Kegging without any refrigeration?

[Oaklandgourmand]

As I have limited space and no keggerator I was curious if it was a possibility to keg in a typical 5 gallon corny keg, leave at room temp for an extended period of time taking off beers in growlers or bottles as desired, and still have decent beer?

I can't see this being that big of a problem since it is the same temp as the beer when I bottle it, or is the kegging system less forgiving of temperature variations?

 

[944play]

No go. Warm beer foams.

You can ice down the keg for a party like this:

 

[DrG]

I had the exact same question.

So, we can keg it up for a party/storage as long as we cool it down before quaffing?

Excellent!!!!!

 

[david_42]

And don't forget that you have to pressurize the warm beer to 2-3 times the psi to get good results when you cool it off.

 

[Oaklandgourmand]

So do I have any options in regards to kegging?

 

[cheezydemon3]

................keg it warm, carb it hard, cool it before distributing.

 

[DKershner]

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

You will definitely want to look near the bottom right.

 

[cedar_lake]

I didn't like trying to carb kegs at high pressure and room temperature. If you are going to have to "set and forget" at 30+ pounds, my vote is for natural carbonation- I get good results with a half cup of cane sugar, then chill to dispense. This has the added bonus of forcing you to wait to drink the beer. I drank my first batch at cellar temps because I did not yet have a keezer (all better now!) It was pretty foamy but with low pressure and practice I could tap off a pint with reasonable foam and enjoy it.

 

[Crinkle]

It's very doable, a little more work, but it's ok. I recently got 2 kegs, picnic tappers, and 1 CO2 tank, and no refrigeration. No problem, there is a little more foam, so you have to be ready for that, but it's not the end of the world, and it's still a hell of a lot better than bottling. I've done 2 that I've forced carbonated and 2 with natural carbonation. Really not much difference.

Couple of key points that may help, if you pour into a cooler vessel (glass, growler, etc) than the keg itself, that will help cut down on the foam. Also raising your tap as high as you can add resistance, cutting down on foam.

Another big key is keg pressure. Lets say you force keg a porter at 60 degrees and 25 PSI. When you go to pour the beer, release the keg pressure and set PSI to between 5-10 to pour, when finished, ramp the PSI back to 25 to store the beer, otherwise you loose carbonation. I usually turn off the CO2 after it stops hissing (fills the keg), that's more because I'm concerned with my cat knocking over a open CO2 tank than anything. Good luck. Did I mention it's way better than bottling??:cross: