Kegs

Batch 5 was my last batch in bottles. I got some kegs and a refrigerator in the garage. Larry's ran a sale on 5 gallon kegs at Christmas time, 4 kegs for the price of 2, plus hoses, regulator, and CO2 bottle. I found a refrigerator on the internet for free, just had to haul it home. Kegs are so much easier than bottles, no more washing or capping or boxes of empties sitting around. Well worth the expense.

Here is the refrigerator that I found for free on the internet, I found it on www.abcfree.com. It took a couple of weeks to find one, both that worked and close enough that I felt like driving over to pick it up. It had been sitting outside for a while, so it needed a bit of cleanup, but with a powerwasher (just visible on the right), some elbow grease, and some Mr. Clean, it looks pretty good. And the Packer sticker is a nice touch, too! (Go, Pack, Go!)


















I pulled out all the shelves so the kegs would fit, and put a piece of hardboard on the plastic shelf above the veggie bins for reinforcement. I'm not sure that is enough if I ever happen to get all 4 kegs full at the same time. Each keg weighs about 50 lbs full, so that would be 200 lbs, plus the CO₂ and plumbing, I'm not sure if the plastic will be strong enough to hold it all.



















A few things to point out --
1. 4 kegs and the CO₂ bottle fit nicely.
2. A temperature gauge (just in front of the CO₂ helps make sure the temperature is cool enough. I've got the reefer set at 40? F.
3. The door makes a good storage place for left-over hops and other brewing ingredients.
4. Not shown, but the freezer section stores glasses (a set of 6, shamelessly swiped from the Hotel Abrams in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany) for a frosty mug, long term storage of hops, and provides the frozen jugs for my fermentation ice box.