able to get to the keezer quickly. The problem here is weather. I'm in the midwest, and it can get up around 100 in the summer (not a major issue with keeping things cold, though) and waaaay below zero in the winter (this is the problem). I had a beer fridge out there, and 360 days a year it's fine, but every year we get at least one cold snap where it can be well below zero for almost a week. For a few days, it's not an issue, but the extended cold weather drops the temp down in the garage enough to where I've had some slushy 7 or 8%ers in the beer fridge. I worry about beer lines and faucets freezing and such.
Anyone else in an area where it can get this cold? Anything I can do to the keezer to keep the lines from freezing up? I'd hate to have to put this thing in the basement because of one week of weather a year, but the possible outcome of that one week of weather is such a pain that I'm not sure I have another option. Just wondering if some of you keep a keezer in your garage in incredibly cold weather, and what you do (if anything) to keep everything from freezing up in the cold.
The issue with the basement utility room is that I really don't want to be walking down two flights of stairs every time I want to pull a pint. But it'll fit, and I won't have to deal with the temp swings of the garage. Plus, it'd be in the room that I do fermentation in, so I could do all of my racking and stuff in the same room and not have to lug kegs around. But sending guests down to the basement to get a beer and having them walk around my fermenters and stuff could be kind of annoying.
However, I'd really like it in the garage, and that's why I'm posting this. The garage is on the main level, so I'd just walk out a door and be able to get to the keezer quickly. The problem here is weather. I'm in the midwest, and it can get up around 100 in the summer (not a major issue with keeping things cold, though) and waaaay below zero in the winter (this is the problem). I had a beer fridge out there, and 360 days a year it's fine, but every year we get at least one cold snap where it can be well below zero for almost a week. For a few days, it's not an issue, but the extended cold weather drops the temp down in the garage enough to where I've had some slushy 7 or 8%ers in the beer fridge. I worry about beer lines and faucets freezing and such.
Anyone else in an area where it can get this cold? Anything I can do to the keezer to keep the lines from freezing up? I'd hate to have to put this thing in the basement because of one week of weather a year, but the possible outcome of that one week of weather is such a pain that I'm not sure I have another option. Just wondering if some of you keep a keezer in your garage in incredibly cold weather, and what you do (if anything) to keep everything from freezing up in the cold.