Kegging - Refrigeration Issues

DoctorCD · Post by **DoctorCD** » Sunday Jan 23, 2005 11:22 am

Hi guys. I did think initially to title this post as "Kegging - Space Issues". I live in Singapore where home brewing has just been legalised (ahem, you still need a licence from the Government to do it). So in a place where prohibitive alcohol taxation makes the supermarket price of a slab of local beer (23 x 330 cans) about 70 bux, or even worse, in a pub over 10 bux a pint you can imagine the incentive to get started.

The problem is that Singapore is perpetually hot (27-32 deg C every day of the year with no seasons) . It also has the second highest population density of any country in the world (> 5000 /sqkm) so not everybody has a lot of space. So a second and dedicated fridge for cooling and gassing kegs is not an option for most.

I do realise there are halfway solutions available in the form of plastic mini-kegging, aka the "PartyPig" 10 litre system, or the "Tap-a-Draft" 8 litre system, but there has to be a space saving way to cool a conventional keg. My idea was a coiled sheath with small gas compressor that the keg would slide into...

Does anybody have any idea whether such a device exists ?

Ideas appreciated...

The Doc

drgood · Post by **drgood** » Sunday Jan 23, 2005 12:03 pm

Easy,, I thought that most people there (S'pore) like my friends tend to eat out,so chuck out any food from the house fridge, and presto you have the valuable space for a couple of kegs.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Monday Jan 24, 2005 3:02 am

Move maybe?

Mind you I liked Singapore

I guess a small bar fridge is out?

Dogger

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tuesday Jan 25, 2005 12:27 am

well, yeah it might. The problem with barfridges is that the compressor takes up so much room at the base.. the ones I looked at I reckon I'd struggle to fit any size keg in.

Reckon a dedicated "normal" fridge may be the only way to go, sigh.

Evo · Post by **Evo** » Tuesday Jan 25, 2005 9:48 am

Cough, cough... (chest freezer).

160L freezer, 4 x 18L kegs.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Tuesday Jan 25, 2005 11:04 am

Evo,

If there isn't enough room for a we puppy like mine, where do you think your mighty brute will stay?

Dogger

drgood · Post by **drgood** » Tuesday Jan 25, 2005 11:05 am

Well done Evo

Evo · Post by **Evo** » Tuesday Jan 25, 2005 1:07 pm

Having only been to Singapore for the time it takes a 747 to take on 200,000 litres of fuel, I guess I can't comment.

BUT, if I didn't have 800mm x 600mm of floorspace to fit kegs into I'd either ditch my bed and sleep standing up or move. Countries that is.

Seriously though, the chest freezer is the most usable space to keg in.

r.magnay · Post by **r.magnay** » Tuesday Jan 25, 2005 1:13 pm

Evo,
I reckon you are a bigger part ale than man!!
Go Evo!!

Twat · Post by **Twat** » Friday Jan 28, 2005 2:00 am

Hey Evo doode...

Chest freezers... everyone I've seen so far are just that, errr... freezers. Are you saying you can get them with a thermostat that will keep it at 5 deg C or round about ?

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Friday Jan 28, 2005 4:02 am

The rest of us call them fridges but we humour him

Dogger

Longbeach Brewer · Friday Jan 28, 2005 11:40 pm

Having lived in Japan (the most densly populated country on earth) for 18 months in a 1 room "appartment", I can understand the space issue.
Unfortunately, homebrewing anything with more than 0.5% alcohol is still not legal, so I have no experience with brewing (and my time in Japan was before my time as a homebrewer...)
Still, with regards to the space issue, most of the appartments here (I'm back again for a month), have a pissy little useless balcony with no application other than drying clothes, hanging your arse out on for a good fart without offending/killing your visitors or storing brewing eqipment/refrigeration devices...
Surely, Doc, you've got a small piece of underutilised space somewhere in your appartment? (With a lock on the door of a fridge, maybe you could even use your front door step?) Had I been into it while living here, I would have rigged up some kind of shelf in my laundry/bathroom fridge on bottom, washing machine on top (I've got the perfect setup in my head!)
However, with a good homebrew setup, and an underground bar operation of a warm evening, there's no doubt you could afford a little more space to expand your brewing activities? Wish I had that going while I was living here in Japan come to think of it!
(I will post my thoughts on Japanese domestic beer in the "beer you buy" section when I return home and sober up a little (can't be sober too long as I've got 300 odd stubbies that've been maturing for a month without sampling that need a good getting into! And as I'll be coming from mild Japanese winter temperatures of around 4 deg C, to Melbourne temperatures hitting 40, my stock pile will soon need replenishing!), anyway, for those interested - stay tuned!)
Good luck Doc, if you really want it, you'll find/make space for a fridge...
Let us all know how you get on,
Chris

doctorc · Post by **doctorc** » Monday Jan 31, 2005 1:30 pm

well thanks man,
since I got no real useful solution I just went for the ambient fermentation method... a tad hot, bubbling stopped in 3 1/2 days and left it for another 5 (no choice as travelling) but will let u know how it is...

given what I have read about cidery tastes and temp I am not confident...

ah well...

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Monday Jan 31, 2005 10:17 pm

All will be well

Dogger

homebrewandbeer.com

Kegging - Refrigeration Issues

Kegging - Refrigeration Issues

Bar fridge

Chest freezer for Kegs

about to be bottled