Longevity of keggend beer stored at 66 F.

My number of available brew days is going decrease in e few month with the addition of a new baby to our family. Thus, I have been thinking about purchasing a few more kegs and making double recipes of our favorite beers. What I would like to know is what is a reasonable amount of time to expect 5-6% abv beers to stay good for if stored at 66 F? This will be assuming that I have purged the kegs and driven as much O2 out as possible. Is the expectation of 6-8 months reasonable?

Like the guy said in the other thread, it's just a big bottle.

I always have 4 or 5 kegs at room temperature, waiting for duty. Last year I kept a berliner weisse (3%) in a keg for at least 6 months.

I think you'd be fine with 6-8 months, especially if you can keep them cool.

If I were doing this I would prime them and naturally carb them, I think this will increase the amount of time they can be stored. Although we tend to drink our beer very quickly I wouldn't hesitate to store a beer like that for months or even years. If you have a friend or family member with a cellar you could store them there and increase the viable storage time as well.

OK...good ideas and I appreciate your responses. I really don't want to have to give up my brewing when the new baby comes and i have really started to appreciate how well homebrew can taste that I would like to have access to it year round.

COLObrewer said:

If I were doing this I would prime them and naturally carb them, I think this will increase the amount of time they can be stored. Although we tend to drink our beer very quickly I wouldn't hesitate to store a beer like that for months or even years. If you have a friend or family member with a cellar you could store them there and increase the viable storage time as well.

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That's a great point. Active yeast in the keg should use up available oxygen.

The main downside is hop aroma tends to fade, however, with kegs you can always dry hop just before serving.

passedpawn said:

That's a great point. Active yeast in the keg should use up available oxygen.

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Should I still try to purge out much of the O2 with CO2 after racking if I plan to carb these with corn sugar? Any reason to pull the release valve at all while these are trying to carb up?

david_42 said:

The main downside is hop aroma tends to fade, however, with kegs you can always dry hop just before serving.

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I have dry hopped in kegs before with good results. I usually let kegs sit in the keezer for 1-2 weeks in order to cold condition before sampling. I could use this time to add some dry hops if the beer has been in there for a long time.

msa8967 said:

Should I still try to purge out much of the O2 with CO2 after racking if I plan to carb these with corn sugar? Any reason to pull the release valve at all while these are trying to carb up?

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I'd still definitely plan on purging the keg. There's always a little oxygen that inevitably gets in, and that should be more than enough for the yeast to consume with the priming sugar. Don't bother pulling the release valve, that will let all that good carbonation out.

Not sure about your kegs, but some of mine need a little boost of pressure to make sure they seal up tight, so I'd hit them with 25-30psi to purge and then seal up the connections. Since you aren't leaving it connected its not enough to influence your priming sugar calculations at all.

Also, make sure you run the priming sugar through a calculator for kegging. Not sure the physics behind it, but you need less sugar for a keg than the equivalent number of bottles (something about the difference in total surface area between the two options I think).

Edit: Almost forgot, congrats on the kid!

To the OP,
Congrats on the new addition. I have spent the summer doing the exact same thing as we are expecting a baby boy on Sept 5. I still have an ale and two lagers to brew. I have 5 kegs all carbing up as we speak. I specifically brewed beers that would need a little extra brewing time. Fingers are crossed.

msa8967 said:

Should I still try to purge out much of the O2 with CO2 after racking if I plan to carb these with corn sugar? Any reason to pull the release valve at all while these are trying to carb up?

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I will typically pull the relief a few days after priming just to be certain most oxygen is gone but Passedpawn is correct the yeast will use it up. Also a good practice is to turn them upside down for a bit to make certain they are sealed.

COLObrewer said:

I will typically pull the relief a few days after priming just to be certain most oxygen is gone but Passedpawn is correct the yeast will use it up. Also a good practice is to turn them upside down for a bit to make certain they are sealed.

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Thanks for the tip about turning them upside down to check the quality of the seal. I probably would not have thought of that on my own. Always good to see other brewers willing to share their insights.

msa8967 said:

Always good to see other brewers willing to share their insights.

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I think that's on the signpost as you enter Home Brew Town. It's the motto here.