[dzlater]

I have an apartment size fridge 58" tall.
If I built one of these http://www.byo.com/stories/projects-and-equipment/article/indices/20-build-it-yourself/349-build-a-beer-engine-projects
and mounted it on top of the fridge, running the beer line from a corny keg in the refrigerator, through the freezer. Would it work? Is that too far to pump the beer?
In the linked article it says to lay the keg on it's side and serve through the gas post, I thought that was only if you wanted to serve using gravity? Or do need the gravity pressure to get the pump to work?

[oscarvan]

It would work, briefly, until the vacuum in the cask would no longer be overpowered by the pump. So, you'll need to put a connector on the gas side of the corny with a short piece of hose to let the air in.

Speaking of which, the problem with casks is that the air gets into them as you serve them. So, either you serve it quickly or you the beer goes bad. Unless you hook up just a wee bit of N2 on the gas side to act as an inert replacement for the beer. But now it all gets tricky and more spensive.

Also, to be a true cask conditioned ale make sure you let the beer carbonate itself, no CO2, no sugar. And finally, most fridges will run no warmer than 40-45. Cask ale is served at cellar temperature, ie 50-55. So you'll need an external controller.

[anthony]

As far as I know, real ale / cask conditioned ale, often has priming sugar added to it...

http://www.camra.org.uk/visageimages/pdfs/how_beer_is_brewed.pdf

[oscarvan]

I sit corrected...... learn something every day.