How long can we leave in a carboy ?

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jesseroberge

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I Have a silly but at the same time complex question... I have 2 beers that are ageing in the kegs in my kegerator, now I only have space for 2 kegs in my frige, I want to brew another 5 gallon batch in a few weeks but I have no idea when my kegs will be empty for me to allways have a ready batch to put them in ... To make a long story short I don't want to wait cor my kegs to be empty to brew a new batch and then be without home brew for like 2 months while the new batch ages... I hope I explained my problem right... Thanks in advance...
 
You don't really indicate how long your beer would need to sit. I think it would be fine, but I would suggest brewing somewhat stronger ales that benefit more from aging. You might also want to consider using secondary fermenters if it is going to sit for an extended period, so you can harvest the yeast for future brewing.
 
I routinely leave beers in the primary for 3-4 weeks. I've also had success leaving them in the primary for up to 2 months. I know other people have gone longer, but I'd probably try to get them out of the primary within 3 months. In short, you can leave beer in a carboy for a long time.
 
Our club did a "big brew" in May its a golden ale- i have two carboys still on the yeast. Going to keg this week then Ill update. Never done this before and kind of curious/nervous. I used 1056 for both.
 
you have tons of options. Brew away and you could do any of the following

Bottle it
buy more kegs, let the beer naturally carb(or condition) at room temp before moving into the fridge
buy a secondary to get it off the yeast cake when you start getting nervous, but like some have said they have had success after months(I have not tried)
Invite friends over to help empty a keg

I see no reason why you shouldnt brew :mug:
 
My most basic advice is to acquire more kegs.

There is no reason why your beer cannot stay in primary for 4 or more weeks. If your sanitation practices are sound, there is little risk of infection, and autolysis is rare at low fermentation temperatures (in the 60's).
 
Can I brew a beer let it be till primary is done, keg the beer in a stirile keg at room temp ? Maby that would do the trick :) then all i'd have to do is force carb it :) I would have to buy 2 more kegs but that could realy help...
 
Yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable way to store new beer until it's optimal drinking age. You can even prime it in the keg - use about half as much priming sugar as you would for bottles.
 
If I am to put it into a keg for storage in a dark place should I put a CO2 blanket on the head space of the keg ?? If so, what would be the best pressure? Any risk of off tastes if I primary ferment then stright to keg in the closet for ageing, the beer will never get chilled before I carb it up in the kegerator when a slot becomes avalible ...
 
Whenever you keg a beer, you should always purge the headspace of atmospheric gasses by pressurizing it with co2 and relieving the pressure 5 or 6 times (well, I do it 6 times), and then bring it up to pressure again with co2.

Kegs seal from the inside, and will not seal properly without internal pressure.

7psi bare minimum. 12psi reasonable. 20psi not unreasonable - you were planning on carbonating it anyway - but if your co2 system doesn't have a check valve protecting your regulator, you should make sure that you release the pressure before hooking it up for serving.

And, a keg is a dark place :)
 
TimpanogosSlim said:
Whenever you keg a beer, you should always purge the headspace of atmospheric gasses by pressurizing it with co2 and relieving the pressure 5 or 6 times (well, I do it 6 times), and then bring it up to pressure again with co2.

Kegs seal from the inside, and will not seal properly without internal pressure.

7psi bare minimum. 12psi reasonable. 20psi not unreasonable - you were planning on carbonating it anyway - but if your co2 system doesn't have a check valve protecting your regulator, you should make sure that you release the pressure before hooking it up for serving.

And, a keg is a dark place :)
Click to expand...

Also, it might not be a bad idea for your last pressure purge to go up to even 30psi to ensure that your lid seal gets seated nice and tight. Nothing would be worse than a leak in your lid and you not knowing it, letting air in and skunking your beer.
 

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