Lagering/Conditioning in Cornies...

Anyone have any pros/cons on lagering/conditioning in cornies and just tapping it up when ready?

"when ready" is the con. You will drink about half before it's really ready. I've been doing that for the past 2 weeks.

The lure of having the keg drinkable is the only con. I tend to put the kegs into the kegerator to condition, but the next thing you know it is carbed and your pouring pints. BY the time it is "ready" half or more is already gone.

Can't think of any cons other than what Bobby mentioned. Truly requires restraint. Many pros though.

I don't have any cons with 2 kegs on tap and 18 kegs waiting...

The trick is.... take your taps apart so you have no way of dispencing. I Love lagering in cornies and my keezer can fit six cornies so I have other options besides my Lagers.

When conditioning/lagering, do you purge out the Oxygen w/ some CO2 or just fill, cap and let it be? Don't the cornies need a little bit of pressure to create a seal?

You absolutely need to purge the O2 in the headspace(unless you like oxidized beer). Keg and carb as normal - just don't stick a tap on it. And as Bobby sez - stick it in the fridge.

There's no harm in putting a short shot of 30-40psi on the keg and then disconnecting. It's not enough to fully carb it but seals the keg and gets it started to carbing when you finally do want to drink it.

Bobby_M said:

There's no harm in putting a short shot of 30-40psi on the keg and then disconnecting. It's not enough to fully carb it but seals the keg and gets it started to carbing when you finally do want to drink it.

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I might do this with my Amber Lager (its a bastard lager made with California Lager yeast and fermenting at ~62F). I only have two faucets on my new keg system, but I have room to fit three cornies plus the tank. This would give me a way to do an extended cold lagering without doing the icebath shuffle of frozen water bottles for a few months.

On a side note, my in-laws are redoing the kitchen in the fall and offered us there fridge when they do. Wife already said we can toss it in the garage to be used for lagering/kitchen overflow since "you already use the entire fridge in the basement for beer."