How long will beer last in Cornie at room temperature?

Hi,
I am just wondering, how long do you think a full cornie keg of lager would last at 20C (68F). Under force carb pressure?, my system is not a keggarator, so my kegs are stored at room temperature, and the beer is drawn in and chilled in a chiller before the tap.
Approx alcohol content between 4.5 - 5.5%

Thanks and Regards,

Same as it would in a bottle.

6 months to a year if proper sanitation practices.

Some would say longer.

The problem I see is that normally lagers go through a "lagering" phase where they are kept at near freezing temps for weeks. This helps to clear the beer of any yeast or other haze and will impact the flavor. If you have this beer at room temp for the duration of its life than you may not get that crisp clean taste that a lager should have.

Just think I the keg as one big bottle.

So do you guys think I am going to have problems with my beer cooler set up? I just dont undertand it enough... Should I have got a keggarator or will I be ok for awhile?

Need to know a little more about this beer cooler you are using, and specifically what you are using to chill the beer.

I’ve seen similar setups (Jockey-Box) but they are more for portable, one-time party type use. They basically are a cooler filled with ice, and the beer flows through either a cold plate or a long run of coiled stainless inside the cooler that allows the beer to chill down before going out the tap.

A couple potential issues that come to mind:

• Foaming – With such high pressures on the keg side, you will need a long run of beer line so that the beer does not come flying out the tap and foaming all over the place.
• Aging – Beer ages faster at higher temperature. So if you are not consuming the keg fast enough, your beer may lose quality over time. Once again, if you have good sanitation and use quality ingredients, most styles should keep for 6 months to a year.
• Lagering – Like I said in my previous post, a lager gets a lot of its crispness from the ‘lagering’ phase, which is an extended period of cold aging. This goes for ales too, not just beers fermented with lager yeast strains. Cold aging helps to clear a beer and allows yeast, sediment, and haze to drop out of suspension at a faster rate than if stored at room temp.

Under co2 pressure it will last for years. That being said, when the beer peaks, depends on the style. For example, an ipa peaks fairly early since it loses hop aroma and flavor over time. A dark, high alcohol barley wine will improve with time. I cellar beer like this to keep a nice long backlog of beer. Cooler is better but if your temp stays consistent, just tuck it away.

Define "last".

Different beers will age better than others. Like said, it's one big bottle. How long does it take you to finish a keg?

I have a similar set up, I think. Mine is a cornelius President,e a refrigerated 4 tap chiller and keep the kegs at room temp. So far with this set up, I've found that you have to have the CO2 cranked up a lot higher than most on here would be willing to tell you is OK. I have mine at 34 psi to get a carb level I like. The way my chiller is set up, there are coils of 1/4" stainless immersed in the ice bath, and the length of those lines seems to compensate for the high pressure as I get nice, slow pours out of the tap - about 30 seconds to fill a pint. The main disadvantage I've found is that I have to let my stout sit a little to warm up since it comes out of the tap so cold. But it is perfect for carbonated water and styles that are good cold.

spokaniac said:

I have a similar set up, I think. Mine is a cornelius President,e a refrigerated 4 tap chiller and keep the kegs at room temp. So far with this set up, I've found that you have to have the CO2 cranked up a lot higher than most on here would be willing to tell you is OK. I have mine at 34 psi to get a carb level I like. The way my chiller is set up, there are coils of 1/4" stainless immersed in the ice bath, and the length of those lines seems to compensate for the high pressure as I get nice, slow pours out of the tap - about 30 seconds to fill a pint. The main disadvantage I've found is that I have to let my stout sit a little to warm up since it comes out of the tap so cold. But it is perfect for carbonated water and styles that are good cold.

Click to expand...

So what do you do, just keep dropping ice onto the coils? Day in, day out?

broadbill said:

So what do you do, just keep dropping ice onto the coils? Day in, day out?

Click to expand...

No, it's refrigerated. There is a compressor that gets the water bath near ice cold.

all the hop flavor and aroma in the keg will be diminishing at a more rapid pace since its not cold.
Cold = preservation.

