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Kegging without a fridge
So far I have brewed six batches and have bottled each one of them. While I like having bottles to take with me to friends houses, give to my parents etc, the need has arised for me to keg some beer for a party. I don't yet have the time, money or space to convert a fridge just yet, so I am looking for options on how to pull this off without one. I would like to have two corney kegs for the party, but even though my friends are beer drinkers, I don't think we could go through two in one night.
Any advice?
Set them in a cooler and keep it cool by changing out jugs of ice till you finish it off............ three or four gallon jugs of ice changed out daily should do if it's kept in a cool place 
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To carbonate you can treat the kegs as big bottles.
Add priming sugar, seal with a shot of CO2 and let them condition for three weeks (4 to be safe) at fermentation temps.
Then you can chill them in a party tube with ice to serve.
You can't really force carb them without a fridge unless you want to go through enough ice to keep them chilled the whole time.
Thanks for the advice. brewchez, when you say "seal with a shot of co2" what exactly do you mean by that? Would I need a full tank and regulator?
Also, just to be clear, party tube is just a big bucket with ice?
I seal my kegs with 10 psi of CO2. You could use a CO2 injector with cartridges but it will be expensive in the long run. A tank with regulator would be your best bet.
Good luck,
Wild
8dot3 wrote:
Thanks for the advice. brewchez, when you say "seal with a shot of co2" what exactly do you mean by that? Would I need a full tank and regulator?
Also, just to be clear, party tube is just a big bucket with ice?
Sorry I didn't catch my typo, tube was meant to be tub! Yeah, its a big bucket to hold ice.
As for the shot of CO2, how do you plan to serve???? You need either a tank and regulator, or a CO2 injector like this.
http://www.beer-wine.com/product_info.a … ectionID=1
If you don't think you'll go through 2 kegs of beer (or even one) in a night you need to use CO2. You can push beer out of a corny keg with air like you do a commercial keg that your probably used too. The air will cause the beer to stale within a few days of the party.
Do not get the bright idea to force carb with the picnic CO2. You will go through enough canisters to buy a CO2 tank and a regulator if doing 2 kegs.... then you gotta serve it.
If I had it to do all over again, I would have bought a tank and reg. Then I would have placed the courney keg into my regular fridge. Make room and it will work to chill the beer. Now that it is good and cool attatch the reg and tank and pressurize to 30 psi. Shake that bad boy a while and listen to the CO2 keep infusing. Now, place back in the fridge for half a day take out and shake some more.... if ya have room leave the co2 reg and tank attached... if not reattach and shake. Day 2 bleed to 20 psi and let hold in fridge. Next place in ice for the party day and bleed to 10psi to serve. Too much foam, wait and bleed down to 8.... good luck!
This is going to sound slightly crazy, but you have to understand that I am a recent college graduate, and therefore I am a combination of extremely cheap, highly creative/unorthodox and interested in seriously limiting the amount of worldly possessions I must move from lease to lease.
That said, I was able to afford 5 kegs, a large CO2 tank and a regulator because I received a bonus and got a gooood deal. I bought the kegs to avoid having to move 6-10 cases of bottles, which I had done once and decided was not worth doing again.
The best method I came up with before i bought a fridge on craigslist (check you local freecycle type forums too) was to rack into the keg, pressurize at 20-30 psi always and to pour into thick freezer kept glasses filled with 1 standard ice cube of the beer in the keg per 4-6 oz.
The interesting thing about this approach is that my pints poured like Guinness because they were seriously overcarbonated for the temperature (nitrogen as I understand it diffuses out of Guinness really fast, hence the classic Guinness pour - it's "over carbed" with N2), but it gave my friends (even the beer geek ones) a trip when they saw it. It appears that the more ice/colder the vessel the beer is introduced to, the better the retention of carbonation (not too surprising).
I will admit that I was rather embarrassed by the whole setup, but only my pickiest friends ever had any complaints about the results. Having a fridge is much nicer.
Now, that's not practical for a party, but dartgod and kyngmedic have the right idea. Stick the keg in a cooler/bathtub/whatever will maintain coldness against the keg and use a tank and a regulator. If you have a brew shop within reasonable distance, they might lease/rent a tank and regulator to you. For regulators, and maybe for tanks, checking university/college surplus auctions and befriending lab techs/professors is a good tactic. You can also build or buy regulators to convert freezers (which in my observation of Craigslist are cheaper) into fridges in the right temperature range.
Happy brewing!
I just thought I would chime in on this..........when I force carbonate with the CO2 chargers I use my 2.5 gallon corny keg and I'll sugar prime my 5 gallon kegs and dispense .......I'm almost done with my kegerator but for now I still use a cooler and CO2 charger.......it takes 2 of the little 8g CO2 bulbs to carbonate the 2.5 gallon corny and about 2 to dispense and about 4 to dispense the 5 gallon corny, I buy them in bulk and it costs $.60 per bulb or less than the cost of a pint for either one......I just rotate about 4 frozen half gallon milk jugs every other day and it stays cold.....I just put a blanket on top...... 
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