Taking 2 kegs to a BBQ on Saturday

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Stevorino

Stevorino

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Never transported my beer and tried to serve it the same day.

I'll be arriving around 1:30pm and the BBQ officially starts at 3pm. So it'll be able to sit idle for about an hour and a half before serving.

One of the kegs is filtered, the other I am planning on jumping tonight to a new keg so the yeast doesn't fly up.

Both are currently carbonated at about 12psi. We're planning on serving it on ice with 6-8ft picnic tap lines and just hooking it up to my current CO2 Regulator.

My main concern is getting there and shooting foam out. Is this a concern and what can I do to prevent that?
 
I am in almost the exact situation, except my keg is naturally carbonated and this will be my first time dispensing from a keg. Subbed.
 
Found this gem in a similar thread:
Yooper said:
I'm pretty lazy for the most part, so I'm all about doing things the easy way. Even if you let the beer sit for a long time, you'll still get sediment in the keg. As you've found, it'll settle and you can pour clear beer, but if you move it, it'll be cloudy again. Even moving it in the kegerator stirs it up.

So, I found a super easy way to take beer to go in a keg! I bought two black quick disconnects (both for the "out" side) and about 3 feet of beerline. Put those together to make a beer line jumper cable.

My procedure is this: Make sure the first keg hasn't moved and is pouring clear beer. Sanitize a second cleaned keg, and then put some co2 in it.Turn off the gas to the first keg. Hook up the "jumper cable" to the first keg and pull the pressure relief vavle on the second keg. Hook the second black QD from the jumper cable to the "out" line of that second keg. Turn on the gas to the first keg, and pull the pressure relief valve on the second keg and the beer will flow. Keep pulling the pressure relief valve on the receiving keg so it will keep flowing.

This keg will have very little yeast still in suspension, and will pour clear after you move it. Those steps I typed up seem complicated, but this literally takes a minute to do once the jumper is made. I just sanitize the jumper line when I sanitize the keg, and I keep it on hand.
Click to expand...

doesn't answer your foam issues, just it might help with your unfiltered keg.
 
Stevorino said:
The yeast you have on the bottom of yours will open up a whole new can of worms, I believe.
Click to expand...

Yea, I know. I was hoping to pull a few pints before moving it, which would maybe get some of the yeast out. It's a pale mild, meant to be cask style, so some yeast isn't a big deal.
 
jbrookeiv said:
Yea, I know. I was hoping to pull a few pints before moving it, which would maybe get some of the yeast out. It's a pale mild, meant to be cask style, so some yeast isn't a big deal.
Click to expand...

You would be better off dumping a few pints (in your mouth), then jumping the rest of the beer to a new keg. That sediment sitting at the bottom of the keg will definitely be kicked up. Of course, if you and your fellow drinking partners do not care about that, then just save the hassle and CO2.
 
+1. I drove a centennial blonde to a friends' house and was ashamed to find it not so brilliantly clear. I don't think it impressed my BMC buddies. Making that jumper that Yoop posted about is a great idea.

If your kegs are already settled, then carefully (without shifting the sediment) push from that keg into the OUT side of a second keg using two liquid QDs and a length of hose. This will make everything in the second keg clear.

As far as it being foamy, I don't think it's a concern. You keg will settle down right away, and you are pulling from the bottom, where there is no foam. Just make sure your line length and serving pressure are adjusted right. you may need to turn the pressure in the keg down a bit to keep it from foaming. And put it in a container with some ice covering from 1/3 to 1/2 of the keg.
 
The beer should be fine.

The only reason it will foam when you get where you are going is because a) the beer warms up during the trip, causing CO2 solubility to drop, causing foam; b) you don't serve the beer at the same pressure as you do at home, with the same length of beer line.

I've transported kegs before and had no problems. If your line is shorter, or it starts to warm up, you may need to screw with pressure to make it work right again though.
 
Great stuff. I just did a test run - 12 foot lines on both picnic taps to be safe. I'm going to let them rest an hour before I touch them just to be on the safe side. Hook them up, and let'em rip!

Got a Vienna Lager & Amber Ale on tap - just jumped the amber and both taste RIDICULOUSLY good - both top 10 beers of mine, so I'm pumped say the least.
 
Stevorino said:
Great stuff. I just did a test run - 12 foot lines on both picnic taps to be safe. I'm going to let them rest an hour before I touch them just to be on the safe side. Hook them up, and let'em rip!

Got a Vienna Lager & Amber Ale on tap - just jumped the amber and both taste RIDICULOUSLY good - both top 10 beers of mine, so I'm pumped say the least.
Click to expand...

Sounds great! I wish I was invited to the BBQ. :p
 
Sounds like an awesome idea. I'm bringing 2 kegs of beer to OBX in NC with me at the end of May. I was just going to live with the murkiness, but since I have extra kegs this sounds perfect. Probably need to get longer beer lines though.
 
Just as a follow up - I let them sit an hour and after about a third of a cup of foamy beer, it was perfect flowing.

Both Kegs were killed within an hour and a half. Only complaint was that there wasn't more!
 

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