Keg storage

[doug293cz]

If it’s working for you great; don’t mess with it. I have read, (and been unable to relocate) that you can/(should?) reduce the priming sugar when carbing in a keg. This supposedly related to the reduced headspace in one keg as opposed to the +\- 50 bottles. The source I read suggested 2.5 oz by weight as sufficient, (71 grams). I don’t think it’s a big deal, but if you run into over-pressured kegs, or over-carbed beer, you might want to consider backing off a mite.
I have a keg I am trying at 2.5 oz. now. I put the sugar in a sanitized keg, purged with fermenter gas, and closed transferred the beer. I am setting it aside at 70° for 3 weeks to carbonate, then to the utility room outside for cool storage. If the temperature remains cool, I won’t even put it in the keezer. I have a stout on tap in that room now. Stouts are good at a little warmer temperature anyway.

This is total nonsense, but it is widely promoted and believed. There is very little difference in the keg headspace volume, and the combined headspace volume of ~50 bottles (I have measured. A keg and a bottle both have about 6% headspace) And, headspace volume doesn't have that much effect on carbonation anyway. I have not found anyone who can give a scientific explanation of why there would be a difference (and I don't think there is one, based on what I know about physical chemistry.)

Brew on

 

[Closet Fermenter]

This is total nonsense, but it is widely promoted and believed. There is very little difference in the keg headspace volume, and the combined headspace volume of ~50 bottles (I have measured. A keg and a bottle both have about 6% headspace) And, headspace volume doesn't have that much effect on carbonation anyway. I have not found anyone who can give a scientific explanation of why there would be a difference (and I don't think there is one, based on what I know about physical chemistry.)

Brew on

 

[redrocker652002]

Update, I think I got it right. I had an extra QD and some hose, so I thought, hell, I can do this. I filled up the keg with starsan and water. I am lucky, my torpedo keg has a bit of a dome on it where the lid goes so it was easy to get it filled up. I ran it thru the tap and emptied it out. I never released the keg pressure, and added a line fine from the spigot to the out of the keg. I then added another QD from the in of the keg to the bung on the lid of the bucket. It was a tight fit, but that is what I was looking for to seal it. I then pumped a bit of CO2 from my tank, watched the lid bulge a bit, then put the QD on and opened the spigot on the bucket. I knew it was pressure filling because the hose I was using was very long and just gravity would not have pushed it into the keg. I am pretty stoked as it seemed to work well, and not much of the sediment got pushed into the keg. I then hooked up my line in the kegerator, put the CO2 to it and into the kegerator it went. The only other thing I am not sure of is if it was right to add the CO2 while the fridge gets down to temp, in a sense I guess I am cold crashing, but I can disconnect it if I need to. It is sitting at 15 psi and hopefully will take about 3 to 4 days to get up to carb level. If not, no worries, I can wait this time. I am looking forward to it as it smelled really good when I opened the bucket to clean everything.

Anyway, wanted to say thanks to all who had input and put up with my stupid questions. I am guessing if I decide to store a full keg for a few weeks, this is the process I use minus it going into the kegerator Again, thanks to all who had input and helped me get thru it. Rock on!!!!

 

[Geezer-Glide]

So, if I am reading correctly, if I add the priming sugar mixture to the keg, at the rate needed for a 5 gallon batch, seal the keg and open the PRV, let it sit in my closet at say 68 to 70 degrees that will be ok to keep the keg for a few weeks until I finish the other one? Or do I keep the PRV closed so that the sugar will start the carbonating process and add the CO2 when I put it in the kegerator. Just trying to dumb it down to my level. LOL.

I add Finished beer to a corny keg. Then I add priming sugar and hit it with CO2 to seal the keg, attach a spunding valve and let it sit in basement brewery. I have let some ”keg condition“ for weeks with no bad effects. When I eventually tap the keg it is carbonated to whatever level you select with your spunding valve. The in keg fermentation also eliminates or replaces any oxygen that may be present. A spunding valve is your friend and also saves CO2.

 

[redrocker652002]

I add Finished beer to a corny keg. Then I add priming sugar and hit it with CO2 to seal the keg, attach a spunding valve and let it sit in basement brewery. I have let some ”keg condition“ for weeks with no bad effects. When I eventually tap the keg it is carbonated to whatever level you select with your spunding valve. The in keg fermentation also eliminates or replaces any oxygen that may be present. A spunding valve is your friend and also saves CO2.

Thank you for that. I was not sure what a spunding valve was, but now I know. So, if I have read all of your posts correctly, I can sanitize, add priming sugar based on 5 gallons of beer, seal the keg with some CO2 and then add the Spunding Valve to the keg and that is enough to actually keep in my closet at temps between 65 to 70 for a few weeks?

Or, I can sanitize the keg, do the closed transfer that I did above, put some pressure to the keg and again store at 65 to 70 for a few weeks? This is all great info, and I want to do some research of fermenting in a keg as well, so maybe I can just get rid of my buckets altogether and go from kettle to keg and then to serving in one vessel. Thanks to all who replied, this was great info.

 

[IslandLizard]

do the closed transfer that I did above, put some pressure to the keg and again store at 65 to 70 for a few weeks?

Just pressurizing doesn't work unless your keg is only 2/3-3/4 full of beer and you add all the needed CO2 for full carbonation, up front. That will result in a significant pressure (e.g., 60 psi when 3/4 full) to force carbonate that way.

Alternatively, or if the keg is fuller, you can keep adding CO2 to the headspace over 1-2 weeks until you hit your intended volume of dissolved CO2.

When adding priming sugar the CO2 gets absorbed as it's slowly being generated, similar to in a capped or corked bottle.

Whichever way, it will take a few days to a week in cold storage for pressure and carbonation to stabilize.
The reason is that cold beer can absorb (dissolve) much more CO2 than warm/room, or even cellar temp beer.