keg disconnected from gas to age

[Danny2fresh]

Can I keg a beer, pressurize the keg to service pressure, and leave it disconnected from gas to age for a week or so at 35*F? The reason I am asking is because I have 2 taps and both are taken. I have a 3rd beer that needs kegged in a few days and no tap or gas line available.

 

[doug293cz]

You need to keep the keg connected to the gas for carbonation to complete. If you just pressurize and disconnect, then as CO2 absorbs into the beer the pressure will drop. Carbonation needs a constant supply of CO2 to proceed. Once carbonation is complete, there is no problem disconnecting the CO2.

Brew on

 

[Pathogen07]

No problem... essentially you are lagering your beer. As stated before, don't expect much carbonation, since the CO2 will readily absorbed into the beer and unless you keep adding CO2, nothing much will happen.
In the end, there is nothing wrong with what you're trying to do.
I personally would make sure to purge out any o2 prior to storage. Ie: fill with co2, release the pressure release and repeat 3-4 times.

 

[tgodsill]

If you spund your beer to carbonate you will not need the constant supply of CO2.

 

[doug293cz]

No problem... essentially you are lagering your beer. As stated before, don't expect much carbonation, since the CO2 will readily absorbed into the beer and unless you keep adding CO2, nothing much will happen.
In the end, there is nothing wrong with what you're trying to do.
I personally would make sure to purge out any o2 prior to storage. Ie: fill with co2, release the pressure release and repeat 3-4 times.

If you really want to avoid oxidation, you need way more purge cycles (pressurize, then vent.) Commercial brewers target less than 200 ppb (0.2 ppm) Total Packaged Oxygen (TPO.) The table and chart below show what it takes to get down to those kinds of O2 levels with just purge cycles, if the headspace starts out as air.

There are ways to have your headspace start out with very little O2, which have been described multiple times on HBT.
Brew on