Good idea?

[Big Papa]

Hey guys. New to the board. Thinking about having a kegerater in my garage. Although I was concerned about the heat that can accumulate in the garage. Especially during the Texas summer months. Will this tend to make a new unit crap out sooner than expected? Also is any brand better than the other?

[fretlessman71]

Shouldn't be any worse than just having a fridge out there. Do you have friends that have fridges/freezers in the garage? You'll probably experience a similar success rate - possibly better, since you're not going to want your kegerator to be QUITE that cold. Welcome to the board!

[Big Papa]

Well, I do have one friend that has a full size refrig in his garage. He tends to say it keeps his beverages cold. I figure if I bought a new unit, to go ahead and buy a service plan agreement for an extra 3yr extra warranty as an insurance policy if the unit dies on me. :)

[danno]

here's where I see a problem. if you scroll down this forum, you'll see a bunch of threads dealing with foamy beer from kegerators. usually one of the main issues is the temperature differential between the tower and the refrigerated area. higher temps = co2 coming out of suspension. if your tower isn't chilled (and only the higher end units are) the foaming issues will be magnified by the heat in your garage... I'd vote against it, myself, not because the equipment will work harder, but because you'll be unhappy pouring yourself a big glass of foam...

[BrewDog]

Danno's got a great point. Building one from a chest freezer with a COLLAR will eliminate the tower temp problem.

My kegerator web site (http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1986/42894/kegerator.htm) shows what I'm talking about.


HTH-

[gone_fishing]

That chest wth a collar is cool...great idea! I already have a refrierator though and am wondering if anyone has a low priced (but quality is more important I think) source of the parts to make it into a 4 tapper?

[toneyc]

I don't use a tower because I hated cleaning the danged taps. I just use cobra taps on mine. They are all inside the freezer so they should be the same temp as the beer. They are easy to clean, I just unscrew the coupling and the tap end and drop it into a bucket of hot water then sanitize it. Mine was out on the back porch for almost 3 years before I moved into town. And I got it used from a guy that kept it in his garage for a couple of years before that. This is all in and around Austin, so similar environment.

:)
Toney.

[danno]

Originally posted by gone_fishing
That chest wth a collar is cool...great idea! I already have a refrierator though and am wondering if anyone has a low priced (but quality is more important I think) source of the parts to make it into a 4 tapper? you could easily put shanks and taps through the door of your fridge. most (if not all) homebrew shops sell this stuff... I know you said low priced, but ask anyone who has them (like me), the VentMatic (http://www.ventmatic.com/) stainless steel seat forward taps are worth every penny of their admittedly steep price. cheap taps stick, especially in a homebrew environment where they don't get used very often (relative to a bar, that is...)

[BrewDog]

I strongly second Danno's recommendation on the VentMatics.

[chapesh]

went to look at the ventmatics for my dream chest freezer and the site said they were unavailable? also what about insulating the tower with,well insulation? have also thought about putting copper coil or pipes filled with h20 in tower and dropping the ends down in freezer, any suggestions?thnx, p.s. have had refrigerators in my garage for 10 plus years with no problems knock on wood. i like the tower because that limits the amount of drunks falling into the the taps. also great site guys.

[bruin_ale]

I'm just curious, are you guys really having that much trouble with foaming with an uninsulated or uncooled tower? I have 6 feet of beer line for each of 4 taps and about 10" of it is left to ambient temperatures in the tower. The first glass is usually about half foam, but other than that - even in 90+ degree heat, I've never had a problem.