I bought a kegerator and can keep 2 cornys in it. How long can home brew last in refrigerated kegs? How long can it last in kegs at room temp? I'm just curious if I should up my brew and buy more cornys. I have a little money to blow right now.
How long can beer survive in a corny keg?
- Thread starter Naptown
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I bought some kegs almost 2 years ago that were full of homebrew. They've been inside the house during that time and I just started drinking on them recently (pipeline failure). They still taste pretty good.
maffewl
Well-Known Member
Naptown said:
A couple months? You can expect much more than that... I save a bottle of every beer I brew (even those that are kegged) and crack it open on the 1 year anniversary of the brew date.
nebben
Well-Known Member
Beer in corny kegs can last years and years. Take care to purge the keg first with CO2 prior to racking the beer into it. Once you fill the keg to the top and put the lid on, put the keg on gas to make sure the lid seals (up to 30psi to seal it). Purge the gas immediately, and put the pressure back on. I like to fill/purge the headspace two or three times after filling, then once more about an hour after filling to let the gasses settle a little bit. Once you purge the keg a few times, it should be almost entirely O2 free. The beer wont see light, air, or almost anything else to spoil it (sanitation!), and can be kept that way for a long time.
I have kept beer in mine for almost 1.2 years and counting, and the flavors are still improving (barley wine). I have heard ~10 years before is still easily doable, even with a keg that has been served from.
I have kept beer in mine for almost 1.2 years and counting, and the flavors are still improving (barley wine). I have heard ~10 years before is still easily doable, even with a keg that has been served from.
Really all depends on the type of beer, some beers really need to be drank early than others, like an IPA, while others need to age, like a Brett beer, but just to store beer... as posted years and years, but not all beer, most of them need to be drank somewhere around the five year mark.
pernox
Well-Known Member
Yes - you'll want them eventually, and the value will not decrease as long as homebrewers exist. Coke and Pepsi have discontinued contracting for these, so the supply of "cheap" used kegs is fixed.
Overbuying on kegs will also allow you to cellar some big beers without concern for light/O2 penetration, as has been described in the thread. They can also be put to use for grain storage, fermentation of >5g batches, lagering, etc.
Thanks, I just ordered 4 more. :rockin:
How long ago did they do that? Coke and Pepsi that is.
They haven't over here in Europe. In the states, they found it cheaper to send the bags of syrup out and mix while dispensing. It's been some time. But I don't know if the production has ceased since there are countries out there still using them.
pernox
Well-Known Member
Years ago, as I've been led to believe. Bag in Box dispensing has been around for a couple decades, and has taken over the entire industry. Hordes of kegs have been showing up as various locations switch over to BIB, but afaik according to lots of literature and reporting online, the large supplies are just gone.
That's interesting - do you think that there are just more holdover postmix customers, or are there quite a few to where the demand for kegs is still high enough to continue their manufacture on a large scale? If that were the case, I bet a pallet could find its way onto a container ship for an enterprising fellow to sell off here in the US at a nice margin.
Great article - thanks for posting.
