storing beer in keg

Ive read the threads regarding storing beer in a keg, but what Im concerned about is that after Ive purged the air out and then hit it with 30psi of nitrogen, the next day there doesnt seem to be much preasure in the keg. There are no leaks, is it just the cold beer obsorbing the nitrogen, if so, do I need to keep hitting it with nitrogen so that it doesnt go bad.

Beer will absorb nitrogen and nitrogen is lighter than air so it's difficult to purge air with it. If you are putting 30 psi in there and not getting any through the vent the next day, there's a leak. Even if the beer absorbed it, when opening the vent it would come out of solution because of the pressure drop (opening to the atmosphere).

When I pull the relief valve you can here a verry small amount of gas excaping, verry small amount. Pretty sure there is no leak as I check everything with snoop after I hit with 30psi.

I don't know about nitrogen, but with CO2, you need to get to the point of equilibrium, which is to say the beer cannot absorb any more C02 for the PSI you have it set to. It's at this point that the keg will hold pressure indefinately.

The only question left is how many volumes you want and what PSI do you set (warm or cold) to achieve this.

I would assume nitrogen works the same way (but I admit I don't know the details).

Im a dumb a** I said nitrogen, but meant CO2. I just want to store the beer in my keg untill Im ready for it, its in my keezer now, but will have to move out to make room for my christmas beer.

Leave the keg on the regular gas line for 48 hours or top it off several times (at 40 psi). Works when I have brewed extra

You could keg it with 1/3 cup sugar, purge with co2, then let it naturally carb up at room temp.

Put 30 psi on your keg that is at about 35 degrees. Tilt it up at an angle and give it 100 shakes back and forth, not too fay to kill your back and fast like to pumps per second. Wait an hour and repeat this process 7 times. Your beer should be nice and carbonated by then.

not trying to carb the keg per say, just want to store it while I drink off of the other kegs. Its in the cooler now, but will have to come out in a couple of weeks.

I think you want to try keg conditioning at room temp. When the beer goes into the keg, add 1/3 cup of sugar. Put the lid on, add a shot of co2, then vent it/ purge and repeat. Then one last addition of co2.
You are purging the oxygen by doing this, not actually carbing it up. The yeast and added sugar will carb it.
Then set it aside, at room temp, until ready to chill and drink.
You are basically bottle conditioning a 5 gallon bottle. When you hook up the co2, its set to serving pressure. The first couple pours will be cloudy from trub, but the rest is all good.

cgrivois said:

not trying to carb the keg per say, just want to store it while I drink off of the other kegs. Its in the cooler now, but will have to come out in a couple of weeks.

Click to expand...

I think this is going to be difficult. If you condition it cold, it's going to absorb any CO2 you hit it with until it's fully carbonated. If you hit it with 30 PSI when it's warm, it'll mostly stay in the headspace. So I think you either need to keep it on the gas for a couple weeks at serving pressure if you want to keep it cold (after that you can pull it out if you want) or let it warm up, hit it with 30PSI again, and forget about it.

Ok, your question is about storage... If you purge out the oxygen in the keg (by putting CO2 in and then venting it about 5 times) and put a blanket of CO2 on the top you should be fine and have no problems. The CO2 will get absorbed into the beer but the headspace will not fill with air unless you have leak. It's basically like putting your beer in secondary. You don't necessarily need to cold condition it while you wait to tap the keg either.

I do this all the time and have had no problems. I had your original question regarding why the CO2 seemed to go away. You eithger have a leak or it's being absorbed.

kinison_fan said:

I think you want to try keg conditioning at room temp. When the beer goes into the keg, add 1/3 cup of sugar. Put the lid on, add a shot of co2, then vent it/ purge and repeat. Then one last addition of co2.
You are purging the oxygen by doing this, not actually carbing it up. The yeast and added sugar will carb it.
Then set it aside, at room temp, until ready to chill and drink.
You are basically bottle conditioning a 5 gallon bottle. When you hook up the co2, its set to serving pressure. The first couple pours will be cloudy from trub, but the rest is all good.

Click to expand...

I do exactly the same thing Kinson Fan does and IMO it is the simplest and most effective way to store beer in kegs. My kegs are conditioning in the basement (think of them simply as 5gal bottles) until I need them in the kegerator. When I finally need them, they are carbed and ready to go.

BTW, I also use 1/3 cup of table sugar per keg. This amount works best with kegs.

Don't you run into clarity problems when you keg prime?

Hopper5000 said:

Don't you run into clarity problems when you keg prime?

Click to expand...

no.

zachattack said:

I think this is going to be difficult. If you condition it cold, it's going to absorb any CO2 you hit it with until it's fully carbonated. If you hit it with 30 PSI when it's warm, it'll mostly stay in the headspace. So I think you either need to keep it on the gas for a couple weeks at serving pressure if you want to keep it cold (after that you can pull it out if you want) or let it warm up, hit it with 30PSI again, and forget about it.

Click to expand...

^^^^ This