Do kegs need to be refrigerated to pour?

I currently don't have a spare refrigerator for a keg set up, but was thinking about getting a single corny keg set up with picnic type tap.

Is it possible to keg and serve homebrew if the keg were simply kept in a cellar. My basement stays around 55-60 degrees, and I tend to drink most beers around this temperature anyway.

 

Should be fine. If you use a carb calculator, it will tell you how much pressure you need from your CO2 tank at that temperature.

I don't have a spare refrigerator yet either, but you can carb even at higher temperatures, you'll just have to jack up the pressure more. I'm working on getting a dedicated fridge for this.

 

You will probally have to increase the co2 pressure to get them to carb properly because gas goes into solution easier at cold temperatures than it does at warmer temperatures. You will also have to balance your system because most prefabed kits are put together for serving at colder temperatures.

 

Another thought / question?

Can you prime as you normally would for bottling and add to a corny keg for natural carbonation and use a much lower co2 pressure for serving?
Or does kegged beer have to be force carbonated?

 

You can prime a keg like with bottling, but I believe you should use about half as much sugar. I haven't done it in a few years though. You still need to keep the same CO2 pressure though (whatever pressure you need to maintain the proper carbonation) because as you serve you need to keep the pressure the same or the beer will go flat. You would prime and wait for it to naturally carb, then hook up to CO2 for serving. That would use much less CO2 than force carbing if that's your concern. Shouldn't be any issue with serving at cellar temps, hoppy beers will lose their pop a little more quickly is the only downside I can really think of other than the beer being a little on the warm side.

 

You can certainly "keg condition", but you have to serve(psi) at the volumes of co2 that the keg is carbed to, or it will lose carbonation causing foaming problems. You have to maintain equilibrium in a keg.

 

Yes, many people can and do add sugar and let the keg sit and carb like they would bottles, then use co2 to pressurize. You'll just want the calculator since you need less sugar when carbing in a keg this way.

British pub style/cask style is where it's naturally carbed and co2 isn't even used for pressurizing, just for equalizing with the pour since it does a gravity draw of the liquid, or uses a hand pump to draw the beer out. Co2 only replaces the space. These are also served at cellar temps (50-60F). There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing those things.