Refridgerated kegging verses the plate/coil system????

[hirns]

Have pondered this one for a while. I have my own design keggerator system. The fridge is just shy of holding two kegs, but is fitted with a font. The keg takes two days to cool and gas up. I really notice the improvement in taste after the beer has been refridgerated for a week despite how long it has aged for at room temps. I have two commercial chiller plates (made mainly for party kegs I believe) that have been sitting in my garage for several years and I believe that they retail for @$400. A current ebay auction has reignited my interest in a system where by the kegs are outside of the fridge and feed to a cooling plate in the fridge. Any knowledge on experience in terms of general success of this is appreciated, ie.: does the beer gas as readily? Age as readily ? Positives and negatives?

Hirns

[timmy]

I asked this question to my local HBS and he said that this method is only really suitable to the commercial kegs.

[drsmurto]

plate/coil/temprite = PITA

I had a temprite but sold it once i realised how much effort was required to set it up and then the issues with gas dissolution vs temperature.

CO2, and all gases for that matter, are more soluble in liquids at lower temperatures.

Now the time it takes to move beer thru the coils is minimal however, unless you have your kegs in a thermostatically controlled room then the temp of the beer in your keg will go up and down and the carb level in your beer will do the same.

Far FAR easier to put your kegs in a fridge.

That way you can set the gauge on your CO2 bottle and walk away.

[hirns]

Thank's for the advice, I safe it for a party kek set-up.