Keg Beer Storage without refrigeration

So I have what i think is a small problem and certainly can't be the first...
I am providing beer for a friends wedding and will have about 6 Sixtels when I am done. I kegged two Sixtels of a bourbon stout that I make, carbonated it and left it sit in the corner of my basement. It's been their for about 30 days now.
There is so much pressure built up in the keg I had to take it outside and relieve the pressure while holding a garden hose to it and still had beer everywhere.

Is it building pressure because it's not chilled?
I don't think it's excess Yeast as this went through a primary and secondary before being filtered and then into Kegs.

Is it okay to carbonate and them let it sit in a 60-65 degree area?

Are you force carbing it cold or are you using priming sugar? If you are force carbing it cold and then letting it sit out the co2 is coming out of soloution because the beer can hold more co2 at lower temps than at 65°. Kegged beer that sits off gas will eventually lose carbonation.

If you aren't force carbing did you use a priming sugar calculator? It takes much less sugar to carb a keg than bottles.

MSKBeerfan said:

Is it okay to carbonate and them let it sit in a 60-65 degree area?

Click to expand...

Sure. I used to do this without any issue. I never kept them like that for more than a month or two though.

jekeane said:

Kegged beer that sits off gas will eventually lose carbonation.

Click to expand...

Please explain. Doesn't make sense to me.

jekeane said:

Are you force carbing it cold or are you using priming sugar? If you are force carbing it cold and then letting it sit out the co2 is coming out of soloution because the beer can hold more co2 at lower temps than at 65°. Kegged beer that sits off gas will eventually lose carbonation.

If you aren't force carbing did you use a priming sugar calculator? It takes much less sugar to carb a keg than bottles.

Click to expand...

I think you forgot to finish your sentence. I will help. "... if you have a leak."

There you go.

sandyeggoxj said:

I think you forgot to finish your sentence. I will help. "... if you have a leak."

There you go.

Click to expand...

Yes a leak is the biggest culprit but if it sits at room temp vs the temp it was carbonated at co2 will diffuse out of solution and leave you with an under carbonated beer if not brought back dow to the temperature the beer was originally carbonated at. So to better finish my sentence I will say Kegged beer that sits off gas at room temperature will eventually lose carbonation unless it is chilled down to close to original temperature.

jekeane said:

Yes a leak is the biggest culprit but if it sits at room temp vs the temp it was carbonated at co2 will diffuse out of solution and leave you with an under carbonated beer if not brought back dow to the temperature the beer was originally carbonated at. So to better finish my sentence I will say Kegged beer that sits off gas at room temperature will eventually lose carbonation unless it is chilled down to close to original temperature.

Click to expand...

If there is no leak won't the co2 just come out of solution until an equilibrium is meet with the headspace in the keg? I wouldn't think the pressure can just build and build in the headspace.

This sounds more like too much priming sugar in the keg causing over carbonation and maybe even over filling the keg if that much foam is coming out when the pressure is released.

A sealed keg full of carbonated beer without any active fermenting yeast can be thought of as a large bottle of beer. No more complicated than that.

A bottle of beer does not lose carbonation at warm temps. The head space CO2 pressure equalizes with that in the beer at a given temperature and nothing further happens.

Head space pressure does not continue to rise and rise as this would break the laws of thermodynamics.

If the keg loses pressure there is a leak
If he beer is building up more and more carbonation fermentation was not over before packaging.

The issue is one of these things.

Gavin C said:

Head space pressure does not continue to rise and rise as this would break the laws of thermodynamics.

Click to expand...

Bingo. CO2 will not leave the beer into the headspace of the keg. Unless you have a leak

I routinely leave my kegged beers at room temperature. I can also "burp" them with out a huge explosion. One of three things has happened. Either you've way over carbonated the beer, you kegged too early and fermentation is still occuring, or you have some kind of infection in the beer. The one and only time I had to "burp" a keg outside was an Oktoberfest that had an infection and the keg was like a bomb.

passedpawn said:

Bingo. CO2 will not leave the beer into the headspace of the keg. Unless you have a leak

Click to expand...

+1 just today I found an old keg with home brew, that keg and beer was still just as carbonated as it was the day I filled it, that was over a year ago

I have had beer in kegs at room temp for months once over a year, actually my pumpkin ale the I brewed in 2013 is still in the keg (it aged really well and is now delicious so I'm taking it slow) and has been for 18 months now.

