Conditioning a fully carbed keg at room temp?

[HopsAreGood]

As the title suggests, I'm curious if there are any issues with storing a fully carbed corny keg at room temp? My current space does not afford me the luxury of a keezer/kegerator, but I am able to fit a 5 gallon keg with co2 tank in my fridge. The problem is I don't really want to drink the beer until about 3-4 weeks after I brew it, so I'd rather not have it take up so much space until it's ready.

I can get the keg down to about 40 degrees by putting it in the fridge for 24 hours, and then I'm able to carbonate it to my desired level of about 2.3 volumes in an hour. I do this by setting my regulator to the correct psi, and then shaking and rolling the keg. NOT cranking it up high...rather setting it where I want and then putting in the work for about an hour. I get predictable results each time I do this.

At this point I have a carbonated keg of green beer. Would there be any problem
simply letting it mellow out/condition at room temp for about 2-3 weeks tops before putting it back in the fridge and drinking it?

Thanks

 

[bobeer]

I used to have a keg and no fridge so I'd put it in a home depot bucket of ice. Eventually the ice would melt and it would be anywhere from a day to a week or so until I was able to get more ice on it. Once it was cold I never could tell the difference in taste. The only thing I could detect was the tightness of the carbonation. There were pretty big bubbles when it was warm but they got smaller as the keg cools.

Brewers who bottle follow the rule of thumb to let beer carbonate and condition for 3 weeks at 70 degrees. I'd go for it.

 

[Transamguy77]

Nope not at all, I make 10 gallon batches so half of that sits at room temp until the first half is gone.

I usually hit it with 30psi for a few days and then put it in the fridge for a day or so before bleeding off the pressure and then set it at whatever pressure I’m serving at.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

No problem, I do it all the time.

 

[HopsAreGood]

Thanks everyone. I know it won't destroy the beer or anything crazy. I've just always heard about "cold conditioning" and until now have always done it that way myself. I know that colder temps will help to drop out hop particles, remaining yeast in suspension etc..so while I know it won't hurt it, I wonder if it won't be quite as conditioned as if it had been kept cold the whole time.

I'm also curious to see if it retains the same level of carbonation...I'll be carbing it around 40 degrees and then it will be sitting around 68-70. I suppose that as long as the keg has no leaks it should be exactly the same in terms of carb level once it gets cold again.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Warm conditioning (for ales) is important. Think of it like extra time in the fermenter, but where oxygen can't get to it. It's the same as storing bottles of beer. There's still enough yeast in the beer to help clean up off flavours. Cold conditioning is important as well - to help clear and settle the beer. I find a week of cold conditioning is good for ales (although I often start drinking them after a day).

As long as CO2 can't escape (not a leaky keg) the carbonation will be the same, providing it has enough cold conditioning time for the CO2 to dissolve back into the beer. When the beer warms, some CO2 comes out of solution into the headspace, increasing the pressure. When you cool the beer again, that CO2 needs to dissolve. It takes several days.

 

[HopsAreGood]

So maybe I'll let it sit at room temp for about two weeks, then give it about 3-4 days in the fridge before drinking it. Should be enough time for a little cold conditioning and to let some of the co2 in the headspace dissolve back into the beer.

 

[bleme]

I store my malty beers (either in the bottle or keg) at room temp all the time. I prefer to keep my hoppy beers refrigerated. They do age differently, but whether it is better or worse is largely a matter of preference.

BTW, Russian River requires all of their beer to be shipped by refrigerated truck, and only to bottle shops that promise to refrigerate, because they believe anything warmer will degrade their beer and reflect poorly on their brand.

 

[HopsAreGood]

I store my malty beers (either in the bottle or keg) at room temp all the time. I prefer to keep my hoppy beers refrigerated. They do age differently, but whether it is better or worse is largely a matter of preference.

BTW, Russian River requires all of their beer to be shipped by refrigerated truck, and only to bottle shops that promise to refrigerate, because they believe anything warmer will degrade their beer and reflect poorly on their brand.

This is a great point. I should have pointed out that I make extremely hoppy beers. Primarily NEIPA, and similar IPA styles.

 

[day_trippr]

This is a great point. I should have pointed out that I make extremely hoppy beers. Primarily NEIPA, and similar IPA styles.

Indeed. I would then avoid protracted warm storage, particularly if your post-fermentation oxygen-exposure regimen wasn't immaculate...

Cheers!

 

[schmurf]

When you guys talk about warm conditioning, you mean you also let it carb in room temperature, or carb cold and then pull it out to condition warm?

 

[bleme]

I've always carb'ed at the temp it was going to be stored, but there is no reason it can't be switched around.

 

[jfolks]

This is not a good idea. Warm/cold cycles exacerbate the rate of staling and oxidation - this is especially important for hoppy beers! First off, I don’t agree with your approach of waiting 3 weeks to drink a hoppy beer. I think 1 week of conditioning is the sweet spot. Nonetheless, if you must wait- seal the keg with a good blast of co2 (say 20 psi) at room temp (so pump in co2 until it stops hissing then disconnect the gas - just trying to seal the lid), then let the beer rest at room temp for your desired time (alternatively, you could keep gas attached at 10 psi for the entire time to begin slow carbonating), then put in the fridge and dial in your carb. I’m willing to bet your beer will improve if you stop warm/cold cycling it