Portable keg cooler advice.

[BrewingTravisty]

I'm trying to find the cheapest way to get my kegs cold, away from home. I really don't want to spend hundreds on a jockey box and I remember seeing someone put 3 gallon kegs into an igloo beverage cooler. I'm not sure if it was a 5 or 10 gallon cooler. My question is can I fit a 5 gallon keg into a 10 gallon one and just drill a hole through the lid to snake a picnic tap through?

I'm trying to find the simplest and cheapest solution to this so any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[supercarbuilder]

I did something like this, I just used party taps too, really cheap, I used bubble wrap and some spray foam. Depending on size you can get 2 5gal kegs and a 5# co2 tank easy and cheap. Just add some ice or frozen jugs.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I did something like this, I just used party taps too, really cheap, I used bubble wrap and some spray foam. Depending on size you can get 2 5gal kegs and a 5# co2 tank easy and cheap. Just add some ice or frozen jugs.

View attachment 347340

I thought about that but I thought it might look a little strange rolling that into a hotel room xP I'll be having a get together at Indy PopCon this year with some friends and other youtubers and I'm supplying the beer in my hotel room. Maybe I could build an insulated box that would work? That wouldn't look absolutely strange carrying to my room? Lol

 

[supercarbuilder]

yeah, put some wheels on a black box. Could look like luggage. Would need to be water proof for condensation etc.

 

[day_trippr]

I just use a wheeled plastic kitchen trash bin (typical size - 20 gallons I believe) with a picnic tap and drag one of my 5# cylinders with a single body reg with me. Drop the keg in, fill it with ice, cover the top with some towels and call it done.

btw, if you're worried about what the hotel thinks of this and think you need to get stealthy, you're staying in the wrong place.
I've never had an eye batted at me when hauling in a lot more firepower than a sixtel of beer...

Cheers!

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I just use a wheeled plastic kitchen trash bin (typical size - 20 gallons I believe) with a picnic tap and drag one of my 5# cylinders with a single body reg with me. Drop the keg in, fill it with ice, cover the top with some towels and call it done.

btw, if you're worried about what the hotel thinks of this and think you need to get stealthy, you're staying in the wrong place.
I've never had an eye batted at me when hauling in a lot more firepower than a sixtel of beer...

Cheers!

Haha well that's good to hear. I don't feel the need to be super stealthy lol but at the same time the thought of bringing a big trash can to my room just seems weird xD it'd be an interesting conversation starter though for the people that I'm just meeting at my little get together.

 

[summerofgeorge]

What about something like this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=250991. You could use frozen water bottles or ice packs do you don't have to worry about it leaking when it's on it's side.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

What about something like this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=250991. You could use frozen water bottles or ice packs do you don't have to worry about it leaking when it's on it's side.

That would actually work perfectly. I'll have to try something like that

 

[Jim311]

I wish somebody would make a cheap insulated cylinder cooler to hold a single corny. It would be sweet if it had sort of liner you could freeze too. Sort of like those cheap freezer packs you can throw in the freezer to put in lunchboxes and such.

 

[BeardedBrews]

Don't over-think it here... the beer dispenses from the bottom of the keg so if you can keep the bottom 2/3 on ice, you're probably good. After that, you just need to put a hole in the lid of a cooler.

http://forums.morebeer.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=40702

This general setup is the one I like the looks of the most. I think keeping the cup holders on the lid is classy

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I wish somebody would make a cheap insulated cylinder cooler to hold a single corny. It would be sweet if it had sort of liner you could freeze too. Sort of like those cheap freezer packs you can throw in the freezer to put in lunchboxes and such.

That doesn't seem like it would be difficult to manufacture. Of course you would need a deep freezer to put it in due to the size.

Don't over-think it here... the beer dispenses from the bottom of the keg so if you can keep the bottom 2/3 on ice, you're probably good. After that, you just need to put a hole in the lid of a cooler.

http://forums.morebeer.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=40702

This general setup is the one I like the looks of the most. I think keeping the cup holders on the lid is classy

That's genius thanks! That would be perfect for traveling around for a decent price.

 

[Jawbox0]

This thread has most of the different ways you can use coolers for portable serving:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=172047

 

[Jim311]

That doesn't seem like it would be difficult to manufacture. Of course you would need a deep freezer to put it in due to the size.







That's genius thanks! That would be perfect for traveling around for a decent price.

You could make the freezer pack foldable or flexible though I bet so it would fit in the freezer more compactly.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

You could make the freezer pack foldable or flexible though I bet so it would fit in the freezer more compactly.

That's true. You could use the gel like they give you in the hospital or physical therapy cold compresses, with an extra padding of insulation to keep it colder longer. I imagine if it was done that way it could cool the keg and keep it cold for a good 5-6 hours. Long enough for a party at least.

Now we just need to get some investors xP

 

[JohnK93]

I made this back in the summer. Kept the beer cold for about a week on maybe 5-7 lbs of ice. I had a DIY write up but took my blog down. Happy to provide more pics and a how-to if interested. The nice thing was that the cooler is my mash tun, so the whole thing cost me about $10 in foam and a little bit of glue and tape.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1459211308.532940.jpg View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1459211405.960429.jpg

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I made this back in the summer. Kept the beer cold for about a week on maybe 5-7 lbs of ice. I had a DIY write up but took my blog down. Happy to provide more pics and a how-to if interested. The nice thing was that the cooler is my mash tun, so the whole thing cost me about $10 in foam and a little bit of glue and tape.

View attachment 347550 View attachment 347551

That looks great! I'm probably gonna go with something like beardedbrews posted. I'll have at least 2 kegs with me so I'm thinking of getting a big cooler and just cutting holes in the lid to fit the kegs. That way I don't need multiple coolers, or an expensive jockey box set up.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I found the perfect portable kegging solution xP

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