Storing Kegged Homebrew?

[JMBeer]

I'm brewing a bunch of beer for a friends wedding and am curious about storage. I have a large chest freezer set up with a temp. control and can store kegs at the 40-45 degree mark; my question is this:
Is it ok to keg the beer, carb it to serving pressure (I usually pump the keg with 40 PSI for about 15 minutes then turn the pressure down to 10psi and let it level out until its serving well). After the beer is carbed well, can I just stick it in my chest freezer at 40 degrees until its ready to be tapped or will it lose some of its pressure?
Is there anything I'm missing here or that I should worry about?

Thanks in advance.

 

[JMBeer]

FYI, I would not be leaving the keg on pressure during storage after it has been carbonated.

 

[zachattack]

As long as the kegs don't have leaks, you'll be fine. You could even carb store them at room temperature, just use a chart/calculator to figure out the appropriate pressure. 10 psi at 40-45 degrees sounds a little undercarbed to me though.

 

[j1n]

As long as there's no leaks and you don't vent any pressure, i don't see why that wouldn't work.

 

[JMBeer]

I'm still trying to hammer down the best method to carb my beer. I'm currently blasting the keg with an initial pressure of 40-50psi and letting it sit for 15 minutes or so. After that I lower the CO2 to 10psi and let it sit for about a week...this is a method a fellow homebrewer uses and his beer seems to be very well carbonated.
I've tried the shake method and I've tried force carbing through the stem. I used to have the pressure at about 30psi for a few days then slowly drop it down over the course of a few days to 10psi and it always came out super foamy and it seemed like the body didn't absorb much....any insight into this would be great as well.

 

[j1n]

i put the PSI to 30 for the first 24 hours. Then i cut the gas to the keg, purge the pressure in the keg, set the regulator to 12 psi then let the gas back to the keg. Should be fully carbed in a week.

 

[hunter_le five]

I'm still trying to hammer down the best method to carb my beer. I'm currently blasting the keg with an initial pressure of 40-50psi and letting it sit for 15 minutes or so. After that I lower the CO2 to 10psi and let it sit for about a week...this is a method a fellow homebrewer uses and his beer seems to be very well carbonated.
I've tried the shake method and I've tried force carbing through the stem. I used to have the pressure at about 30psi for a few days then slowly drop it down over the course of a few days to 10psi and it always came out super foamy and it seemed like the body didn't absorb much....any insight into this would be great as well.

The shake method and burst-carb methods you described are notoriously unreliable. They CAN work, but unless you time it just right, you put yourself at risk for overcarbonated beer every time.

The safest/most reliable method is Set-and-Forget. It literally impossible to overcarb your beer this way, which is why I always suggest it to people, especially people new to kegging.

1) Consult the force carbonation chart.
2) Set your regulator to the pressure needed for your given temperature and desired carbonation level (Ex. 10psi @ 38*F would be a safe bet for many beer styles)
3) Leave it the hell alone for 2-3 weeks.
4) Drink and enjoy your perfectly carbed beer.

 

[zachattack]

Since you aren't in a hurry, I'd definitely recommend the "set and forget" method.

1) pick a CO2 level
2) look up the proper pressure at your carbonation temperature (warm or cold) using a carbonation chart/calculator
3) hook up the gas, after 2 weeks the kegs should be mostly carbonated, you can give it 3 weeks just to be safe

4) You can then disconnect the gas and store them warm or cold. When it's time to serve, make sure you serve them at the appropriate pressure based on your serving temperature (again, use a chart or calculator)

It's as easy as that! You can speed up the carbonation with shaking, cranking the pressure, etc. but eventually it will come down to match the serving pressure after you tap the keg and start drinking. So if you're "burst carbing it" at 40 psi but then serving it at 10 PSI at 42 degrees it will lose carbonation over time until it equalizes at 2.1-2.2 volumes of CO2. 2.4-2.5 volumes is a good number for most styles.

Foamy beer is not always caused by overcarbonation; line length and ID and temperature stratification are common culprits.

EDIT: hunter_la5 beat me and posted almost the exact same thing

 

[JMBeer]

Thanks for all the good info guys!
I'm going to try the 30psi then lower to 10-12 psi for a week or so and see how that works.
In the future I think I will go with the "set and forget" method. I've just had really inconsistent results with carbonating and this is about the only thing left for me to fine tune in my brewing process. I've been able to make good tasting beer but when the carbonation is off (too foamy, or not carbed enough) it is a huge disappointment.

Thanks again!

 

[Goolsbymd]

I always set to 30 for 36 hours then lower to 12psi for a week. Great levels.

 

[JMBeer]

That sounds pretty close to what I'm attempting to do now. I'm hoping for some good results with this method; if not, I will probably just move to the set and forget method.

 

[StalkingWilbur]

If you're going to leave them for a week or so on gas I don't know why you wouldn't just set and forget.

One week at serving pressure for me it's drinkable. Two weeks at serving pressure it's ready to drink.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[day_trippr]

If you're going to leave them for a week or so on gas I don't know why you wouldn't just set and forget.[...]

"Burst-carbers" are just trying to keep this forum chock full of overcarbed dispensing threads?

Cheers!

 

[mrstevenson808]

Are you bleeding it as you go? As you're carbing it at 40-50 make sure to vent it quite a few times to get all the oxygen out. Fill w CO2 then pull the vent and repeat. At least ten times

 

[LLBeanJ]

At least ten times

2 or 3 times would be sufficient. Some folks don't bother purging the O2 at all.

 

[j1n]

2 or 3 times would be sufficient. Some folks don't bother purging the O2 at all.

i think 5 times is sufficient. but it also depends on how much head space there is in the keg.

I guess some people like their beer a little oxidized.

 

[medley]

I have a standup refrigerator as my kegerator that only holds 3 kegs. So I store my other kegs in my lager chamber once there carbed.sometimes my kegs slowly leak and I have to hook the co2 back up once in a while to fill up the headspace again. but they usually stay carbed no problem, and Iv'e stored some for over a year before serving.

word of advice for anyone swapping gas lines around like I do is sanatize the post and coupler. I don't know why I never did before but I ended up infecting a whole keg this way.
I had a keg of cider that I never sorbated or anything because I knew I would drink it fast enough to not worry about wild yeast. But I swapped that gas line to carb a fresh keg and infected it with something that fermented even in fridge temps. O-well lesson learned.