How long beer lasts in a keg?

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robbo007

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Hi all,
I've had my beer fermenting in the fermenter 4 weeks and will be going on holiday. Not sure if I should keg it or leave it in the fermenter. How long would it last in the keg?
 
Keg it. Purge out the O2 with the CO2 and either let it sit, or set it to the set/forget pressure in the frige to carb.

Will last a LONG time in the keg in a CO2 environment.
 
If I want to set/force pressure in the fridge to carbonate what pressure would I want to use? 30psi?
 
9-10 psi in a cool fridge (say 40 deg F) if you want light carbonation. 12 psi for average carbonation. 14-15 psi for high carbonation (must have long enough beer lines for this to avoid excessive foaming).

If your fridge is colder and near freezing, a tad less pressure is needed. If it's near 50F, a tad more pressure is needed. There are carbonation charts on this site if you search for them.
 
I have the same 'going on holiday' issue and want to know if I can low carb an ale and leave it in the fridge at this low pressure and dial it up when I get back after a month, or is it not that simple? This way the keg would be a low pressure secondary.
 
The beer will keg for years in a keg, that real worries is what type of beer is it. Like a stout you can keep 5-10 years and will get better with time, while an IPA, normally should be drank as fresh as possible.
 
I have the same 'going on holiday' issue and want to know if I can low carb an ale and leave it in the fridge at this low pressure and dial it up when I get back after a month, or is it not that simple? This way the keg would be a low pressure secondary.

Sure that would be fine. Purge the head space a few times. Then dial up to 30 psi to set the seals. And dial back to 8 or 9 psi for long term cold storage. As alternative, you could just set the seals at 30 psi and disconnect the gas. This would increase the time needed to carbonate however.
 
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