keeping a keg warm

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scottfro

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i'm looking at moving up to kegging but do not have a fridge to store it. i'm wondering if its possible to keep the keg cold till the co2 dissolves into the beer and then have it warm there after. will the co2 leave the beer after warming?

thanks!
 
It won't leave the beer and you don't have to cool it to get the CO2 into solution. Just run at a higher pressure. I carb my kegs at 30psi at 68-70*F. It does take a little longer, but I'm usually not in a hurry and try to have 3 to 4 kegs in line for the kegerator. You do need to make sure there are no leaks in the keg though. If you have a leaky poppet or lid, then the CO2 will eventually leave solution. I periodically hit each keg I have aging with the CO2 and leave the next one up on gas.
 
interesting, so a fridge is not required for any part of the process if i don't mind drinking warm beer?
 
Well if you want to drink it warm, you would need a very long length of beer line so you didn't get all foam. Otherwise it will come out too fast and the CO2 will escape from solution giving you a big glass of foam.
 
No... at fridge temp, you still need 5-6 feet of 3/16th inch tubing,
at room temp, I think I would want about 3 times that much.
That might be TOO much, but you can always cut it down if you need to.
 
That sounds about right. I use 6ft of tubing at 45*F. 2 feet will give you foam at standard serving temps.
 
oh wow, thanks for that link, looks useful!

so basically i really need to get a mini fridge if i want to do this.
 
Yeah, a fridge or a freezer on a temp controller. I keep two kegs in the garage refrigerator with picnic taps right now. I'm looking for a larger freezer to make into a kegerator and have proper taps. But what I have now works just fine.
 
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