Need some shopping advice

[pkiller001]

TL/DR: I'm looking for the easiest way to set up a few (2-4) smaller (2.5 g) kegs in a dedicated fridge now that i'm getting back into brewing. Does anyone have experience with such a set up?

I'm getting back into homebrewing for the first time essentially since my son was born. I had just started half-batch brewing AG brewing, and given COVID restrictions on hosting, I'm probably going to continue to brew 2-3 gallon batches for the foreseeable future.
I had always bottled beer, and it was one of the reasons I stopped home brewing - cleaning, storing, sterilizing and filling bottles is a pain.
I see now that there are several options for smaller kegs (not available a decade ago when I was brewing regularly) - including 2.5 g kegs, and I'm hoping to get set up with 2-4 of these.
Have people had a lot of experience with these?
I'm hoping to avoid even basic construction (eg drilling holes to convert something a full on kegerator/keezer). My current plan is to buy a fridge and just "tap the kegs," and store them in the fridge.

Is this a terrible plan? Has anyone set up a series of smaller kegs like this rather than full on keezers full of corny kegs?

thanks in advance

-A

 

[LittleRiver]

There's nothing terrible about that plan. You will love the convenience of kegging your beer.

There are lots of folks that use picnic taps on kegs inside of refrigerators or freezers. There's even an advantage to it. A beer faucet outside the enclosure is warmer, so it causes at least the first few ounces of beer to foam. If everything is inside the enclosure, everything is cold enough to keep that from happening (assuming all other factors, like beer line length, are correct).

In my keezer I have a couple of 5gal kegs and a couple of 3gal kegs (I do have external faucets). For the smaller kegs I usually brew a 6 gal batch and split between them. But I have brewed small batches for them.

Check out this thread for some recent discussion regarding picnic taps.

 

[Elric]

I only run small batches. I brew between 1-3 gallon per batch. Depending on the batch, Ihave two one gallon kegs, a 2.5 gallon keg and bottles that I will put the resulting beer in. I have a 5 cubic foot freezer that I keep my beer in. While I am planning to turn it i to a keezer, I currently just have picnic taps on the kegs and keep them and the bottles in the freezer and open up when I need to pour and it works just fine.

 

[McKnuckle]

I also brew 2.5 gallon batches and use 2.5 gallon kegs inside a full-size converted chest freezer with a collar. I also use picnic taps sometimes.

These kegs are nice and compact, very easy to accommodate. If you have a dedicated refrigerator, you will be fine. Only issue is that it's better to store the CO2 tank and regulator outside if you can. That involves drilling ONE hole for the gas line. Consider doing that at least, although of course it's not mandatory and you can keep the tank inside the fridge if necessary.

Keep in mind that a chest freezer offers a better shape for kegs vs. a stand-up fridge. There's much more floor space and the height is never an issue.

 

[Elric]

I also brew 2.5 gallon batches and use 2.5 gallon kegs inside a full-size converted chest freezer with a collar. I also use picnic taps sometimes.

These kegs are nice and compact, very easy to accommodate. If you have a dedicated refrigerator, you will be fine. Only issue is that it's better to store the CO2 tank and regulator outside if you can. That involves drilling ONE hole for the gas line. Consider doing that at least, although of course it's not mandatory and you can keep the tank inside the fridge if necessary.

Keep in mind that a chest freezer offers a better shape for kegs vs. a stand-up fridge. There's much more floor space and the height is never an issue.

If the OP buys a fridge with a water line in it he could technically remove the water line and use the access point to run the gas line into the fridge without having to drill any holes. My secondary fridge has a water line running into it that I could easily replace with some eva barrier if I was using it as a kegerator.

 

[pkiller001]

Thanks all!

This has been very helpful

Two additional questions:
1) why should the CO2 canister be outside the fridge? Most of the keezer plans I've seen have the CO2 inside.

2) @McKnuckle since the 2.5g kegs are shorter, don't you have a lot of wasted space between them and the door of the chest freezer? Also, do you have the plans you used for it posted somewhere?

Again, thanks all!

A

 

[Elric]

Thanks all!

This has been very helpful

Two additional questions:
1) why should the CO2 canister be outside the fridge? Most of the keezer plans I've seen have the CO2 inside.

2) @McKnuckle since the 2.5g kegs are shorter, don't you have a lot of wasted space between them and the door of the chest freezer? Also, do you have the plans you used for it posted somewhere?

Again, thanks all!

A

There is nothing gained by having the co2 in the fridge or keezer, it just eats up space. Also, there are frequently reasons to need to use co2 outside of the fridge. If your tank is in the fridge/freezer you either have to leave the door open letting all the cold out while you do your business, or have to buy a secondary tank to use outside of the refrigeration unit. If the co2 is outside of the fridge it is easy to just have another line run off of it or swap lines/regulators when you temp need to make use of the co2 in a non-chilled setting.

i don't know McKnuckles specific setup, but I do know that companies such as torpedo offer kegs that are stackable when the lines are connected on them, so you could theoretically have two different 2.5 gallon kegs taking up approximately the same amount of space as one 5 gallon allowing for double the amount of brew choices in the same amount of space. Also, depending on what kind of diptube you have setup you could conceivably have 2.5s stacked up on their sides whereas it may be more difficult to achieve that with 5s.

 

[McKnuckle]

The shorter kegs don't really leave that much space. I have considered building a simple platform around the height of the existing compressor hump, but there always seems to be kegs in the way, so I never get it done.

Here are a couple of pics. First one shows (kinda) how easy it is to lean over and grab a keg.

You can see I removed three of the taps so I pace myself better! I'm the only drinker in the house. CO2 tank is on the lower right of the photo.

You can see the gas line entering from the top right. The temp sensor wire just sits on top of the foam insulation. The lid closes over it.

 

[LittleRiver]

There wasn't quite enough room in my freezer for a fourth keg (a 2nd 2.5gal sitting on the hump), so I built a little extension for it to sit on. Underneath the extension I have a jar filled with Starsan, for holding the temp probe (in a thermowell attached to the lid).

I routed my beer lines around the inside of the collar, to get them out of the way when changing kegs.