Long trip with kegs

[jacobdaughtry]

I want to take 3 kegs with me to N.C. Any thing I should keep in consideration for the trip? In 8 hours it will have surely warmed up considerably. Tips? Ideass?

 

[Loweface]

Some kind of plastic trough and lots of ice... This of course depends on what you are driving and how bad it would be for water to get into the trunk... If needs be you could stop off once or twice and add another couple bucks worth of ice... But i reckon that would be overkill...

Oh and don't tap them till your safely there!!! (not that you would have any reason to)

 

[Special Hops]

I assume these are full?

 

[david_42]

Chill them in ice before the trip, wrap them in a couple blankets, keep them out of the sun and let them re-chill & settle for a couple hours before tapping.

 

[jacobdaughtry]

They will be 3 full 5-gal kegs. (Hefe, pale ale, & a Two Hearted Ale clone) Just set the fridge to the coldest setting. Think that will get me to about 40 F. I'll wrap the kegs in a blanket and add some cold packs in the wrap. Hopefully I won't get too much of a temp loss. I wanna bust these kegs open a couple of hours after I get there. This is gonna be a great week! My father-in-law actually bought a fridge in anticipation of me bringing my beer. He wants me to start supplying him with my home brew. And he really isn't a beer or liquour drinker either.

Thanks guys,
JD

 

[FlyingHorse]

Or if you think you'll be travelling a lot like this with your beer, you could drop some coin on a KEGlove or two.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I put mine in a primary bucket, fill with ice, toss in some water about 5-6" from the top and roll up a towel to seal the cold in...place behind the passengers seat, hook up to gas for the drive...keep tapper in the trunk...

 

[Cape Brewing]

I have a dumb question... do they really need to be refridgerated??

Unless you're drinking them in the car, do they have to be cold? I don't see how it would hurt the beer to warm up. You shouldn't get any kind of additional fermentation or anything. If it's in a sanitized keg, I can't see how 8 hours would cause some sort of bacteria. If it's kegged you won't get any light or skunking.

I, and a bunch of guys in my brew club, keg our beers and then simply leave them out, unrefridgerated, until they're ready to be throw on tap.


All of that being said, I'm not sure i would leave them sitting in a 110 degree car for four hours.... I think you'll have a broken window and the interior would reeeeeeeally smell like beer.

Once you get where you're going, drop 'em in a bucket of ice and they'll chill in an hour no problem.

 

[sirsloop]

you dont even need to ice it. I took a full keg on a 14 hour road trip to KY and it was cold when we got there. 5 gallons has a lot of thermal energy... 15 even more so. Just pack them so they wont roll around and put some stuff on top to keep the sun out/cold in. We had AC going all the way. Expect it to be cloudy... only way to avoid that is to rack keg to keg right before the trip... but then you wont have time to carbonate.

 

[kmlavoy]

I have a similar situation coming up, and my plan is to chill it the day before, then use all those damn ice packs I get my yeast sent with. I'll just duct tape them to the side, throw a blanket over it, and I'm guessing it will stay somewhat cold.

Cape Brewing: The reason to take it cold, is that you can tap your keg 5 minutes after arrival. Nothing like a cold beer after 6 hours in a car.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I thought his intent was to keep it cold...

 

[jacobdaughtry]

I have a similar situation coming up, and my plan is to chill it the day before, then use all those damn ice packs I get my yeast sent with. I'll just duct tape them to the side, throw a blanket over it, and I'm guessing it will stay somewhat cold.

Cape Brewing: The reason to take it cold, is that you can tap your keg 5 minutes after arrival. Nothing like a cold beer after 6 hours in a car.

6-8 hours of driving and that is all you want to do. I also wanted to share it with a couple of guys in Charlotte from brewboard(Greenscreen & including Jesse) Especially after working 12 hour days for 2 weeks prior.

JD

 

[IrregularPulse]

it would be nice to keep it cold so you tap immediately, but it will still be cloudy. Don't you wanna let it sit an hour or so to settle before serving anyway?