Storing full kegs

Do full carbonated kegs need to be stored refrigerated? I have limited cold storage but want to keep plenty of beer types available.

No

LLBeanJ said:

No

Click to expand...

Thank you!

Sure, no problem. Just to clarify... don't store them in your 100° garage, as that would not be good for the beer. Store them someplace where the ambient temp is 70s or lower if you can. If you have a basement or cellar, put them there.

LLBeanJ said:

Sure, no problem. Just to clarify... don't store them in your 100° garage, as that would not be good for the beer. Store them someplace where the ambient temp is 70s or lower if you can. If you have a basement or cellar, put them there.

Click to expand...

Thanks this is helpful. What about high hop beers like IPAs? I think I read somewhere that non refrigerated beers can loose hop flavor?

Thanks!

They do lose hop flavor/aroma. When that happens, I just brew up a hop tea and pour it into the keg. Fill a french press with hot water approx. 160 degrees. drop desired hops into french press (hops you might normally use for dry hopping) and let it sit for an hour. Then open the keg up, press the french press and pour in the tea. voila! More hop taste and aroma.

Brian77095 said:

What about high hop beers like IPAs? I think I read somewhere that non refrigerated beers can loose hop flavor?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

As stated by the above poster, they definitely do, as will also happen with extended aging at any temp. When I brew styles that are better when consumed young, I try to time them so that they won't have to sit very long waiting for a tap to open. I also wait to do any dry hopping until just a few days before it will be moved to the fridge (I.e., add bagged dry hops to keg, wait 3-4 days, move keg to fridge with the hops still inside).

The other thing to note is that if you carbed the beer at a lower temp, removed it from the fridge/keezer and let it sit storage-wise at a warmer temp, the more CO2 will want to come OUT of suspension in the beer so you can bet your lines will foam like a fiend until the keg and beer come back down to your serving temp and the beer equalizes the CO2 again.

Also if you carbed the beer up at room temp and then put it into a fridge at say 36Deg, it will seem flatter as it chills until the beer equalizes again with the proper CO2 at that fridge temp as the beer can hold more CO2 at lower temps so it may need a little more time on the gas before the carbonation feels/tastes right at serving temp.

Just some advice when storing beer outside of serving temp as I have stored kegs outside of serving temp due to space limitations in the past and this was my experience.

Brian77095 said:

Thanks this is helpful. What about high hop beers like IPAs? I think I read somewhere that non refrigerated beers can loose hop flavor?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

They definitely do, but having it bulk stored in a purged keg really helps its shelf life. I've mentioned this on a ton of other threads, so I dont want to sound like a broken record, but I had a DIPA dry hopped in the keg, sitting at room temp for a bit over 4 months before I put it into a kegerator and it was great