Multiple Carbonated Kegs for Wedding

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mdc

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Hi all:

I am getting married in a couple of months and have made four 5-gallon batches for the event. Unfortunately I only have one kegerator that can hold two at a time. So I have some procedural questions about carbonating ahead of time.

Thus far, I only have experience carbonating in the fridge over the span of 3-5 days at 12psi. But in this case, I need to carbonate ahead of time, keep the kegs out of the fridge, then ice them the day of the event for swapping into the kegerator when the first two kegs run out.

So I have two questions:
1) How should I carbonate them? Carbonate at 12 psi in the fridge (@40degrees) then take two kegs out 5 days ahead of time, then ice them? Or carbonate at room temp according to the dissolved CO2 calculations for the right amount of carb, then ice them the day of.

and

2) How long does it take to chill a corny-keg with ice?

There are four styles of beer: Hefe, Imperial Stout, IPA, and Saison. I think the Imperial stout might be a bit much for the crowd, and I seem to be drinking the Hefe. So maybe I should do another quick hefe :)

-Mark
 
:off: Sorry I can't be of help, I'm kegging my first batch next week. I just wanted to say congratulations and how cool I think it is to serve your homebrew at your wedding! I was not a homebrewer when I got married( who was I back then? < 1 1/2years ago) but I would have loved to have been able to bring my homebrew. From what I've read about kegging and discussed, either option would work for #1 but i don't know the better option. And #2 -Its only ice, but it is your wedding, I'd have them on ice the day before just to be safe and so they're not foamy/shaken etc. Enjoy your day.
 
I'd carb them with corn sugar and stash them away somewhere in a 68deg area.

As far as icing them down shouldn't take more than an a couple hours or so. Really depends on the amount of ice you use. But you do want your beer to settle down after moving. Just make sure you dump the first pint or two to get rid of the sediment that settled.

I agree that the Imperial Stout might be a bit much, as well as the IPA.

I'd brew another Hefe and maybe 5-10's of a Cream Ale.

How many types do you plan to serve at once?
 
You'll probably have different psi serving pressures as well, so you might need to rig up a manifold if your serving off one CO2 tank. I know from experience the wheats take more gas to carbonate. You can carbonate at room temperature, just takes longer and more gas. If you haven't carbed a keg with corn sugar, I'd be weary. You just never know how it's going to turn out and you don't want to be experimenting on your big day. Also make sure you got a buddy that will take care of them when you leave with your wife. Nothing like....."uhh, honey, I got to go check my kegs first....."
 
Thanks for the advice.

I have had the stout and saison aging in the basement after evacuating the O2 using CO2, so using sugar would be a great option. Can do that serveral months after brewing? I am trying to not experiment too much.

The IPA has been in a secondary for a few weeks now.

I had been considering force carbonating, but there is more potential for over carbonating it.

Another hefe is definitely going to happen, but I only have four kegs, so I need to start heavily drinking the other one :) Also, I only have about 7 weeks, so that is all the brewing and aging I have time for.

The crowd has a lot of beer snobs, so the IPA should be fine, but the stout may stay in the basement. The saison is pretty light, but pretty spicy.

I can serve two at once with my kegerator. I can always swap out if there is one that isn't that good.
 
how far away is the date? if it is far enough, you may want to consider looking in to jockey boxes.

i recently did a wedding for a coworker. she told me about 6 months before, and i started looking for something to serve a decent amount of beer. i found a good deal on a 6 pass cold plate, and started building a jockey box. i made it large enough that i can fit one of my other 2 pass cold plates, and add another faucet to each side to make it an 8 keg jockey box if i ever need to, or want to. haha.

you should be able to find cold plates for decent prices. do you have tools and time to build something? i'm sure a 4 pass cold plate could work well for you, and you could even use your kegerator as well, making it possible for you to serve 6 beverages.

just something to think about.
 
well, assuming you don't have secondary regulators to dispense each beer at a specific psi/CO2 volume...

chill the first two that'll sit at room temp for a while, and carb them at 12psi (or whatever you plan to dispense at).
Since you plan to re-chill them on the big day, they'll be close to your force carbing temp, so you just hookup and dispense.
 
I'm doing a similar thing for a reunion, I have two in secondary and two in primary and have room for two kegs in a fridge. My plan at this time is to use corn sugar to carb the kegs at room temp, cool them down on ice for serving using CO2 to pour. Perhaps we could just force carb them at fridge temps, then leave them at room temp for a week or so, and when cooled down should be back to their original carbonation level. That doesn't seem much different from a bottle of beer or soda that's force carbed and then sits on the shelf for awhile and is cooled down at home in the fridge. It would seem that the head space in the keg would equilibrate with the beer as the temp decreased.
 
I have the exact same situation MDC - 4 kegs for my wedding, a egerator that serves 2 at a time...

I have carbed 2 kegs (Stout and American Amber) at 15psi (while chilled) and they are now sitting in the basement ready to go, will be put on ice a couple hours before the reception. The other two (Cream Ale and Honey Brown) are in the kegerator now being carbed at 15psi. They will stay in the kegerator and kick off the wedding (which is in 2 weeks). I do have another 5 gal of Mild Ale in secondary right now I also might carb if I have time.

I just hope I can refrain from drinking whats in the kegerator before the big day!
 
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