I have a beer problem...

[TheMattTrain]

I know... no such thing, right?

I've got 4 kegs, two 6.5 gallon carboys, and one 5 gallon carboy. Help me solve the puzzle.

All 4 kegs are currently full. I have one (Brown Ale) That I've been trying to kick since Friday to no avail. I've gotta be close at this point, though. I have about 2 gallons or so of another beer that I'm also trying to get rid of. The other two kegs are pretty well full.

Both of my 6.5 gallon carboys are full. One has a month old Wee Heavy in it. The other has a 2-3 week old IIPA that I need to dry hop. My thought is, I need to get the IIPA in the 5 gallon to dry hop soon, but I'm only dry hopping for four days. After that, I'll need a free keg. The Wee Heavy needs a keg yesterday.

So... I guess the question is... what do I do?!?!?

 

[wtaylor3]

Tasting party to empty the kegs?

 

[wildactbrewer]

I'd fill up some growlers and give them as early Holiday gifts...

 

[Scottanooga]

Do you have growlers? Fill them up and give them to people you hold in esteem. You will be a hero and you'll have room in your kegs.

 

[Howhownow]

Get to drinking, or send me the IIPA and I'll take care of it for you. I dry hop right in the keg, and I just happen to have one empty!

You could also sterilize 18ish bottles in the oven, then chill them and fill/cap right from the keg (I use a seperate, clean QD/Line with picnic tap for this for sanitation reasons).

 

[poptarts]

Bottle off the keg, or growlers if you or someone you know can drink fast.

 

[Devin]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYqnoULgD30[/ame]

 

[ktblunden]

Buy more kegs? I have a similar issue. My 3 kegs are in use and I have a dubbel I need to keg. I'm making a concerted effort to kick my pale ale, but it's turned into the bottomless keg. I actually just bought 2 new kegs last week, but I have to wait for them to ship. I'll also need to expand my manifold and buy some more fittings and hoses.

 

[mikeoholic]

Time to start bottling.


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[Flboy]

Just bottle in soda bottles. That's all i use unless i am giving some away.

 

[feinbera]

IIRC, wee heavies are generally pretty malt-forward; seems like it doesn't need to be consumed super-fresh, while the IIPA does. Put your dry hops in a fine nylon mesh bag and do your dry hopping right in the soon-to-be-kicked keg, then pull the bag out, chill and pressurize after however many days. If you're worried about leaving the wee heavy on the cake for too long, you can rack it over to the fermentor you'll rack the IIPA out of.

 

[TheMattTrain]

Last night I invited some friends from work over to help me work on the kegs (good suggestion!) and my dad came over with a growler, which helped. I got my Brown Ale kicked, so that's soaking/getting clean now. I'm going to keg the Wee Heavy tomorrow, once the keg is clean. I'm going to bottle what's left of the #9 clone tonight, then clean that keg while I dry hope the IIPA in secondary. Once the dry hop is done, I should be able to move that to the keg soon after.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[beersk]

Similar problem here so my next few batches are going to be small batches that will get bottled. Four full kegs will take me months to finish...need smaller kegs so I can brew more often.
Like someone else said, bottle those suckers up and don't bottle with kegging them. They're aging beers anyway, except for the double IPA I guess.

 

[robertus]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVtQNK_ZUJg[/ame]

 

[sputnam]

+1 to buying at least one more keg
+1 to dry hopping IN the keg

however many taps you have, i'd say you need 2 extra kegs...minimum. Fortunately, a keg is an awesome christmas gift!

 

[DrunkleJon]

I would have kegged the IPA first, dry hopping in the keg so that you can dry hop while you carbonate (save time, personally never noticed any vegetal flavors by doing this). The wee heavy, only being on the cake for a month should be fine until another keg frees. I have kept beers on the cake for considerably longer than 1 month and had no issues, especially because the wee is a more flavorful beer anyway. I personally think that it is good form to own 1.5 kegs per tap minimum. That way you have less chance of having an empty keg (you can keep kegs conditioning while you are dispensing) once your pipeline is built up and it is easier and less stressful to have an empty/clean/sanitized waiting in the wings.

 

[Homercidal]

You didn't have a beer problem. A beer problem is when your keg kicks and you don't have any beer to replace it with!

As far as how to kick a keg faster, you are doing it wrong. You need to believe you still have lots of beer left in there. THEN it will kick!

 

[TheMattTrain]

Haha. You guys are awesome.

I asked my wife for another pair of kegs for Christmas. That brings me up to 6 total. That should keep me all set. I only have one keg dedicated gluten free for apfelwein, so I'll have 5 beer kegs for 2 beer taps.

As far as kicking the second keg, I bottled 14 bottles from the #9 keg last night, then made my brother come drink with me. We kicked it around 9:30. Two kegs are soaking now.

Plan is to get home, dry hop in secondary (I'd do it in the keg if I had a bag to put the hops in), and keg my wee heavy tonight.