Keezing kegging question - how to keep beer cold?

[Brewskier]

Might sound like a dumb question, but I'm having trouble keeping the beer at a consistent temperature. For fermenting I use a stopper thermowell with my temperature probe so that I have an exact reading on the internal fermentation temperature. Once it goes in the keg, I fill up a 1 gallon jug of water and put the probe inside. The problem is, I could keep my 1 gallon jug of water at the correct temp, but that may not always be the temperature inside the keg. If I have 5 gallons of liquid, it may be at a different temperature, and the keezer only kicks on once the 1 gallon jug gets to a certain temperature.

How do I go about making sure the beer inside the keg stays consistently cold?

 

[tknice]

I would think that the temp of the gallon jug should closely match the 5 gallon beer temp. It's more about learning your temp controller. In my experience, the freezer will turn on and off maintaining whatever temp you have it set to which is usually a pretty wide range of degrees. This doesn't matter though because the temperature of 5 gallons of liquid will change very slowly--just like your 1 gallon jug.

Here's what I do.. Determine what temperature you want the beer to be--mine is 38 degrees. Set the controller to 35 deg, wait a day, and check the beer temp. Increase or decrease by .5 deg each day until it's perfect.

 

[Brewskier]

I would think that the temp of the gallon jug should closely match the 5 gallon beer temp. It's more about learning your temp controller. In my experience, the freezer will turn on and off maintaining whatever temp you have it set to which is usually a pretty wide range of degrees. This doesn't matter though because the temperature of 5 gallons of liquid will change very slowely--just like your 1 gallon jug.

Here's what I do.. Determine what temperature you want the beer to be--mine is 38 degrees. Set the controller to 35 deg, wait a day, and check the beer temp. Increase or decrease by .5 deg each day until it's perfect.

Good advice. Thanks. I'll give it a try.

 

[day_trippr]

I would think that the temp of the gallon jug should closely match the 5 gallon beer temp.[...]

It will indeed - eventually. It would likely take longer than if the probe were attached directly to the keg wall and insulated, but given enough time they'll eventually hit the same temperature and should certainly stay within the differential setting thereafter...

Cheers!

 

[Golddiggie]

I've found that a couple of layers of thick neoprene (1/4" thick) between the thermometer/probe and the outside air (resting against the keg side wall) gives a really accurate reading. I have a wired probe on a keg setup that way, so that I can see what it's temperature is from outside the brew fridge. Also, the less times you open the keezer/brew fridge the better off you'll be. It's [another] good reason to go to full on faucets rather than use picnic taps. :rockin: