Corny Keg - advice

Hi

Sorry for the basic question but I want to get a corny but need to know best method for using one.

Once kegged and carbonated, if I store it out of the fridge do I need to carb again before serving or can I just chill and serve?

Is there any issues with rotating the keg in and out of the fridge? It likely I will only have it in the fridge when I want to drink it and it won't be stored there constantly.

Cheers
Andy

If the keg is sealed you wouldn't need to carbonate it again. The issue you might have, is that the amount of C02 that will stay in solution is a function that is temperature dependent. 12 psi at 40f will give you about 2.5 volumes in your beer. The same 12 psi at 65f will give you 1.52, as cold beer can hold more C02. So your warm beer will be less carbonated, you put it in the fridge to chill and pull a flat pint or two, and the beer will start to equalize toward 2.5 volumes as it cools, and then you're going to take it out of the fridge again.

Equalization takes time, as does cooling a large mass. My guess is that getting a good balance of cold and carbed will take some tweaking. How often are you planning on putting it in and taking it out?

As long as the keg has a good seal, it will maintain carbonation during non-refrigerated storage.

It won't hurt the beer to cycle in and out between refrigerated and non-refrigerated environments. However, there is usually some amount of yeast and other solids in suspension at the time of kegging that will gradually settle out with time and this is sped up when refrigerated. Constantly moving a keg from one place to another will result in constantly disturbing the sediment that forms in the bottom of the keg. To prevent this, aside from leaving the keg in place once it's put on tap for serving would be to either filter you beer prior to kegging or to let it cold condition for a couple of weeks in the keg and then do a CO2 transfer of the clear beer to another keg. A long cold crash prior to kegging would also help minimize suspended solids from transferring with the beer.

As the others said it won't hurt the beer taking it in and out, though it will age faster warm. Good points from the guys above regarding disturbing sediment and also chill time. IME it takes a good 2 days to get a keg chilled. So if you're talking about rotating it out once or twice for the duration of the keg its not a big deal, but you wouldn't want to be doing it every time you want a beer. You can't get a cheap dedicated fridge on craiglist or somewhere?

That is for the info guys.

I currently have 2 temp controlled brew fridges, but if I am fermenting 2 batches its unlikely I will be able to keep the keg in the fridge too, hence taking it in and out.

Ideally I will only brew a batch when the keg is low so it may not be an issue.

If I store the keg in the fridge once it is carbonated, the keg doesn't need to be attached to co2 does it? Is it only when I need to pour from the keg that I need co2?

AJT said:

If I store the keg in the fridge once it is carbonated, the keg doesn't need to be attached to co2 does it? Is it only when I need to pour from the keg that I need co2?

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Once it is fully carbonated, you must maintain the head pressure required for your desired carbonation to keep CO2 from leaving solution. So once you are done serving, you will have to bump the pressure back up. Simplest solution is to always have CO2 hooked up, but sounds like you need the CO2 for other applications/kegs. When you plan to drink you can hook up the CO2 disconnect, then when you're done for the night, remove the disconnect.

For moving a keg in and out of the fridge, I would bump the head pressure on the keg when you plan to move it. So lets say you have a pale ale at 2.5 volumes that is fully carb'd. Fridge temp is 40F, so you set the regulator to 12-12.5 psi. You plan to move the keg outside of the fridge to room temp, around 70F, which requires 28.5-29 psi. Set your regulator to 29 PSI and bump the head pressure up after you remove the keg. Then when you move the keg into the fridge again, bleed the head pressure and repressurize at 12 psi. That's what I would do.