Does Everyone Keggerate?

[superslomo]

I'm going to be buying a 20# CO2 tank to use with my seltzer carbonator, and am thinking about switching over to Kegging my beer instead of bottle carb'ing as that's a huge huge pain in the ass... if I'm already buying the gas, I might as well use it for both.

Not sure, though, whether I really want to deal with having a kegerator set up full time, and was curious how the beer lasts under pressure in the keg if it's not refrigerated. Could I instead just put kegs on ice if we had a party, and instead just tap a growler at a time to put in the fridge for an evening's use?

Curious as to function, foam, and survivability under pressure without fridging.

 

[zachattack]

The only problems you'll have is if you try to serve the beer when it's warm. I don't think there's any great way to do that without foaming. But warming and cooling the keg shouldn't lead to any problems as long as you set the regulator appropriately each time. As long as there are no leaks, it'll last the same as beer in a bottle: assuming your sanitation is good and you aren't oxidizing the finished product, it'll keep for a very long time. Depending on the style it may go downhill after couple months, or it might get a lot better. Hoppy beers, weizens, and low gravity beers aren't usually the best candidates for long term aging but an imperial stout or barleywine or something might not hit its prime for a year or two.

As an alternative solution you can put a heat exchanger in the fridge and use it like a big jockey box. I think a few people have done that successfully.