Think rationally, or disobey SWMBO?..

[radwizard]

You can do that (pull it out after the initial active ferm is finished), but at some point this could be a headache. You're gonna end up with more finished beer in your keezer then you think (seems most ppl wish they would of bought a bigger keezer). You can pull out beer and carboys to make this work for the occasional stout or porter, but doing this as a main practice seems pretty tough to schedule.

Keg conditioning instead of force carbing could help you with your scheduling.
If you are carbing on gas you will be calculating for co2 volumes based on time and temp in the keezer which could be a pain if you are changing the temp often.

Long story short. Sometimes you may want to use your keezer as a ferm area, if so do some careful planning and go for it, but if you dont need to do it at all, then don't. That's what I'd recommend...

 

[madscientist451]

One question I do have that I believe was briefly mentioned. If I'm using it as a ferm chamber AND a keezer at the same time, but primary is running at, say 65F, doesn't that mean the beer I'm serving will come out at 65F as well? How do people combat that? Just run it at 65F for a few days, pull it out and allow to free rise/finish up, then lower the temp for the serving keg again? Thanks!

Since your low on space, you'll have to make some compromises.
Your not going to ferment and serve at the same time.
Brew a beer, transfer to the serving keg, lower the temp to serve the beer.
When its gone, brew some more and repeat the process. So you'll have gaps in your beer pipeline. My original post covered some of that, either bottle off the keg or get 1.75 gal kegs and use your regular 'fridge for serving. Good luck!

 

[SHAIV]

Depends on how mush cash you want to put out.You will need kegs,faucets,shanks,beer line, co2 tank, regulator,manifold ,and temperature regulator. You can always convert a fermentation chamber to a keezer later when funds are available.

You don’t NEED a manifold or faucets or shanks. You need a chest freezer and a temp controller. Then it can be dual purpose like mine. I personally dont like faucets because you have to clean them regularly because they stick out and arent cold so they may grow bacteria in them. I use a picnic tap in my keezer i just have to open it up fill a glass and close it back. Then theres no “building” also, you just plug it up, and set the desired temp and you’re ready to ferment then when its ready you just change the temp to cold crash and then you keg and you are good. Theres no collar to build no drilling no possible lines bursted

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

My link to the Vessie system was for reference... As long as you spend less than 2k and can store more than one keg you'll be a rockstar, or more of a rockstar as the case may be. :rockin:

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Your not going to ferment and serve at the same time.

A lot of British brewers finish fermentation at low - well cellar - temperatures, 55F-ish, in effect merging into the conditioning phase. If you have multiple vessels, that would allow you to ferment and serve at the same time at the same temperature, you just need to be a bit British about these things...

 

[madscientist451]

Thanks, NB I am planning on trying that technique with some clones like Black Sheep Riggwelter and Timothy Taylor Landlord; Can you suggest any other similar brews where the clone recipe is available? I was going to ferment in the keg and then upend the keg to simulate their yeast rousing technique and then chill to about 55 after 3-4 days and keg condition.

 

[mongoose33]

This is most definitely not where we will be even a year from now. Our lease is over in July and at that point we will be looking for our first house Thanks for the insight on 'do now what you will want in the future', that was quite helpful! I'll get a small chest freezer and use it as a ferm chamber soon and serve via picnic taps for a while.

You might want to begin looking a few months before your lease expires.

March or early April wouldn't be too soon. Once you find one, there's probably six weeks or so until closing, and you'll probably want a little time to work on it (paint, maybe some other changes) before you move in.

 

[BurntOrngeLonghorn84]

You can ferment in a kegerator/keezer using a heater strip, neoprene coozy, and aquarium controller.

 

[BridgewaterBrewer]

Could get this https://www.brewjacket.com/buy-now/ and a kegerator.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Thanks, NB I am planning on trying that technique with some clones like Black Sheep Riggwelter and Timothy Taylor Landlord; Can you suggest any other similar brews where the clone recipe is available? I was going to ferment in the keg and then upend the keg to simulate their yeast rousing technique and then chill to about 55 after 3-4 days and keg condition.

Well you can find clones for most of the big British commercial beers, and it's a fairly generally applicable technique, maybe with a short pause at 60-63F on the way down. Since British pubs serve customers from a cask with live yeast at 54-57F, there's no real distinction between fermentation, conditioning and serving like you get with dead beer, it's just one continuum.

Pedigree is an obvious one where they tail off the fermentation like that, the official Marston temperature schedule is kicking round the internet.