To keg or not to keg

[petemoss]

Hey gang,

So I have been doing the extract brewing thing for a little while now. I really enjoy brewing (and drinking) but bottling is not one of my favvorites. I have considered kegging. The problem is that I don't have room for a dedicated keezer at the moment. I was wondering, if I kegged and then put the keg in an ice bath or maybe built a jockey box, would that be a suitable way to have kegged beer around the house. To go along with that question, how long will beer keep in a keg at room temprature? Is it basically the same as if it were in bottles? I guess I am looking for any and all advice pros and cons regarding kegging without a keezer.

Thanks everyone,
Petemoss

 

[slym2none]

*edit* Sorry, wrong post replied to.

 

[petemoss]

Ah yes, the obligatory "Did you search for this" post.

While I am sure that these forums contain all of the information available on this subject and could be treated as a tomb of knowledge simply to be searched and never commented on, I prefer a conversation.

I did see that there is another active post with the exact same title as mine, though the question being posed was not the same. So I went for it. If folks would prefer not to comment then they probably shouldn't.

Thanks,
Petemoss

 

[ratinator]

Anyone who kegs will tell you it'd the best. Personally for me I bought a kegerator when they went on sale at Costco for 399$ and that comes with a co2. You just need to buy your ball lock kegs after

For me I HATED bottling as well. What I did do before I was to kegging was I started bottling the beers in 64oz (5.5 beer) growlers. I would only have to bottle about 11 growlers instead of 60 so there's less spilling and capping (in fact the lids are screwed on by hand). Sure you have to drink 5.5 but with a friend it's nothing and they seal back up for a day or two.

On the other hand kegging is great for 3 main reasons
1. You fill one container
2. No yeast sediment on bottom due to force carb
3. You can force carb in 3-4 days so you save the 3 weeks the beer has to sit in bottles and usually the kegs in the fridge cold crashing and ready to go

 

[Subdivisions]

They DO contain all the knowledge you need, but I understand your quest for an interactive conversation. At first I thought this was the other post that had been going around. That one has a poll also.

For your questions, look into a beermeister type kegerator. It's what I have and I can fit 2 kegs and my 20# CO2 tank. If I use the 5# tank I could probably squeeze 3 kegs. You don't need a big ass chest freezer to do this. It won't take up much more room then having a big tub of ice with a keg in it.

You can keep beer in a keg at room temp for as long as bottles. The style of beer will obviously dictate when it will be at its best. An IPA after 6 months isn't going to be that great anymore.

 

[ol-hazza]

Personally I wouldn't keg without having a dedicated kegerator or keezer, but in saying that a jockey box or ice bath would work.

I think that a jockey box or ice bath wouldn't be much smaller than one of the small kegerators the other guys have already mentioned in the thread though, and that would be the path I would send you down.

The mangrove jacks one only has about 30" square foot print

 

[chickypad]

I think that a jockey box or ice bath wouldn't be much smaller than one of the small kegerators the other guys have already mentioned in the thread though, and that would be the path I would send you down.

That's what I was thinking. Combined with the need to keep changing out ice - that'd be a dealbreaker for me.

 

[petemoss]

Thanks everyone. It sounds like I am hearing lots of praise for kegging just not so much in doing it with out some form of refrigeration. Thanks for the ideas, maybe I can find a small cheap unit that will fill the bill.

Thanks,
Petemoss

 

[Beer-lord]

You could purchase one of the smaller, 2.5-3 gallon kegs that fit just fine in the bottom of most fridges or a dorm fridge. My brother has one and he has an old dorm fridge and thought tight, it fits just fine. He kegs half the batch for his drinking pleasure and bottles the other half so he can share with friends and family or take with him when he goes to a friends house for the big game.
It's a great way to get into kegging slowly though the small kegs are not any cheaper than the larger ones.

 

[Bulls Beers]

I bottled a few batches at the beginning and really thought it was a chore. I moved to Kegging and haven't looked back. People are always asking me for beer and I tell them, sorry I only keg and don't have any bottles. I do give out growlers sometimes. It's much easier to clean one big bottle than 50 small ones. I only bottle Apfelwein. I was at the LHBS and asked how much used kegs were and he said $100. WTF!!! I paid $20 for mine, but If you have the money, kegging is great.

 

[cooper]

I found my chest freezer on craigslist for free. All I had to do was go pick it up. Later a buddy gave me his when he moved so now I have a fermentation chamber for my lagers as well. Keep an eye out as there are lots of people just giving stuff away or letting it go for pretty cheap. Although the temp controllers will set you back about $70.

 

[SEndorf]

I bottled a few batches at the beginning and really thought it was a chore. I moved to Kegging and haven't looked back. People are always asking me for beer and I tell them, sorry I only keg and don't have any bottles.

No doubt kegging is far easier. But this makes it harder to share your craft. (One of the reasons I enjoy brewing).
A good solution is a Blichmann beer gun. Costs about the same as a used corny. Fills bottles very easily from your keg system without the hassle of priming with corn sugar.

 

[FuriousE]

Although the temp controllers will set you back about $70.

Unless you go with an STC-1000 or similar, in which case you can build one for ~$30 or less.

 

[MattyIce]

Unless you go with an STC-1000 or similar, in which case you can build one for ~$30 or less.

Word. I built a unit with two STC-1000s (one for ferm chamber, the other for kegerator) for about $50.