Can I keg, carbonate, then remove from fridge for storage?

Hey guys,

Quick question. I have 3 corny kegs and only one CO2 tank/fittings. Can I keg and carbonate my beer (in the fridge), then take the keg off the CO2, leave it at 10 psi, and move it OUTSIDE of the fridge, to make room for carbonating the next keg?

Will the beer continue to condition if it's not chilled? Do I need to worry about the pressure inside the keg rising if the keg is allowed to warm, or will it simply rise to the same level as the CO2 in solution (since the beer is warming too), thus maintaining equilibrium and keeping my beer carbonated to the correct level? How long can I leave the keg unrefrigerated like this before I need to worry about it going "bad?"

The issue is, my fridge simply isn't big enough to store all 3 kegs, with CO2 tank, and still leave room to store my ingredients and maybe cold-crashing/clarifying a carboy. I'm trying to figure out if I can create some sort of "assembly line" and have kegs of finished, carbonated beer in storage outside of the refrigerator.

You are fine doing this. I do it all the time to age my beer. Just keep it at room temp to age.

Thank you Kombat, your question is almost identical to one that I have.

I was considering keg carbing 3 or 4 kegs at a time using a manifold, however if I can do one at a time like this perhaps that would be better? All of the kegs will contain the same batch of cider this year. That is likely to change.

While carbing can I disconnect the CO2 from the keg or does the CO2 have to be connected until it is done?

You may find occasionally that a keg has gone flat. While your beer is in no danger of oxygen exposure, you may have a tiny tiny leak that you cannot see. I recently experienced this with a keg of mine. I'm not sure whether the blowoff valve was just not very "secure", or if it actually leaked.

dmulligan said:

Thank you Kombat, your question is almost identical to one that I have.

I was considering keg carbing 3 or 4 kegs at a time using a manifold, however if I can do one at a time like this perhaps that would be better? All of the kegs will contain the same batch of cider this year. That is likely to change.

While carbing can I disconnect the CO2 from the keg or does the CO2 have to be connected until it is done?

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If you use the force carb method of rolling the keg while hooked up to 25-30psi, then no, you won't have to. I typically will roll it @ 30psi for about 5-7 mins, then I unhook the gas, let it sit for a few hours, then come back and vent off the headspace gas (which is still at a high pressure). Then come back and check on it....it could be overcarb'd slightly (just keep venting off pressure), or undercarb'd (it'll need another short rolling). You do not need gas hooked up during these waiting periods.

What I do is purge and then hit the kegs with 20-30 psi. Then I store them outside the frige at room temp until I have room for them. For stouts, sometimes they sit like that for a couple months. I always bump the pressure relief valves once in a while to make sure they still have pressure and they always do. When room opens up, pop it in the frige and carb it up.

BBL_Brewer said:

What I do is purge and then hit the kegs with 20-30 psi. Then I store them outside the frige at room temp until I have room for them. For stouts, sometimes they sit like that for a couple months. I always bump the pressure relief valves once in a while to make sure they still have pressure and they always do. When room opens up, pop it in the frige and carb it up.

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Just an FYI, you can get a better aging on those stouts by keeping their carbonation relatively low til you're ready to drink.

nickmv said:

Just an FYI, you can get a better aging on those stouts by keeping their carbonation relatively low til you're ready to drink.

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I am keeping the carbonation low. One quick shot of 20-30 psi doen not carbonate the beer. That's just to seal the keg up good. It doesn't actually carbonate until I chill it and leave the gas on for a while. At room temp (~70F), it would take a week at upwards of 30 psi to reach 2.2 volumes of CO2 which is the high end of the recommended carbonation level for stouts. I can't say exactly what it would be becasue the carbonation chart I have only goes to 65F.

I am new to kegging and I have put a keg in fridge for 2 weeks, carbed at normal levels, then tapped it, its carbed well, but still needs to age/condition for a while. Should I take it out of fridge and put at room temp for better aging or no hope for conditioning now at room temp, or just leave in fridge another month? I have plenty of room in fridge, so thats not an issue.

RockyTop11 said:

I am new to kegging and I have put a keg in fridge for 2 weeks, carbed at normal levels, then tapped it, its carbed well, but still needs to age/condition for a while. Should I take it out of fridge and put at room temp for better aging or no hope for conditioning now at room temp, or just leave in fridge another month? I have plenty of room in fridge, so thats not an issue.

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Just leave it in there and it will age and also clear up a little more

Suppose it's already fully carbed and you want to let it age outside the fridge. What pressure do you leave in the keg ?

beauvafr said:

Suppose it's already fully carbed and you want to let it age outside the fridge. What pressure do you leave in the keg ?

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10 psi

Instead of force carbing, I prefer to put 120 grams of dextrose in the keg rack onto it, seal it, purge it, then let it sit for 3 weeks, just like a giant bottle.

I have a similar situation. Only room for 1 keg at a time so I am not able to chill before carbonating. My basement where I keep it it stays at 60-65 degrees. Can I just carb my extra keg by hitting it with ~30 psi a few times (roll around for 5 mins or so), unhook CO2, and let it condition for a couple weeks at 60-65 degrees until space opens up? Then, release pressure and chill to 38 degrees in kegerator at 10-12 psi?

fun4stuff said:

I have a similar situation. Only room for 1 keg at a time so I am not able to chill before carbonating. My basement where I keep it it stays at 60-65 degrees. Can I just carb my extra keg by hitting it with ~30 psi a few times (roll around for 5 mins or so), unhook CO2, and let it condition for a couple weeks at 60-65 degrees until space opens up? Then, release pressure and chill to 38 degrees in kegerator at 10-12 psi?

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I can't say your beer will be fully carbonated if you hit it a few times at 30 PSI and roll it around. Your beer will be fine if you do that for bulk aging until you have another space for it. You can also just hit it with 10 psi of air, purge it a few times and let it sit. For science, test the force carb theory. I've never had success in carbonating a beer in basically under an hour doing the roll and gas method.

For bigger beers meant to bulk age, I've also just added priming sugar and let them rest at room temp. I hit the keg with air a few times (air/purge) to ensure the oxygen is gone. This worked very well for me.

I just learned that I can carb a beer and then take it back out of the keezer and let it sit. I have a beer that I am going to see if age does it any good before I decide to abandon it.