Storing beer in a keg

If your beer is finished fermenting but you don't want to drink it right away, how would you prepare it for long term storage inside a keg? Would you pressurize it only some, or fully carb it, or just seal it up and leave it flat, or?

And once you've done whatever it is you would do, how safe is the beer, at that point? Obviously light won't get in, but how temperature sensitive will it be? As robust as bottled beer?

What about if you drink some of the beer from the keg, will it be Ok to take it off the gas and just store the half full keg somewhere for another time?

Thanks, sorry if this is a really basic thing to ask about.

At the very least you'll want to purge any oxygen still in the keg. Keeping it at least a little bit pressurized will also help maintain a seal. How long are you planning to keep it in storage?

A purged corny keg that has some CO2 pressure to keep its lid nice and tight should keep its beer good for a long time. If you plan on storing the keg in a cool or cold place, it will keep for a long time. Years, I would expect, depending on how much alcohol is present and what ingredients were used. If stored in a warm/hot environment, the beer will age faster and wont last as long.

Exactly how long is hard to say, but in general, cooler storage is better than warmer storage for anything.

I have kept beers in a keg for up to a year. It was stored in my basement at @ 65F with just head pressure to maintain seal. The keg carbonated naturally over the year as the yeast ate any remaining sugars. It was an oatmeal stout. I had to chill the beer and degas the beer to get to good carbonation levels. The stout was drier than when it was new but still quite tasty.

Think of a keg as a big bottle.

Ok cool, thanks! That's pretty much what I thought, but I did want to check.

What about rotating out a keg half way through? Will the beer inside be fine, or is it important to bottle it up before pulling it off the gas?

Just leave a little pressure in the keg when you take it off the gas... So long as your keg doesnt leak it, again, will be like a big bottle. Treat it as such.

I am also going to do this on an Oatmeal Stout that is in secondary right now. So i am correct:

Rack to corny keg and put about 10lbs of CO2 in the keg and put it in a cool spot? Lets say about 55 degrees in my fridge..I will put it in the keg at the end of January and then tap it for my birthday in mid April...Would that work out?

mkirkland said:

I am also going to do this on an Oatmeal Stout that is in secondary right now. So i am correct:

Rack to corny keg and put about 10lbs of CO2 in the keg and put it in a cool spot? Lets say about 55 degrees in my fridge..I will put it in the keg at the end of January and then tap it for my birthday in mid April...Would that work out?

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Rack to the keg, purge out the o2, hit it with ~30psi to ensure a good seal, check for leaks. If all is good, unhook the gas and let it sit. You'll still need to force carbonate the keg when the time comes.

Thanks for the info Gritsak, if its sitting for a few months at ~30psi wouldnt all i need to do when its ready to tap it is to have enough CO2 to force it out of the keg with regular tap pressure? ~15psi

If you plan to leave it hooked up to the gas the entire time, look at this chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php
to determine the desired C02 volume based off the temp and psi. e.g. for the oatmeal stout around 12psi at 55degrees would stabilize at around 1.9 volumes of CO2 after a few weeks.

Sweet graph...thanks for the info. This will actually be my first kegged beer so thats why i ask.

No problem. Just be sure to check for leaks on the keg using something like starsan in a spray bottle. Even a small leak can drain a C02 tank overnight. The poppet valve on the lid (if your keg has one) can be especially problematic. Sometimes you have to turn the valve slowly until the leak stops.

Note that unless you carbonate your beer prior to disconnecting the gas, any pressurized gas in the headspace will be quickly absorbed into the beer. So if you pressurize the keg to 30 psi, purge out the O2, then immediately take it off the gas and put the keg in storage . . don't be surprised if there's no pressure in the keg when you go to open it a month later. But that's generally fine.

brewthunda said:

Note that unless you carbonate your beer prior to disconnecting the gas, any pressurized gas in the headspace will be quickly absorbed into the beer. So if you pressurize the keg to 30 psi, purge out the O2, then immediately take it off the gas and put the keg in storage . . don't be surprised if there's no pressure in the keg when you go to open it a month later. But that's generally fine.

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no, that's wrong.

the beer and headspace will find equilibrium based on the volume and pressure of CO2 present, and the current temperature.

some gas will diffuse, but not all.

Hi All, first time poster/brewer here. Kind of following up on the original question, and please forgive me if this has already been discussed. Can I store in a keg, pump to a growler for the fridge after it's been primed, and the remaining beer still be okay for an extended period of time in storage? or once is start taking form the keg the clock will begin to tick until its bad? Thanks everyone!

Question though: Until the keg pressure is equalized with the relative temperature won't any co2 pressure you put in there just dissolve into the beer?

Thorsbrew said:

Question though: Until the keg pressure is equalized with the relative temperature won't any co2 pressure you put in there just dissolve into the beer?

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No, it's not possible to get all the CO2 into the beer, as there will always be some in the head space.

smark said:

Hi All, first time poster/brewer here. Kind of following up on the original question, and please forgive me if this has already been discussed. Can I store in a keg, pump to a growler for the fridge after it's been primed, and the remaining beer still be okay for an extended period of time in storage? or once is start taking form the keg the clock will begin to tick until its bad? Thanks everyone!

Click to expand...

Yes, you can do that as long as what you mean by "pump" is to push with CO2 or beer gas and it will not degrade the beer in the keg. On the other hand, if you use some sort of hand pump like you might use with a commercial keg, that will pump gobs of O2 into the beer and it will go down hill very quickly.

Hope it's ok to zombie threads here?
Anyways, I've a beer ready to bottle but I'm all out of bottles (I use swing tops that I acquire by "natural means"). Would it be possible to transfer the beer to a corny, seal with a dash of CO2 and leave it in a cool place (about 14c) until ready to bottle?