There's a local beer here, kind of a IPA/PA called Hopluia, and they require it to be cold at all times. There's a number on the bottle you call if you find it being stored/sold warm.

Hi,
Thanks for your replies... This is the product information on the beer cooler (http://www.jemphrey.com/userfiles/File/Maxi310.pdf)... Here is the full manual (http://k002.kiwi6.com/hotlink/zx90ki2by3/maxi_man.pdf)
I knew about chilling kegs, but I decided to go for this unit because I could not come across a decent priced fridge, and I was able to get this cooler handy, they are are a solid professional unit made by Cornelius. So I decided to go down this road...
Do I still need to chill my kegs, or can I still brew/deliver my beer with this system... I could buy a small fridge down the road, for the purpose of chilling kegs for conditioning?...
Thanks everyone!

Oh and I would drink an 18L keg, very quickly.

No need to chill the kegs. You will probably need to keep them at about 30-35 psi to get them carbonated, but the chiller has 5.3 m of 3/8" line in it that will drop that pressure by the time it gets to the tap, so it will pour nicely

Spokaniac, thanks for the reply. I feel a bitter better reading that... Do you think so I will be OK overall, I wont be able to condition at low temps but can I work around this yeah?

spokaniac said:

So far with this set up, I've found that you have to have the CO2 cranked up a lot higher than most on here would be willing to tell you is OK. I have mine at 34 psi to get a carb level I like.

Click to expand...

34 sounds right to me. I equalize my kegs at around that psi and store them in the basement all the time.

Could you use 34psi pressure for any kind of beer?lager, ale? or what are the limitations... At room temps how long does it take to carb the drink?Im told approx 2 weeks, and at cold temps as little as 24 hours if you roll around the keg etc?

It all depends on the style as well as your personal preferences. You should check out a carbonation chart that shows the proper pressure for a certain volume of CO2 at different temperatures. Something like this:
http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/ForceCarbonation.html

So if your room temp is 65f and you want a 2.40 volumes of CO2, set the pressure to 27 psi.

2 weeks sounds about right for timing.

rhinofarts said:

Could you use 34psi pressure for any kind of beer?lager, ale? or what are the limitations... At room temps how long does it take to carb the drink?Im told approx 2 weeks, and at cold temps as little as 24 hours if you roll around the keg etc?

Click to expand...

From my experience, style doesn't matter, carbonation absorption is simply based on pressure and temperature. Look at it this way. CO2 wants to escape out of solution (beer). So, at higher temperatures you need more pressure to keep it in solution. A good example is a can of soda. If you open an ice cold can of soda, you see a little puff of co2 and that's it. Now open a can of soda that's been sitting in a car and it will foam all over the place.

At 35 degrees, I've found that 10-12 psi works well for me and takes about 2 weeks. At room temperature (68ish) 30-34 psi will give me about the same result. Now, if I need it in a rush, I will put the beer in the fridge to cool down over night, then hit it with 30-34 psi @ 35 degrees. Since the pressure is high and the beer is cold, the keg will be fully carbed in 2-3 days.

The carbonation level (or volume of CO2) is determined by temperature and pressure, basically the higher the temperature the higher the pressure needed.

The desired carbonation level is determined by style and preference. Soda water is usually around 3-3.5 volumes of CO2, should be around 1.5 - 2.5 volumes. For myself I've found that 34 psi at around 65-68F is a good compromise so far. I may end up building a manifold and getting smaller regulators to individually adjust each keg someday, but for now it works and I am happy with it. With the water I keep on tap to make sodas with. I pressurize it, disconnect the gas, roll it around and shake it up, the pressurize again until it stops taking more CO2 each time and it is ready to go pretty quickly. With beer, I've been using the priming sugar in the keg and bottling a 12 pack from the keg before sealing it, then letting it naturally carb for a couple weeks before hooking it up.

spokaniac said:

The desired carbonation level is determined by style and preference.

Click to expand...

That is true. Thanks for pointing it out.

Just thought I would point out that you don't have to follow the tables exactly. I'm sure there are some that would say my stout is too fizzy for them and doesn't match the style, but since I'm the one drinking it and I like it that way, it is the right level.