Dumb question here, I apologize. I have a small mini fridge that I would like to convert to a kegerator. This mini fridge is too small to hold a 5gallon corny keg standing up right. The 5gallon keg would fit in the mini fridge if it is slightly tilted. Will this setup work with the keg being tilted? If this doesnt work are 3gallon kegs available for purchase from brewers or distributors? Im just trying to get this information in order before I go buy a larger mini fridge (If needed) Sorry again for the dumb questions, Im new here. Thanks.
How tilted are we talking here? Slightly off from being level is probably ok, but if you have that thing at any noticeable lean you will more than likely he leaving quite a bit of beer behind in it..
I'm having trouble imagining any type of tilted keg setup ending in anything but sorrow or frustration. 3 gallon kegs are available. I've seen them at Northern Brewer and at Keg Connection, and I'm sure they're available elsewhere. But 3 gallon kegs are not true 'corny' kegs (from the soda industry), so you're not nearly as likely to find them used. And the new ones are very expensive. You may find the best and cheapest option is to get a bigger fridge (or freezer). You can often find chest freezers dirt cheap on Craigslist.
+1 on a bigger freezer. A new 3 gallon keg could easily set you back more than the price of a used chest freezer.
Somehow my original reply to this got deleted but as long as you are not tilting it too much, the worst thing I see happening is leaving a little beer in the bottom of the keg. You could disassemble the keg and orient your dip tube to the side that your keg is leaning.
While there are exceptions, most dip tubes have a bend that causes them to draw from the center of an indentation in the bottom of the keg.
I dont see any problems with it. If it's for homebrew, there are 2 types of liquid dip tubes in the corny kegs. One is like mikehartigan described above where the dip tube is bent draws and liquid from the center, in this case you'd be leaving behind a decent amount of beer. There are also kegs where the dip tube goes straight down and there is a small channel that draws all the beer to one side, you could lean your keg on the dip tube side and you'd be able to draw all your beer with no adjustments. If your doing commercial 5 gal kegs you could always remove the keg and place it upright before opening the tap when you get down to the last gallon or so.
It's not ideal but you could just bend the dip tube to pull from the corner of the keg. Is it a freezer compartment that's blocking the keg? if so, I have see where people have bent/removed those to make the kegs fit. Also, pin lock kegs are a bit shorter and fatter than ball lock.
