Force carbonating and keg-to-keg transfer under pressure at room temperature.

[goto]

I'd like to get into kegging because bottling is rather cumbersome. Unfortunately, I currently can't put a fridge into my basement because of my landlord (long story). However, I do have place for a smaller keg in my normal fridge. Maybe some of you can help me with some questions I have.

So I thought about buying a normal corny keg and a smaller one that would fit my fridge (i.e. a 4L or 5L keg from ikegger or a similar place). I would force carbonate the beer at around 62F in the large keg in my basement according to a carbonation chart, so around 24 psi or so. After the beer is carbonated in the large keg, I would transfer 4L to the small keg and move that to my fridge, hook it up with a small gas cartridge or a soda stream bottle and set the pressure to around 12 psi according to the carbonation chart and dispense from there once it's chilled.

First of all, a quite general question, after the beer is carbonated, what happens to the beer inside a keg if I turn off or unplug the gas and do not maintain pressure? Will it go flat over time because of micro-leaks?

Secondly, my main question revolves around the keg to keg transfer. From what I've read, I would need to have the target, smaller keg at the same pressure as the source keg, so 24 psi at room temperature, and then either release pressure from the target vessel with its pressure release valve or use a spunding valve and set the pressure to 2 to 3 psi lower, 22psi or whatever. How much risk is there with foaming here at room temperature?

Does this sound doable? Anything to look out for? Or is this an insane plan? Thanks in advance.

 

[TheMadKing]

So I thought about buying a normal corny keg and a smaller one that would fit my fridge (i.e. a 4L or 5L keg from ikegger or a similar place). I would force carbonate the beer at around 62F in the large keg in my basement according to a carbonation chart, so around 24 psi or so. After the beer is carbonated in the large keg, I would transfer 4L to the small keg and move that to my fridge, hook it up with a small gas cartridge or a soda stream bottle and set the pressure to around 12 psi according to the carbonation chart and dispense from there once it's chilled.

So my only advice against that would be that every transfer is a possible place to pick up oxygen, but that does sound like a feasible solution. You might be able to find a mini-fridge that will hold a full-sized keg too, so that's something to investigate.

First of all, a quite general question, after the beer is carbonated, what happens to the beer inside a keg if I turn off or unplug the gas and do not maintain pressure? Will it go flat over time because of micro-leaks?

I have never experienced micro leaks before, if you have a leak you have a leak, and if you don't have a leak you don't. So if your beer is carbonated, the keg will hold pressure indefinitely, the only thing that will change is the pressure in your head space depending on the temperature where it's stored.

Secondly, my main question revolves around the keg to keg transfer. From what I've read, I would need to have the target, smaller keg at the same pressure as the source keg, so 24 psi at room temperature, and then either release pressure from the target vessel with its pressure release valve or use a spunding valve and set the pressure to 2 to 3 psi lower, 22psi or whatever. How much risk is there with foaming here at room temperature?

Does this sound doable? Anything to look out for? Or is this an insane plan? Thanks in advance.

You need the pressure in your target keg to be LOWER than the pressure in your source keg. You also NEED a spunding valve to prevent foaming. But as long as you keep the pressure in your target keg fairly close to your source keg, then the foaming should be minimal. If the beer experiences a sudden pressure drop, that's when CO2 will start coming out of solution. So make sure to pressurize your target keg to 22PSI or so before hooking up the transfer line.

 

[firerat]

You also NEED a spunding valve to prevent foaming.

No you don't.

It certainly helps and makes it go a bit easier / quicker, but you most certainly do not NEED a spunding valve to prevent foaming. Get everything cold and go as slow as possible and foaming will not be an issue.

 

[TheMadKing]

No you don't.

It certainly helps and makes it go a bit easier / quicker, but you most certainly do not NEED a spunding valve to prevent foaming. Get everything cold and go as slow as possible and foaming will not be an issue.

He said he's doing it at room temp

 

[BeerFst]

It won’t go flat cause of micro leaks (also not sure what that is) but cause you have more volume for the co2 to escape into and equilize pressure. Ideal gas law, if you increase volume then your pressure will be reduced.

it takes time for co2 to diffuse tho so if you just pressurize the keg back to 24 before you leave it to drink the one gallon you’re good.

that said I would look into getting a keg larger than one gallon. I bet you could fit a 2.5 gallon in your fridge with some shelf rearranging. Also why not just do 2-2.5 gallon batches, ferment and serve from same keg

also also, still get the sounding valve and ferment under pressure or just naturally ferment. Force carbing not required