who keeps their kegerator outside during winter?

[cavern]

i'm thinking of putting mine on my porch for the winter, thinking that it will use less energy as well as have less problems with warm air in the tower.

i live in virginia. we might have a few nights in the teens...

at what temperature would you begin to worry about freezing at the faucet and what action would you take on those nights?

thanks!

[cavern]

this'll be my only "bump" on this thread in case anyone that does this missed it. i would think keeping the kegerator outside would be more common, but maybe not.

i guess if it's going to get much below 20 i might bleed the line?

[BigBadJohn]

I live in Illinois and keeping it in the separate garage for atleast the winter and am worried as well.

[cavern]

for anyone that's interested, i went ahead and put my dansby outside tonight during a keg switch. it's about 30 outside right now. immediately i am not having problems with a foaming first beer. still a bit concerned as to what i will do if it gets below... like 20. maybe i'll go to a hardware store and get some heat tape to put on the faucet or something

[dooley]

I am interested in this topic, also.
Lots of people here in Wisconsin keep a refrigerator in their garage, so I assume it should be ok.
I rehabbed an old BM-23 last summer. It has been on my back screen porch (not cooled or heated, now screens covered with plastic) ever since. It sweated like a pig in August & September, now just hums away. Just came in after shoveling 4 inches of fluffy snow and had a cool one. 21 degrees outside, 30 on the porch. Beer has been perfect.
I will let you know if I have a problem (freeze-up?), maybe at zero or 10 below.

[mdf1985]

Well, here's what happened to me recently:

I went on vacation for thanksgiving and before i left i had turned the heater on. Well, my roommate in his complete stupidity turned the heater off temp got into the 20s and sure enough I come home and find a solid block of frozen beer in my kegerator.

[cubby_swans]

The freezing point of a beer is given as Freezing point
(°C) = –0.42 × A + 0.04 × E + 0.2 in which A is the percent of
alcohol content by weight and E is the original gravity of the wort
(3). On this basis, each 1% increase in alcohol content lowers the
freezing point by 0.42°C and each increase in gravity of 1°Plato
(P) raises it by 0.04°C. Thus, no beer will freeze at –1°C, and
products at higher alcohol concentrations (including high-gravity
brews prior to dilution) will withstand even lower temperatures.

Plain American beers (AB, Miller, Coors) will freeze at about 28 Degrees F. If it's pressurized beer (as in a keg), even lower. If you've ever opened a Bud Light that iced up all of a sudden, this is why. It was colder than 28 degrees, but under pressure until the cap was removed.

A keg of beer takes a while to change temperature. Not to mention if the interior of your kegerator stays shut, and the exterior temp is lower, it's actually insulating the beer from reaching that exterior temp. Your compressor won't kick on if the interior temp doesn't go up, so you don't have to worry about the kegerator getting uber cold due to itself. If it's only getting to those high teens for a few hours during the night, and doesn't stay that cold for any length of time, I think you should be OK. If it gets that cold for a few days at a time, I'd bring it in.

[cubby_swans]

a better idea

Another thought..... Moving water freezes at a lower temperature than standing water. So if you tap the keg constantly, and don't stop drinking, you're keg will never freeze

[cavern]

Another thought..... Moving water freezes at a lower temperature than standing water. So if you tap the keg constantly, and don't stop drinking, you're keg will never freeze

this is an excellent point. one that i'm sure my wife will appreciate

[Kpt42]

The freon in the system is going to be at a lower pressure if its that cold outside.

Probably not be enough of a drop to matter but you'd have to put some gauges on it to find out.

[THE ICEMAN]

One potential problem with using the kegerator outside in cold temps is that when the compressor is cycled off, the refrigerant will tend to pool at the bottom of the compressor along with the oil.

The danger here is that when the compressor starts back up it will be pumping refrigerant in liquid form. This can 'slug' the compressor & can potentially warp the valves in the compressor.

A solution to this problem would be to obtain a small heater such as the type you would use to keep water lines from freezing. Home Depot should have something that would work or a plumbing supply house. You would use it to wrap the bottom portion of the compressor. A self temperature regulating type would be best.

[bonefish]

this IS an excellent point

Another thought..... Moving water freezes at a lower temperature than standing water. So if you tap the keg constantly, and don't stop drinking, you're keg will never freeze

Don't stop drinking, and cool your tower with beer!
SEAN

[sleepy]

Hi Iceman, assuming that you installed a heater for the compressor, would you still need to worry about the beer line in the tower to the tap freezing? I live in the Boston area and we often get periods of up to a week in the winter where it will stay below 20degrees outside. If the tower line can freeze is there a recommended way to prevent this?

thanks.

[THE ICEMAN]

It would depend on the alcohol content of the beer. I must admit though that I don't know the freezing temp of your average beer.

Perhaps one of the other guys around here can provide that info.

THE ICEMAN

[Scott Zuhse]

On average, beer begins to freeze at 29F. This does not mean that it freezes solid. Chill haze begins to take place. Solids such as calcium oxalate (beer stone) begin to separate and cling to the system itself.

Systems that are too cold will actually promote the build up of beer stone. Beer normally will freeze solid in the mid to low 20s.