I make 10 gallon batches and it is not uncommon for me to have multiple kegs at room temp for months that don't loose carbonation.

Can you imagine how many kegs, cans and bottles of commercial beer are going flat everyday??

I think it has been answered to death but there is nothing wrong with room temperature carbonated beer. I have a couple kegs of it myself. I want them to condition faster than they would in the fridge.

Don't want to beat a dead horse here. But I have the same question but I haven't kegged anything yet. So just to verify.

I have a one keg fridge right now. But I haven't finished the keg in it. I am ready to keg my IPA.

Should I.

1) Put in keg and do nothing?
2) Put in keg, put some CO2 to it (What pressure), and then leave it out until I am ready to tap?
3) Put in keg, cold carbonate and then take it out?
4) Something else cause those 3 options sucked.

Thank you in advance.

ChokingOnTheBack said:

Don't want to beat a dead horse here. But I have the same question but I haven't kegged anything yet. So just to verify.

I have a one keg fridge right now. But I haven't finished the keg in it. I am ready to keg my IPA.

Should I.

1) Put in keg and do nothing?
2) Put in keg, put some CO2 to it (What pressure), and then leave it out until I am ready to tap?
3) Put in keg, cold carbonate and then take it out?
4) Something else cause those 3 options sucked.

Thank you in advance.

Click to expand...

I would look in to natural carbing in the keg. Add an appropriate amount of sugar when you keg. Then pressurize the keg to seal and let it sit for a few weeks. Just like when bottling, but you use less sugar.

This will let you carb the IPA without putting it in the fridge.

I have carbonated many kegs at room temperature. I just turn up the pressure a bit. Use a keg carbonation calculator and input your beer temperature and desired volume of co2 and off you go. It works just fine.

ChokingOnTheBack said:

Don't want to beat a dead horse here. But I have the same question but I haven't kegged anything yet. So just to verify.

I have a one keg fridge right now. But I haven't finished the keg in it. I am ready to keg my IPA.

Should I.

1) Put in keg and do nothing?
2) Put in keg, put some CO2 to it (What pressure), and then leave it out until I am ready to tap?
3) Put in keg, cold carbonate and then take it out?
4) Something else cause those 3 options sucked.

Thank you in advance.

Click to expand...

Remove keg in there now and replace with IPA. Let is sit overnight to get cold.
Next day connect to 12psi and shake the living crap out of it. If you have a long (10') piece of gas line, it helps. Set it on the ground (on towel) and roll it back and forth. Do this for 10 minutes or longer, depending on your fatigue level.
Put the first beer back in there, enjoy. The IPA is mostly carbed now and will be ready for service soon after you connect it.

sandyeggoxj said:

I have carbonated many kegs at room temperature. I just turn up the pressure a bit. Use a keg carbonation calculator and input your beer temperature and desired volume of co2 and off you go. It works just fine.

Click to expand...

this works if you have the ability to have two pressures, but if he can only have one pressure and wants to keep his current keg connected then natural carbonation is an option. so is the method @passedpawn details below would allow the OP to only need to disconnect the current keg for a few days.

passedpawn said:

Remove keg in there now and replace with IPA. Let is sit overnight to get cold.
Next day connect to 12psi and shake the living crap out of it. If you have a long (10') piece of gas line, it helps. Set it on the ground (on towel) and roll it back and forth. Do this for 10 minutes or longer, depending on your fatigue level.
Put the first beer back in there, enjoy. The IPA is mostly carbed now and will be ready for service soon after you connect it.

Click to expand...

I use this method for most of my kegs now. Chill them down to serving temp then hit them with 12-15 PSI and shake the heck out of them until no more gas is going in. Let them sit for a couple days to settle out and you are ready to rock.

I'm in the non-shaking camp

36 hours at 30 psi for a chilled keg. ( I cold crash before kegging)

Burp keg and Reduce to serving pressure 12 psi

A little less psi for stouts a little more psi for Hefeweizen

Works every time.

2 days wait for a beer when I have another tap on the go is not a problem.

I use quick disconnects in my keezer, so I swap lines so CO2 is building pressure through dip tube. 30 psi to seal and use pressure relief valve to bubble keg until it squirts. Repeat until ready over a day or two. It saves a lot of physical manipulation of keg, which my old back can do without. Spare kegs are available for the time being, so I'm doing my very first priming sugar keg on a 'Breakfast Stout' clone. Looking forward to that one, because it is the maiden voyage for my new 5 gal oak cask.