Kegerator Full- How to handle add'l kegs

[BearInTheBackyard]

I'm an avid brewer and just started kegging. I tend to brew faster than the beer gets drunk. Thus my problem - I have a set-up for 3 kegs in the keezer and already have them in there. I want to brew more. How would I go about brewing and kegging without being able to put the keg on CO2 and in the fridge until one of the full kegs is empty?

Do I hook it to gas warm and let it carbonate at room temp and leave it in the basement until I can refridgerate it?

Do I not even bother carbing it until i'm ready to use it?

How do you all handle your capacity problems?

I assume I would hook it up to CO2 and get it carbed (obviuously at a higher PSI because of the warmer temp)....when I then cool it will the PSI drop back into my normal serving pressure of 12-14 psi?

 

[Jaysus]

I am curious about this as well... I have not been in the same situation yet though - I imagine that I would just carb with priming sugar and let it sit at cellar temps for a few weeks if I did though.

 

[azscoob]

I have carbed at room temp before, however, when I have a surplus of kegs I just prime them like I were going to bottle and park them in a closet with a tag so I know when it was kegged and what kind of beer it is.

When I am ready for it, I just chill the keg for a few days, hook up the gas and serve as usual (nice to have a carbed keg ready to roll).

 

[shortyjacobs]

I have room for 6 in my fridge, 5 taps though. When I keg a batch, I just drag it up to my kegerator, put it on gas, vent it a few times to purge oxygen, then disconnect and stick it in my basement.

So I have multiple kegs of warm, flat beer waiting to go. I can have one "set and forget" carbing in my 6th keg space in my fridge, or I can wait until one of the ones I am dispensing kicks, and then put two in there at 30 PSI for 48 hrs, (at which point they are usually nicely carbed.

Short version: You don't need to carb immediately. You can if you want, but you can also just put the beer in the keg, purge oxygen, and let it sit. It's no different from a secondary.

 

[weirdboy]

Like azscoob, I prime the kegs just like I were bottling, then stick them in the kegerator when space opens up. I usually try to vent a bit before hooking it up just to avoid incidents with back pressure pushing liquid up the gas line, but other than that I follow the same procedure he does.

 

[azscoob]

Like azscoob, I prime the kegs just like I were bottling, then stick them in the kegerator when space opens up. I usually try to vent a bit before hooking it up just to avoid incidents with back pressure pushing liquid up the gas line, but other than that I follow the same procedure he does.

I do likewise, purge a bit o pressure and hook them up, any sediment that is stirred up moving the keg settles out as it comes to serving temp.

 

[Special Hops]

Put in about 1/3 cup of bottling sugar and let it carb up naturally.

I do this all the time if I don;t have room.

 

[theschick]

Does most of the sediment come out on the first pours, assuming you gave it a chance to settle again?

 

[weirdboy]

What I get is that the first pint or two will be really crappy but then it will make a nice clear spot on the bottom of the keg around the dip tube. So long as you don't bump it around it will continue to pour clear after that.

 

[Changeduser123]

Same as azscoob:

I have 8 kegs, but only 4 can fit in the keezer.
So when it is time to keg a beer, I add the priming sugar, transfer the beer, purge with CO2 and seal. Then I forget it until I have room in the fridge.
It works great.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

4 tap kegerator, 5 keg capacity. I hook up the CO2 to the 5th (untapped) keg and when a keg kicks, it gets replaced by the 5th one that was carbonating.

#6 thru #9 end up either in the house, but seeing that it's 78F in my house in the summer, I stick them in my fermentation fridge.

M_C

 

[gnef]

If you have the space and funds, I'd recommend another refrigerator or temperature controlled freezer as a 'staging' area for when a keg goes empty in your kegerator.

I am very similar to you, and brew much more than I can drink - I now have over 100 kegs, and I've built a walk-in cooler to be able to hold all the kegs I want to store long term (over 60 kegs in the cold side right now, plus kegs in the fermentation side and in a chest freezer) and serve directly from the walk-in cooler. Right now I have 9 faucets flowing, and will be expanding as I have funds for the stainless hardware that I want (perlick perls, stainless shank and nipple).

With my setup now (which is most likely not typical of most brewers), I will ferment in the fermentation side of the walk-in, and then transfer to kegs. Since I haven't brewed since construction, things might change, but I am thinking that I will carbonate in the temperature controller chest freezer, and then when it is ready, I will put it in the cold side to age, and when a faucet frees up, I can just hook it up directly to the faucet.

 

[brewingmeister]

If you have the space and funds, I'd recommend another refrigerator or temperature controlled freezer as a 'staging' area for when a keg goes empty in your kegerator.

I am very similar to you, and brew much more than I can drink - I now have over 100 kegs, and I've built a walk-in cooler to be able to hold all the kegs I want to store long term (over 60 kegs in the cold side right now, plus kegs in the fermentation side and in a chest freezer) and serve directly from the walk-in cooler. Right now I have 9 faucets flowing, and will be expanding as I have funds for the stainless hardware that I want (perlick perls, stainless shank and nipple).

With my setup now (which is most likely not typical of most brewers), I will ferment in the fermentation side of the walk-in, and then transfer to kegs. Since I haven't brewed since construction, things might change, but I am thinking that I will carbonate in the temperature controller chest freezer, and then when it is ready, I will put it in the cold side to age, and when a faucet frees up, I can just hook it up directly to the faucet.

Wow...do this. It sounds like a magical place.

-cheers

 

[beaksnbeer]

if you have the space and funds, i'd recommend another refrigerator or temperature controlled freezer as a 'staging' area for when a keg goes empty in your kegerator.

I am very similar to you, and brew much more than i can drink - i now have over 100 kegs, and i've built a walk-in cooler to be able to hold all the kegs i want to store long term (over 60 kegs in the cold side right now, plus kegs in the fermentation side and in a chest freezer) and serve directly from the walk-in cooler. Right now i have 9 faucets flowing, and will be expanding as i have funds for the stainless hardware that i want (perlick perls, stainless shank and nipple).

With my setup now (which is most likely not typical of most brewers), i will ferment in the fermentation side of the walk-in, and then transfer to kegs. Since i haven't brewed since construction, things might change, but i am thinking that i will carbonate in the temperature controller chest freezer, and then when it is ready, i will put it in the cold side to age, and when a faucet frees up, i can just hook it up directly to the faucet.

pictures or its not true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BeerWard]

I only have 2 taps on the kegerator. I typically cold crash, transfer to keg, purge O2, and then hook up to gas at 30 PSI and shake for a minute. This will get mostly carbonated, because the beer is cold. Then when a spot opens, it goes in the kegerator for serving.

 

[gnef]

I detailed the entire process on another forum:

http://www.brews-bros.com/index.php/topic/32778-walk-in-cooler/

There are many pictures there, and if you click on the pictures, you can browse the other pictures in my imageshack account, which are all beer related.

 

[ksbrain]

pictures or its not true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1

Actually... I have 1,000 kegs on tap ranging from 3% to 30% ABV. Each one is on it's own serving pressure and flowed through a heat exchanger to make it the perfect drinking temperature when it comes out, and the draft lines are drawn back into the kegs in between pours to ensure maximum freshness.

Fortunately my robot children brew all the beer for me while I get paid a million dollars an hour to have young, but legal, women gratify me in every conceivable way all day long.

EDIT: I just looked at the pics on the link, and that's incredible. You are amazing!