Question about aging, CO2, and oxidation

All of the beers that I've made over the past two years have been ales designed to drink within a 4-6 weeks after fermentation. However, I would also like to store and age porters and stouts in corny kegs pressurized with CO2 for six months to a year in my cellar (I actually have a cellar).

I would also like to store lagers for long periods but my impression is that lagers tend to have a longer shelf life.

So just to be clear: it's SOP to store beers for long term aging in pressurized kegs? Would a testing schedule (test for CO2 and then add CO2 back to keg periodically) make sense? In the absence of O2 in a purged tank, I should be fine, right?

Best,

Steve

 

When I lager for a few months I make sure that the beer is fully carbed first. This will ensure enough pressure on the seals to keep O2 from getting in.


Sent from my kegerator

 

Right - I was wondering if just filling the head space with CO2 would be sufficient given that it will be absorbed into the beer...

I'm not worried about the lagers because I'm carbonating them in the keg with a primer instead of using CO2 from a tank - but carbonating the ales makes sense.

 

Purge the keg with Co2 through the dip tube before filling, fill it up and add head pressure. It will equalize in time but as long as you had enough pressure to keep the keg sealed it should be fine.