Keg cooler

[gaffrig24]

I'm trying to get a keg setup on my boat so I don't have to ever bottle my brew again. I've got a 5# co2 bottle and I've got to get a picnic tap still but what are you using to keep the beer cold? I don't thing a bucket of ice would last long enough. I'd like to be able to keep it cold for at least 3 or 4 days. I could stop and pick up more ice but it would be better if I didn't have to. It will be going on my sailboat and I'll be sailing all day and dropping anchor at night somewhere. Another problem I may have is with spillage of the ice water. As the sails fill with air the boat leans over and I could have a mess inside my cabin. Maybe I need a giant gimbaled cooler to hold my keg. I just bought one of those ice cube coolers from target and a keg will fit in it easily enough with the top open. I'm thinking about cutting a hole in the top to fit over a keg. I'm also thinking about putting an empty keg in the cooler and filling it with water then freezing the water around the keg. When it's time to go I'll pour some hot water in the empty keg to melt the ice around it, pull it out and pop in a full keg. So what do the rest of you do to keep em cold?

Keith

 

[Chello]

there are just regular coolers available that will fit 1 or 2 3gallon kegs inside with the co2 tank. Edwort has pictures in his gallery of one setup.

 

[eriktlupus]

a kitchen trash can will hold a full size cornie nicely. add a pvc tower and cheap tap and you have a ready-to-go keg cooler

 

[gaffrig24]

that's an idea but all I have right now is 5 gallon pin locks. I may have to find some smaller kegs in the future

 

[FSR402]

You could build a jocky box...

 

[jtvinny]

I know I saw a picture where somebody used two 10 gallon round coolers (one right side up, one upside down) to keep their corny in. The bottom one could be your mash tun when brewing and the top one could have a shank and faucet through it. I'll keep looking for the pics/thread...

 

[gaffrig24]

Well I hope this works for me. I got one of those 50qt igloo ice cube coolers from Target for my boat keg. I cut a hole in the top of it with a jigsaw to fit a corny keg. I placed an empty keg into the cooler and filled the cooler up with water. I had to strap the keg into place around the cooler to keep it from floating. Now it's in the chest freezer with the top on the cooler to keep the keg in place. When the water freezes around the keg I'll add hot water to the keg and lift the keg out of the cooler leaving a corny keg sized hole in the ice for my full keg. Next time someone asks me what my sailboat drafts I'll tell them homebrew

 

[nyer]

My wife thought I was crazy because I want to bring a cornie on our boat. Well, now I can prove to her that I'm not alone. I have a tall bucket with a lid that the cornie fits into, I'm trying to figure a way to insulate it. I'm only taking it out for a day trip so I may just fill it with ice and be done with it. I'll use my 5 lb tank and a picnic tap. I may hide it under towels so all the other boaters don't come over and start drinking the good stuff.

 

[conpewter]

With a sailboat you may be better off keeping your keg at room temp and using a plate chiller, or just a stainless steel coil (You'll need a good bit of line to drop the high pressure you'll be keeping that keg at for room temperature carb).

Keep the plate chiller or stainless coil in a cooler filled with ice (or frozen in it) this should use up much less ice than keeping the whole keg cool.

On the other hand... will you be using this when you are moored or when you are sailing? If while moored and in a deep enough lake (up north at least) the water below oh 25' is pretty cold hmmmmm. Keg at 50ish psi? (would have to check carb tables for Co2 volumes vs pressure/temp) 50' of line plus 25' of stainless chiller thrown in the lake...

Or just do the block of ice with an empty keg frozen in it, that would work too.

Enough batteries and a converter to run a keezer? hmm

Trade in the sailboat for a nuclear powered sub, plug the keezer into the nearest outlet, enjoy, no more sunburn.

 

[gaffrig24]

Well the keg cooler worked perfectly! After 4 days on my boat I still had a huge hunk of ice and a little cold beer left. The only thing I will do different next time is tie the keg to the cooler so it doesn't float. Having the top cut out with the keg sticking through it kept the melted ice from spilling out even when the boat leaned over so far that the decks were in the water. I've got to make a place to mount my co2 bottle so it looks a little cleaner below decks but no one seemed to mind after filling up a glass. It's great being the only boat in our entire fleet with draft beer onboard, they know where the party is!

 

[uabericm]

Awesome story and DIY action. Hopefully the U.S.S. Draft Beer is still sailing fast and cool.