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Kegging Setup Question
I'm thinking of getting a kegging system, but I don't have space in my garage for another fridge. I want to ferment in my brewing refrigerator while I have something on tap, so I devised a plan. My question is would my plan work?
The plan is to keg my beer and carbonate in my brewing fridge for a few weeks. I would then take the keg out when I planned to ferment something else and put it in my house. I would dispense my draught at room temp into a growler and put the growler in my house fridge until it is cold and then dispense it. Would this work?
It sounds like it would work, but it sounds like it would also be a hassle. Filling a growler from a tap is a little difficult with out a counter pressure filler and then waiting for the beer to cool would just take a while, and I have no patience. I would have to say that if I were in your shoes, I'd wait on kegging until you could find a way to dispense cold beer from the keg. Maybe think about a mini fridge and mini kegs. Thats my 2 cents.
There would be no way to get a new refrigerator in my garage or any other part of my house because my garage is out of outlet space and there is no space anyway. I would really like to have a kegging system though. I've looked at draft boxes but I don't want to fill the whole thing with ice every time I want to dispense just a pint. I could always get a beer gun or counter pressure filler if you think that will make it easier.
You would likely loose a lot of carbonation when dispensing the warm beer into the growler.
I fill bottles and growlers from my kegging set up with just a lenght of tubing jammed on the end of one of those black picnic taps. But I keep the beer sold and I chill the bottles too.
You can do what you suggest though. Try this method:
Purchase one of those fermentor heating wraps that goes around the outside of the fermentor. Also get a temp controller and thermowell. You set the fridge to your beer dispensing temp put your kegs in there. Then when ever you want to ferment a new beer you put that in there but you heat it with the heated wrap.
I am going to move to this next year. I have heard of several people that do it this way and they get good results.
That sounds good.
Can I use the analog Johnson controlls temp controller for a heater or will I have to buy the digital one?
Well the johnson control turns on when the temp gets to high.
You need a control that works in the opposite way. You need a controller that turns on when the temp gets to low. The johnson controller you bought for your fridge doesn't do that.
Does that make sense?
So get a fermwrap, a digital thermostat for the fermwrap, a thermowell, and a 6.5 gallon carboy to replace my plastic bucket so I can use a thermowell. Sounds a lot more expensive than I originally thought, but I gues its worth it.
Do you think the investment in all that stuff is worth it?
You can install a thermowell in a bucket, so that's not a big expense.
I don't know if cause reward is worth it for you.
I currently have a stand up fridge with 4 taps on it. I have to remove two kegs to squeeze in one fermentor.
I am going to upgrade to a large chest freezer and keep it at serving temp (45-47F) and use a fermwrap setup to ferment with in the same fridge. For me I think its worth it.
Alright, I've ran the numbers for thermowells a fermwrap a digital thermostat and the deluxe draft beer refrigerator system and it will set me back a good $418, but if the system will work well in the long run I guess I should shrug it off and make the investment.
P.S. Where can I find a thermowell for a plastic bucket? I haven't been able to find any anywhere.
I was just going to get a thermowell and a small stopper. Drill a small hole in the lid of a bucket to fit the stopper!
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