Fridge for conditioning

[lollypopp]

I've got this old fridge, which I've been testing with a PB with some sanitiser in it, I can keep the temp at about 10/14C, would this be okay to put my PB's in, once second prime is done with, and if the answer is yes , how long could I? / should I leave it in there for? As you can see from the pic, I unscrewed the ice box and bent it up out of the way!

The other good thing is I can store bottles underneath

The other handy thing is, I can store other odds and sods in the door!

[THE EMBALMER]

are you putting lager in it or the stout?? i just have the stout under the stairs at room temp it is fine i would not have thought the stout would go in the fridge. dunno your preferences but in my view lager as cold as you can get it but ales stouts ect would be fine if not better at room temp about 18 degrees if in a keg seems to be cold enough because of the amount of liquid.
dont know if i have helped or hindered fill em up and drink em, get that stout on the go with medium spray malt and enjoy cheers glyn

[lollypopp]

Thanks Glyn, My idea is to perhaps? put the Tom caxton in there for a few days, this I'm hoping will force the C02 into the beer, than I guess I could bring it out, I don't like Lager, but as you can see, I'm planning on doing ditch's Stout, guess I would do the same, Just being quite new to all this, wasn't sure what was for the best? but thanks for your thoughts, what do you think to my plan?

[Ditch]

Lollypopp? Not wishing to cause ye heart ache ..... But, I can be a shrewd old buzzard, at times. Can ye get a Valve on top of that cap?

Only, I'm just wondering at the point of messing with kegs and fridges. Getting everything lovely. Then whipping the cap off the keg, to screw a valved one on in its place.

I just think I'd sooner have a BK / PB, complete with S30, in there from the start.

Saying that? I don't think I'd personally bother too much about a fridge anyway. But, then I'll probably be eating those words, if we get a roastingly hot summer spell and I find myself pouring warm beer!

My trouble is, I have Eight bloody kegs! How many sodding fridges am I supposed to acquire and run here?!

Food for thought, all in all. Nice little post

[batemans fan]

10 to 14ºC sounds good to me. I keep my PBs in an outhouse where the temperature goes to extremes throughout the year, so I can understand the anguish

As for how long - being as that's the temperature you'd have in an ideal world (and therefore not out of the ordinary), I'd say 'the usual' (which, iirc from sages on this board, is about 6 months before it starts to go downhill and then plus up until it goes too downhill to drink - too long for me to need to worry about). If it's going to get little use, I would take the precaution of giving it a blast of CO² every once in a while.

[batemans fan]

...if we get a roastingly hot summer spell and I find myself pouring warm beer!

My trouble is, I have Eight bloody kegs! How many sodding fridges am I supposed to acquire and run here?!

Food for thought, all in all. Nice little post

The old 'swamp cooler' comes to mind - a wet towel and a fan - that's what I use

[lollypopp]

Thanks as usual Ditch, I did check whether I could get the s30 on the top, and I can, still chasing where I can get the big boys from, so I don't have to use the sparklets, and thanks bateman too! The plan is, during the summer months to put it in there for a few days to get the c02 to be obsorbed by the beer, then hopfully it will go up on my barrel shelf (to be built this weekend fingers crossed) as I don't like my beer to cold! having made a batch of TC recently,that will go into the bottom, as that seems to taste rank if it's to warm, but nice if chilled!

[lollypopp]

Thanks Ditch et al! have now got it all sorted petrolium jelly smeared on the rubber seal. P.T.F.E tape around the tread, and now with carefull study whilst in the shop (Thank Ditch for the heads up on thet one ) got myself this thing!

So hopefully the end of me banging on about this???(Well I fecking hope sooo!)

[jrugman]

What's all this about a swamp cooler (Bateman's Fan)? I've got a couple of Cornies plus many bottles, but have been wondering about how to keep my beer reasonably cold this summer (assuming we get a summer!) in the Cornies. I just don't have space for another fridge and in any case a can't be messing around with fitting extra bits and pieces to control the temperature. Information please.

Cheers,

John

[batemans fan]

What's all this about a swamp cooler (Bateman's Fan)? I've got a couple of Cornies plus many bottles, but have been wondering about how to keep my beer reasonably cold this summer (assuming we get a summer!) in the Cornies. I just don't have space for another fridge and in any case a can't be messing around with fitting extra bits and pieces to control the temperature. Information please.

Cheers,

John

Basically, it's a device that cools by evaporation - there are 'sophisticated' proprietary units available, but I mean the most basic application - throw a wet cloth (sheet, blanket, towel or whatever) over your barrel, bottle or cornie, and direct an electric fan onto it (to aid evaporation). Works best where evaporation will be high - i.e. where it's hot and a low humidity - so if you're in an enclosed space, it helps to keep a window/door open to keep the humidity down.

Not ideal for old Blighty, but I have got my FV down by about 4-5ºC in the hot weather

Here's some links:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-swamp-cooler.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

Off-topic, but folk have used the same principle to replace air-cooling their CPUs: Evaporation cooled computer (link) (scroll down to the piccies). Edit: that pc cooler probably needs an explanation:Diagram link

[techtone]

Hope that fridge shelf is strong enough to support a FULL keg.

Does anyone use a big plastic bucket to put the keg into and then add some cold water into which can be added 2l bottles of ice to drop the keg temp a couple of degrees or so in the summer. Just wondering if this would work or is a waste of time?

[jrugman]

Thanks batesmanfan. I'll give this a try when (if?) we get a hot summer.

Cheers,

John

[Jim]

Hope that fridge shelf is strong enough to support a FULL keg.

Does anyone use a big plastic bucket to put the keg into and then add some cold water into which can be added 2l bottles of ice to drop the keg temp a couple of degrees or so in the summer. Just wondering if this would work or is a waste of time?

Someone else on here (I can't remember who it was) used a suitably cut piece of wood wedged under the middle of the shelf to take the weight.

[brysie]

see, thats why i still bottle all mine.

[lollypopp]

Hope that fridge shelf is strong enough to support a FULL keg.

Does anyone use a big plastic bucket to put the keg into and then add some cold water into which can be added 2l bottles of ice to drop the keg temp a couple of degrees or so in the summer. Just wondering if this would work or is a waste of time?

Someone else on here (I can't remember who it was) used a suitably cut piece of wood wedged under the middle of the shelf to take the weight.

If you look carefully at the pic, you'll see, that I've doubled up the shelving, but as Jim says, I have also got a small piece of wood that slips under the bottom of the middle of the shelf, the barrel's only there for a few days, it seems to help clear the beer!