How do I drink my beer??

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waskelton4

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this is the beginner's forum right?? :)

ok ok.. so i actually already know how to drink my beer.. but.. here is my issue

I have a keg at room temp (about 70deg) that has had about 30 lbs of CO2 pressure on it for a couple of weeks. (it is a porter)

I'd gotten a little ahead of myself and kegged the beer without having a fridge for it.

I don't have a way to cool the keg and keep it cool for an extended amount of time. ( cooling the whole thing in a tub of ice and then letting it warm back up wouldn't be a good idea would it?)


soo.. how do i drink it without buying a fridge for it?

thanks
ws
 
buy some of those plastic mugs that have a chamber of water within the walls that you can freeze. Freeze the mug, pour a warm beer, let it sit a while.

Of course, I like my porters at a relatively warmer temp, so I'd probably just drink it at room temp.

As for the repeated cooling and warming of the beer. I am not certian, but I do no expect that this would be detrimental in any way.
 
Use a draft box like this:

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16403

Basically from what I gather it's like a wort chiller in the cooler filled with ice. Your draft line goes through the cooler, through the "chiller" and out the tap (be it shanked through the box or a picnic style tap). Cheap & portable for when you want to take your keg on your road. A friend of mine built one for pretty cheap.
 
If it isn't too humid, you can get 10-15F of cooling just by wrapping a damp towel around the keg. That would be about right for a porter. I'd back off on the pressure before serving.
 
david_42 said:
If it isn't too humid, you can get 10-15F of cooling just by wrapping a damp towel around the keg. That would be about right for a porter. I'd back off on the pressure before serving.

I might give this a shot.. or maybe just drop the thing in an ice bath after all and drink lots :)

I'll make sure to back off the pressure..
I can imagine that serving warmish beer around 30 psi could make quite a mess :)

ws
 
My grandmother would put watermelons in a tub of water under The Big Bed to cool them.
 
Tell you what, Pennsyvania's not that far from Massachusetts. Why don't you ship it to my house, I'll keep it cold for you, and you can swing by for a pint when you feel like it?
 
the_bird said:
Tell you what, Pennsyvania's not that far from Massachusetts. Why don't you ship it to my house, I'll keep it cold for you, and you can swing by for a pint when you feel like it?

oh.. what a fabulous offer.. but i'm from mississippi...
oh well. ;)

but you are right.. pennsylvania isn't very farr from massachusetts :)
 
waskelton4 said:
I can imagine that serving warmish beer around 30 psi could make quite a mess :)

ws

A beer at 30 psi is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over carbonated and will come out of the keg as 100% foam. Back it off to around 12 psi and keep it there..
 
Mikey said:
A beer at 30 psi is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over carbonated and will come out of the keg as 100% foam. Back it off to around 12 psi and keep it there..

even if it is around 70 deg?

ws
 
I'd serve it at around 3-5 psi or whatever was the lowest you can dial in and still have it dispense.
 
well.. i went ahead and hooked the tap up and dropped the psi as low as i could get it. Still gobs of foam. i did manage to get a glass or two out though.

the beer wasn't bad at all warm although it was better cold. (i just put what i could into a grolsh bottle and stashed it in the freezer for a little while)

I'm using a cobra/picnic style tap on maybe 5 - 6 feet of beer line.
would more line reduce the foam?

ws
 
I wouldn't go more than six feet. Did you bleed off the pressure before resetting the psi? Pull on the check valve a bit and get some of that high pressure out. Dispensing will do the same, it just might take longer and a few more Grolsch bottles...


:cross:
 
yeah..
i dropped the regulator all the way..
then bleed off the pressure to almost none and then brought the regulator back up to maybe 5 psi
 
waskelton4 said:
yeah..
i dropped the regulator all the way..
then bleed off the pressure to almost none and then brought the regulator back up to maybe 5 psi
That won't help that much. Your beer has LOTS of CO2 in it, and with only five or six feet of line, is way way way way out of balance; hence all the foaming.

If you are going to keg, you really should have a dedicated refrigerator to go along with it.
 
waskelton4 said:
well.. i went ahead and hooked the tap up and dropped the psi as low as i could get it. Still gobs of foam. i did manage to get a glass or two out though.

Like I said earlier, its waaaaaaaaaaaa........y etc. overcarbonated. Simply releasing the pressure then trying pour won't help. You've got to get rid of the overdose of CO2 first.

Set your regulator at 12 psi. Every time you walk by the keg, you'll see the pressure has risen again. That's the 30 psi of CO2 coming back out of solution. Bleed it off until the gauge stays at 12 psi, it make take a few days.
 
bikebryan said:
That won't help that much. Your beer has LOTS of CO2 in it, and with only five or six feet of line, is way way way way out of balance; hence all the foaming.
If you are going to keg, you really should have a dedicated refrigerator to go along with it.
Roger, Roger..

Mikey said:
Like I said earlier, its waaaaaaaaaaaa........y etc. overcarbonated. Simply releasing the pressure then trying pour won't help. You've got to get rid of the overdose of CO2 first.
Set your regulator at 12 psi. Every time you walk by the keg, you'll see the pressure has risen again. That's the 30 psi of CO2 coming back out of solution. Bleed it off until the gauge stays at 12 psi, it make take a few days.

Copy that...
I think i figured that part out yesterday..

last night i took the grolsh bottle that had been in the fridge and poured it into a glass..
it was almost totally flat.. soooooo
i went to the keg and basically put some foam and a nice head on top.. made for better drinking..

i've been scouting the classifieds for a chest freezer. hopefully i'll have a dedicated keg fridge soon enough.

thanks for the help everyone!

ws
 
I just looked on promash it says that 30psi at 70F is only 2.6% so... Might just be the heat...
Also if you plan to fill bottles you should invest in a CP-filler.. They are worth the $$.
 
Sephro said:
Also if you plan to fill bottles you should invest in a CP-filler.. They are worth the $$.

Yeah.. thats the plan.. (looking at the beer gun) but with the fridge on the list too..

i need a loan.. hehe

ws
 
Yea there is a chart somewhere with temperatures / pressure ratio for kegged beer. Room temp at 75degrees Id imaging you'd want that pressure turned waay down. Blead the air from the keg first
 
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