Beer in keg

Hello all,

How long can we keep homemade brew in the keg? A bar tender told me that commercial beers like Guinness, Kilkenny, larger etc can only be kept in the keg for a maximum of 4-5days once its has tap. How true is this?

Can I keep my beer in the keg for at least 2-3 months once I hook it up together with Co2?

Quite a bit longer than even 2-3 months with the standard homebrewers' setup pushing beer with an external CO2 source.

schia said:

Hello all,

How long can we keep homemade brew in the keg? A bar tender told me that commercial beers like Guinness, Kilkenny, larger etc can only be kept in the keg for a maximum of 4-5days once its has tap. How true is this?

Can I keep my beer in the keg for at least 2-3 months once I hook it up together with Co2?

Click to expand...

The bartender does not know what he is talking about. As long as it's on CO2 it will be fine for several months (both homebrew and commercial). The old college keg party pump style taps are a different story because you are pumping regular air with oxygen and generrally dirt into your keg.

Just like with bottled beer; it depends on what the beer is. The big benefit of kegging over bottling is that you can remove virtually all oxygen from the keg and prevent oxidation plus keep it out of all light.

So more to your actual question. IPAs and other highly hopped beers are better off being consumed sooner as the lose their bitterness and hop flavor over time. Your higher alcohol beers will typically benefit from aging. And a keg is the perfect place to do it.

A keg is a big bottle, basically. You can keep beer in a keg for as long as you can keep beer in a bottle.

schia said:

Hello all,

How long can we keep homemade brew in the keg? A bar tender told me that commercial beers like Guinness, Kilkenny, larger etc can only be kept in the keg for a maximum of 4-5days once its has tap. How true is this?

Can I keep my beer in the keg for at least 2-3 months once I hook it up together with Co2?

Click to expand...

He probably assumed your using a party tap and pumping air into the keg. With those taps you will oxidize the beer rather quickly. Depending on the temp and how much air you pump in, it may taste stale in a day. If you keep it wicked cold it may be OK for a few days. 4-5 days max. Understand?