Force Carbing then taking it out of the fridge

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Hopper5000

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Hey,

So I have yet to do this but I am curious. I have a beer right in a corny and in the fridge force carbing. I don't really want to have it on tap and was thinking of taking it out and letting it sit for a little while in the basement to age. It's a 3 gallon corny keg and there's about 2.7 gallons of brew in it so a little head space.

I am wondering if when I take it out of the fridge the beer will decarb a bit because gas will escape from solution as the beer warms? Is this a significant amount or does it not matter?

Should I put a higher PSI on the keg before I take it out of the fridge to make up for this?

If it does de-gas a bit then how long would it take to be absorbed back into solution if I put it back in the fridge?
 
I do this all the time. Don't worry about the gas expanding or retracting. When you chill it again, it will be just like nothing ever happened.
 
Excellent question. I have been wondering about this. Trying to figure out if its better to carb, take out of frig and sit vs aging in keg with just enough co2 to prevent oxidation, vs naturally carbing in keg
 
Think of the keg as a big bottle, you can change the temperature but once it's carbed, it's carbed. A cold bottle brought out to room temperature doesn't need to be re-carbonated before you drink it, it just needs to chill back down.

rgarry, the only downsides to chilling it, warming it back up and chilling it again are 1) some claim slightly increased potential for chill haze, and 2) you're basically wasting the energy it'll take to chill the beer since you're just warming it up again, but that's not too significant.

I say if you want to age it, naturally carb it. That way it'll be ready to go when you want to tap it, and you'll save a bit of CO2.
 
zachattack said:
Think of the keg as a big bottle, you can change the temperature but once it's carbed, it's carbed.

Exactly right.
If your gaskets are good, where would the CO2 go?
It's in there and it will still be there when you are ready for it.
 
I guess I was thinking more about the head space issue. Bottle don't have that much head space so if, for example, I drank down half a keg and then took out I was thinking that provides more room for the gas to escape.

As for natural carbing, doesn't that cause issues with clarity? Or am I not correct about that?
 
It'll cause more yeast sediment for sure, but it'll come out with the first pint or two as long as you don't disturb the keg.

The gas won't "escape", rather it'll hang out in the headspace. After a few days of chilling it should be re-equillibrated. If there's a ton of headspace it might need a week (just a guess).
 
Most people find that 1/2 or 2/3 the normal amount of priming sugar works well in a keg.
 
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