Finally talked the wife into letting me do kegging and ended up grabbing a two faucet kegerator with two kegs. I put my Christmas brew in a keg and have enjoyed the results immensely. Moving forward, I am hoping to have both kegs full which means I will have to brew up a few batches here to get caught up since I haven’t brewed since November and bottled two of my last three batches. I am planning on picking up two extra kegs so that I have a total of four that I can rotate through with hopefully little downtime between kegs.
My question is once I’ve transferred the beer into a keg that is not going to go into the kegerator immediately, should I try to carb it gradually at room temp or should I just pressurize the keg and let it sit until it’s ready to go in the kegerator? How long do beers last when stored in kegs? I’m assuming this will be affected by the alcohol content of the beer. I make a lot of IPA’s and bigger beers generally so the lowest I typically get is 6%.
I carbed my first batch at serving pressure in the kegerator for a week rather than force carbing it. Kegs that are not going directly into the kegerator would be stored in my basement which holds around very close to 65 year round. Fermentation chamber is on my project list for this year and they can go in there when I have that ready.
The keg is pretty much one large bottle so most of the same rules apply. I wouldn’t age an IPA long because you’ll lose a lot of the hop aroma but the beer won’t go “bad” as long as everything is clean and sanitary.
If you know the keg is going to be sitting around at room temperature for more than two weeks, you can add priming sugar and have it naturally carbonate. Even if doing that, I would add enough co2 to bleed out the oxygen and to make sure you have a good seal on the keg (literally takes a minute to do).
I’ve got 4 kegs and a 2 tap system, too. Beer’s sat around in kegs for months without a problem.
I still prime with sugar instead of force carbing. Hypothetically it might help with keeping the beer fresh, since the yeast will help consume whatever oxygen’s left in the keg while they’re fermenting the priming sugar. Mostly it’s just that I like having the keg ready to go as soon as I get it hooked up and cooled down instead of having to wait around for it to carbonate.
I also have a 2 tap kegerator and 4 kegs. I also have a second CO2 tank and regulator to precarb kegs while they’re waiting for a spot to open. When I rack to a keg, I let it sit in a closet that’s around 70F. I set the gas to 30psi and let it sit. After a week or two, I take it off the gas and it sits until a spot opens. Once it goes in the kegerator, I release some pressure, let it cool for a day, then start pouring. It’s usually very close to the correct pressure once it cools. I sometimes have to adjust the PSI up or down and/or release some pressure to dial it in, but it’s usually pretty close.
I don’t worry about O2 in kegs because I purge the keg of O2 before I fill it. I hook the gas up to the ‘beer out’ side and pump CO2 in until I can smell it coming from the top. Rack from the bottom up. Purge again with CO2 at 30psi when putting the lid on and you’re good to go.
Fair point. My oxygen paranoia’s more about kegs without the manual relief valve. I don’t trust purging through the gas post 'cuz the dip tube’s a couple inches below the top of the keg.
Swap posts and purge through the beer connect. That tube goes all the way down. Then just swap the posts back.
Not that I use secondaries ofter, but I do the same thing. I remove the quick connect from a CO2 line, sanitize the tubing, insert it down into a carboy, and turn the gas on. I purge the O2 until all I can smell is CO2 (burns the nostrils :lol: ) then rack the beer in.
I’ve got a two tap system and six kegs. As I don’t brew during the summer, I fill everything up in the spring and by early fall I’m looking to start brewing again with something that will be ready fast so I won’t run out. Have never had a problem with beer going bad, and have keg-aged beers almost a year a couple times. All the carbing methods stated above work, but I use something different. I’ll purge the keg of O2 immediately after filling, then shake it up very well while it is hooked to the CO2 tank. About 15 minutes of shaking back and forth and I can no longer hear gas going into the keg. Fully carbonated at that point.
Ok, thanks for the tip. I didn’t purge my first keg with CO2 before I racked but made sure to purge and pressurize after it was full. I will add that step next time. Out of curiousity do you force carb through the gas in line or the beer out line and why? As this was my first I hooked up to the beer out side for the week of carbonation and then swapped it when I was ready to try it.
I purge through the beer out first because that tube runs all the way down to the bottom, pushing the O2 from the bottom up and out. Then when I put the lid on, I push CO2 at 30psi through the gas hook up to help seal the lid.
Swap posts and purge through the beer connect. That tube goes all the way down. Then just swap the posts back.[/quote]
Still, with no manual PRV the only way to bleed gas is through the gas post, so you won’t be able to effectively bleed oxygen that the CO2 pushes up above the level of the gas dip tube. So you can get a bed of CO2 in there while the lid’s open, but I think that any oxygen that gets in before you can get the lid sealed is probably going to stay in there.
Swap posts and purge through the beer connect. That tube goes all the way down. Then just swap the posts back.[/quote]
Still, with no manual PRV the only way to bleed gas is through the gas post, so you won’t be able to effectively bleed oxygen that the CO2 pushes up above the level of the gas dip tube. So you can get a bed of CO2 in there while the lid’s open, but I think that any oxygen that gets in before you can get the lid sealed is probably going to stay in there.[/quote]
I wasn’t even considering a keg without a PRV. Never seen one.
But what you could do is just put the lid in but don’t seal it completely. Let the CO2 push the air out for a few seconds and then seal the lid.
Assuming you can purge manually , you can use my process.
After cleaning the keg, add a few liters water, close the lid and add some CO2 (just a few psi is enough), and drain the water through the “out” post and serving line. Repeat the process with Star San, making sure to roll the keg around to get all surfaces wet. You now have a clean, sanitized sealed keg with some CO2 pressure inside, and a clean, sanitized serving line ready for the next keg hook up. If you want or need to, you could add a step with Beer Line Cleaner or similar before the water step - probably a good idea every now and then.
When you are ready to fill the keg, simply open the lid, pour out the small amount of star san that didn’t go up through the line, and siphon in your beer. Close the lid, pressurize with CO2, then purge the airspace. Repeat the purge 3 times and you’ve gotten rid of the vast majority of the O2.
Then force carbonate. I do that through the gas in post. As I am shaking the keg or rolling it on the floor back and forth, it doesn’t matter really which post is used, but this way I don’t have to change my connection hardware just to do the force carb.
I also like tp store them carbed. If there isn’t a fridge space or CO2 tank available I prime the keg with table sugar, purge the O2 out with a blast of CO2 down the liquid post, pull the relief valve a few times and forget it. A spunding valve is very helpful to keep the carbonation down to the desired level. It seems to take much less sugar to bulk carbonate.
I have in the past just purged the O2 and let it sit until there was a tank ready without any problem though.
, you can use my process.
