Warm Kegs

skyhigh · November 10, 2013, 1:15am

One day, hopefully before next summer, I will have a set up where I can keep my kegs cool but I am just starting out and for now here is my plan. For the winter I am going to be keeping my kegs in a cool spot in my home but not at ideal drinking temperatures. I have some Grolsch style one liter bottles that I plan to fill, from the carbbed kegs, and store the bottles in my fridge. I saw a great DIY bottle filler from BobbyFromNJ on youtube that I will be making.

I am not filling the bottles to store long term, just chilling enough of them to drink leisurely or to take a couple over to a friends.

I am only making ales or big stouts right now so cold storage doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. But I am new to all of this so it would be dumb not to ask. If there are any red flags that you see or precautions that I may take though please let me know.

And, just for the record, I know this is not the ideal scenario. I do home remodel for a living and I put a couple used refrigerators on craigslist every year. It is just a matter of time before I get another and this time make something to keep my kegs cool and then throw the outrageous parties that last until 4.

Thanks

el_capitan · November 10, 2013, 3:30am

I think you might have a problem bottling warm beer from the keg, because CO2 won’t stay dissolved in the beer nearly as well as when it’s cold. I’m guessing you’d struggle with that. Let us know how it goes for you, if you do go that route.

krebsy · November 11, 2013, 6:27pm

I tried fill a growler or two of warm, carbonated beer in the past to see if it would work. I lost most of the CO2 and had a growler of nearly flat beer. I wouldn’t recommend it.

skyhigh · November 12, 2013, 12:43am

Maybe warm was not the best description. Just not cold enough to drink, anywhere from 50-45 degrees is where the kegs will stay for the most part during the winter. I am going to test it with some of my lower gravity brews I have coming out of fermentation. My big RIS and Barleywine in secondary are going to be bottled to be safe.

mullerbrau · November 12, 2013, 2:22am

[quote=“SkyHigh”]Maybe warm was not the best description. Just not cold enough to drink, anywhere from 50-45 degrees is where the kegs will stay for the most part during the winter. I am going to test it with some of my lower gravity brews I have coming out of fermentation. My big RIS and Barleywine in secondary are going to be bottled to be safe.[/quote]Thats a perfect drinking temp IMO.

skyhigh · November 12, 2013, 10:41pm

I am finding that the bigger beers I have brewed (2) taste a little better at that temp but I am a fan of cold beer.

skyhigh · November 21, 2013, 11:00pm

So far so good with the haus pale ale. I did have a couple cold nights back to back where the kegs sat outside but’s been inside now for 3 days at around 65 degrees and holding it’s carbonation well. I top off a liter in the morning and drink it that night. Keg pressure is set at 10-11lbs but lowered substantially when filling the bottles. Just up enough pressure to get it filling from the bottom up. I know I am using more CO2 than neede as I keep bleeding it off and filling it up but I am kegging an English bitter this weekend and will fill up a few bottles and see how that goes.

Again, I know this is not ideal but as long as it gets me through to when I can build my own keezer than I can deal.

I have the RIS carbed up as well and would like to just let it set in the keg for a few months to decide whether or not it is worth bottling. Just after a week it seems 4 times as sweet as when I tested it out of the primary.