Carbing keg without fridge

[cxp073]

Hello everyone,

I have a batch that is long overdue for bottling or kegging. I planned on building a new kegerator, but I haven't got the fridge until next week. Can I start carbing it in the corny, and then put it in the fridge when I get it? Sorry this may be a ridiculous question but it's my first time kegging.

Thanks!

 

[duboman]

You'll wind up with issues with the changes in temps. It takes a lower psi to carb cold than warm and then when you cool the keg down it may be over carbed.

Personally I would add sugar to the keg as if bottling, only use half the amount. At room temp it should be on its way for the week. Once you get the fridge and everything hooked up then fridge the keg and put it on the gas at serving pressure and it should be almost ready to drink

 

[ryan_george]

You can also transfer it to the keg and just leave it at room temperature with a nominal pressure (let's say 8 psi). It won't hurt the beer to keep it under-carbed. You can then put it in the fridge whenever you are ready.

 

[pjj2ba]

Hello everyone,
Can I start carbing it in the corny, and then put it in the fridge when I get it?

Absolutely! Find yourself a carbonation chart, like the one here. Figure out how many volumes of CO2 you want, note the temp of the beer and set your regulator for the proper psi. It does take longer to carbonate when warm. When the fridge arrives, put the keg in without CO2 and let it cool down. Once cool, note the new psi for the same volumes of CO2 and adjust the regulator accordingly.

You could hook it up to the CO2 as soon as you put it in the fridge. This can be risky for two reasons, one being it makes the beer more prone to overcarbonation if the pressure is left high. Of course you can set the pressure lower to prevent this, but that creates another problem, namely that beer could be sucked back into the regulator. If you have check valves in your CO2 lines, then this is less of an issue, as then you just might get some beer in the CO2 lines, but at least not back into the regulator