Road trip with 4 kegs - please advise

I will embark on a 2-1/2 week road trip next week in my RV which will end with a wedding. I will be serving 4 kegs of beer at this wedding.

I am planning to carb these up to about 2.6 volumes before I leave (to allow for a little drop), then let them sit in the shower tub of the RV warm until 2 days before the wedding. I would love to keep them cold, but this would take tons of ICE. I am traveling from So Cal to Seattle area.

I will ice the kegs down in a large tub, then put them on CO2 1 day before wedding. I will bring a 5 lb CO2 tank with me but did not plan to keep them on CO2 the entire duration.

Does anyone have any better suggestions on this plan? How long will it take to get the 4 kegs from 70º to 35º with ice in an open top bucket?

I would transfer them into another keg before you travel with them. Any sediment that is on the bottom of those kegs will get kicked up and if your beer was clear at home, it will end up cloudy when you get there. There are tutorials online if you've never done this before.

Good idea I didn't think of, yes I have done this before. Out to out quick-connect and push with 1-2 psig CO2.

Thanx

gonzo brewer said:

I am planning to carb these up to about 2.6 volumes before I leave (to allow for a little drop), then let them sit in the shower tub of the RV warm until 2 days before the wedding. I would love to keep them cold, but this would take tons of ICE. I am traveling from So Cal to Seattle area.

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I would carb them to the level you want and not any higher. As long as the kegs are sealed the carbonation won't change. As the temp increases more co2 will escape the liquid into the headspace, but as the temp drops it will be reabsorbed.

You could try wrapping the kegs up close against each other and insulating them with a blanket. That's a pretty big thermal mass and it might be able to keep in some of the cool.

What about a make shift cooler? Carboard box big enough for the kegs lined with a few trash bags and some dry ice. I've never used dry ice though, but isn't it used when people want to ship frozen things long distance?

I could wrap them with sleeping bags, but I think after 2 weeks, they will equlize to ambient temperature.

Dry Ice, I did not consider this. I can check the price. Anyone know how long x lbs of dry ice would last? I know fish is shipped from alaska this way, but only for 2-3 days.

I think the dry ice could cause freeze spots, and it makes awful noise when it touches metal, also you could have too much co2 in the air.
I would carb the beer, travel with it, and rechill when you get there, let it settle out for a few hours before serving. Your first few pours may be yeasty but it should clear up.

gonzo brewer said:

I could wrap them with sleeping bags, but I think after 2 weeks, they will equlize to ambient temperature.

Dry Ice, I did not consider this. I can check the price. Anyone know how long x lbs of dry ice would last? I know fish is shipped from alaska this way, but only for 2-3 days.

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I was thinking to insulate them close together more to deal with the temp swings than to keep them at serving temp the whole time. I'm assuming your not going to be in the RV with the a/c running the whole time. So sometimes it will get pretty warm in there