Beer coolers

[Bazza]

Aright?

Currently I have one brewfridge, atc1000+ 60w heater  temperature controller setup. Most of the time this fridge is occupied by a fermenter, which means my cornies spend most of their time sitting out on the garage floor.

These summer nights, I've had to resort to mostly drinking bottles as I've no way of getting the kegs down to an acceptable serving temperature; even 14 degrees for an ale is a distant memory.

Rather than splashing out on another fridge/stc/heater, etc (garage space and the wife's normally good nature are factors here too) I was looking at some beer coolers on EBay. Looks like you can get a half decent working one for £40-£50.

I was just wondering if anyone out there uses them or can offer an opinion?

Also, I'm well aware that in the next few months the temperature will tip the other way so it'll be a case of trying to get the temp UP to 14 degrees for serving. Do beer coolers only cool beer?

Okay, I'll just shut up, clear some space in the garage for yet another fridge and face the music.

Cheers,

-Barry

[Greg2013]

Bazza can you provide a link to ebay for the stuff you are on about so we can examine ?

And by we i mean me 

[Bazza]

Yep,

Try this search as an example:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=cornelius+coolers&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xcornelius+beer+cooler&_nkw=cornelius+beer+cooler&_sacat=0

They seem fairly steep new, alright, and a lot of the second had ones are for collection only in England, but at least it gives you an idea of prices.

-Barry

[Will_D]

Dempsey had a thread some time ago trying to shift 3 of them!

@Brian: Commission please!!

[Will_D]

To answer your question:

Yes myself and James set one up for an evenning.

2 line undercounter cooler like pubs used to use before they got cold rooms and pythons!

Worked a treat

[Greg2013]

http://nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2638.0.html

There you go i'll take that comission please

[irish_goat]

I've seen homebrewers on youtube (and in fact, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head) simply fill a bucket with ice water and leave the corny in it while serving. If you have an American style fridge that dispenses ice this should be no problem.

[DEMPSEY]

Let one go and kept the other one.

[Taf]

Let one go and kept the other one.

Not suprised you let that one go!

[Will_D]

Let one go and kept the other one.

IIRC you had 3

[Bazza]

Cheers for the replies lads.

Haha! Looks like the ould bucket trick might just get used, I haven't seen a problem yet that couldn't be solved by a bucket. NASA swear by the buggers.

I really just need to take the warm (and cold) edge off the beer when the weather's a little hot (or cold; the bucket is many-faceted). Nothing too involved or complicated (or expensive; I'm from the country).

I did look into the idea of a home made jockey box. I've a cheapo Tesco coolbox and plenty of 1/8" beer line to coil up and cover with ice in the coolbox, but then I understand that you really need ss or copper coil as the plastic piping doesn't transfer heat very well.

So the bucket is currently in the lead.

Cheers,

-Barry


EDIT: It appears this is my 100th post! This calls for a celebratory beer. Working from home is great.

[loftybush]

I have one that I'm thinking of off loading if you do decide to go down the beer cooler route.
It was setup to loop through twice to really chill the beer, but I think one loop through cools the beer enough so I use it for a two tap setup.
Liquidating some of my kegging setup to fund some all grain equipment.