Traveling and Serving from Keg?

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rack04

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I have an event this Friday which I have volunteered to bring 5 gallons of homebrew. Any tips for last minute planning on how to travel with and serve from a keg? The only idea I have is a trash can filled with ice to chill and bringing the 5 lb CO2 tank with me. Thanks in advance.
 
I have an event this Friday which I have volunteered to bring 5 gallons of homebrew. Any tips for last minute planning on how to travel with and serve from a keg? The only idea I have is a trash can filled with ice to chill and bringing the 5 lb CO2 tank with me. Thanks in advance.

The first thing I do is "jump" to a new keg, to leave all the sediment behind since moving the keg stirs it all up. So, before you leave, you can transfer to a new keg with a homemade "jumper cable". It's just two black disconnects, and a length of beer line. Sanitize the beerline and QDs and the new keg, and then purge the new keg. Purge the original keg (don't move it!) and reset to 4-5 psi. Put one black QD on the original keg, and then one on the receiving keg, and pull the pressure relief valve every 10 seconds or so on the receiving keg. The beer should flow nicely. Then, you have a sediment free keg to take with you.

Keep it cold until you take it on the road, and a trashcan or cooler with ice will work fine. I did that this weekend- used an Igloo cooler, and one keg and the co2 tank fit in there nicely. I took off the line, and ziptied the picnic tap line to the handle, so it was easy for people to serve.
 
The first thing I do is "jump" to a new keg, to leave all the sediment behind since moving the keg stirs it all up. So, before you leave, you can transfer to a new keg with a homemade "jumper cable". It's just two black disconnects, and a length of beer line. Sanitize the beerline and QDs and the new keg, and then purge the new keg. Purge the original keg (don't move it!) and reset to 4-5 psi. Put one black QD on the original keg, and then one on the receiving keg, and pull the pressure relief valve every 10 seconds or so on the receiving keg. The beer should flow nicely. Then, you have a sediment free keg to take with you.

Keep it cold until you take it on the road, and a trashcan or cooler with ice will work fine. I did that this weekend- used an Igloo cooler, and one keg and the co2 tank fit in there nicely. I took off the line, and ziptied the picnic tap line to the handle, so it was easy for people to serve.

Thanks for the info. It really makes me want to invest in a 2.4-5 gallon keg to rack to for serving. That would easily fit in a cooler.
 
I'm in the same situation...about to drive 4-5 hours for a wedding with two 5-gal corny kegs and my full 5# CO2 tank. The kegs have been in my fridge force carbonating for two weeks.

My plan:
- Pour off a glass to get rid of yeast settlement.
- The two kegs will go as upright as possible on the floor of the backseat. This way, they get the A/C in the car and I reduce resuspension of yeast by keeping them upright. (I hope)
- The CO2 tank will go in a cooler in the trunk, wrapped in a wet towel to keep it cool and keep it from rolling/bumping around. I'll leave the regulator on if it all fits in the cooler okay...

I wish I had read this earlier and bought a CO2 cartridge/adapter for the keg instead of lugging my whole 5# CO2 tank with me...too late for that now. Hope it all works out!
 
I'm in the same situation...about to drive 4-5 hours for a wedding with two 5-gal corny kegs and my full 5# CO2 tank. The kegs have been in my fridge force carbonating for two weeks.

My plan:
- Pour off a glass to get rid of yeast settlement.
- The two kegs will go as upright as possible on the floor of the backseat. This way, they get the A/C in the car and I reduce resuspension of yeast by keeping them upright. (I hope)
- The CO2 tank will go in a cooler in the trunk, wrapped in a wet towel to keep it cool and keep it from rolling/bumping around. I'll leave the regulator on if it all fits in the cooler okay...

I wish I had read this earlier and bought a CO2 cartridge/adapter for the keg instead of lugging my whole 5# CO2 tank with me...too late for that now. Hope it all works out!

Rack them to clean kegs first, trust me. It doesn't matter if you keep them upright the entire time, moving the kegs at all will disturb it, and the yeast will be back in suspension by the time you get the kegs in the car.
 
Juan has a point. Unless you rack it to a clean keg, even picking the keg up to move it across the room can stir up yeast and sediment unless you filtered it before putting it in the keg.
 
I didn't have a spare keg unfortunately and didn't want to go to a carboy and back into the keg. It turned out okay...but definitely yeasty. It cleared up a lot after about 8 hours on ice. Wish it had a little more time to settle. The CO2 tank trucked along just fine without any issues.

If I were to do it again, I'd get another keg to transfer off the yeast sediment - or make sure the kegs can sit, refrigerated for a couple days. I would probably also just bring a simple hand pump rather than dealing with CO2. For a wedding where kegs dry up 2hrs into the party, I'm not worried about oxidation.
 
I brought a 5# CO2 and regulator to our family pig roast this year rather than use party pumps. There was far less foaming from inexperienced tappers so I believe we got an extra beer or 3 out of the kegs.
 
Our club just did an event. I had an extra keg and moved my beer to it. One of the other guys didn't and his was a mess for a while with sediment and mine was crystal clear. really a benefit to transfer it via a jumper.
 
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