Keg transportation question (different than most questions, I believe)

[coh]

Hey everyone, i've been reading these forums for a little while and have really gained a lot of good advice from the posts. Also, I must say I have attempted to post this thread MANY times, but always get caught up reading other threads such as the "post your kegerator" thread and before I know it, I've spent hours on here drooling over other people's setups


Anyways, I had a question about keg transportation. Currently I live out of state and brewed up a porter that is resting in secondary. I am trying to keep it in secondary as long as possible but at the end of the month, I will have to move back to Georgia and, one way or another, this beer is coming with me. I know moving beer is a sticky situation no matter how you do it, but I wanted some experienced advice as to what my best options were. The way I see it, I have a few options:

1) Leave the beer in secondary, drive back to Atlanta, and keg it very soon after I get back
2) Keg the beer, force carbonate, then drive back and let it sit for a few days before tapping it
3) Start force carbonation the day I move and drive back with the CO2 tank connected to the keg.

Now, the only reason I suggested option 3 is because I read you are supposed to shake the keg around while force carbing. What better way to do this than driving at top speed and hitting a few bumps? At the same time, though, I could see how trying to carbonate your keg and drive at highway speeds may get a little....dangerous? (also very sketchy if I were to get pulled over, haha). You are welcome to flame away at the fact that I even suggested that.

Any help?

 

[Yooper]

Well, my thought is that #1 and #2 are fine. I'd probably take off the airlock and cap it with a carboy cap and just bring it home in the carboy.

I've never heard that shaking a keg is a good thing. That just sounds like a recipe for foamy beer to me. I know that a few people do hook up the gas and shake the keg for a few minutes while the gas is hooked up, but not for hours at a time, and then they stop to let the beer settle. I wouldn't attempt that.

Hauling the beer in a carboy or in a keg is fine. I took two kegs to the National Homebrew Conference (800 miles or so each way) in the back seat of my car. They were already carbed up, so I could pour a pint the same day I got there. Otherwise, it doesn't matter if it's carbed up or not when you move it.

 

[Bobby_M]

Keg before you move it. It will keep it from oxidizing and/or spilling. Apply 40psi and you're free to move it. Make sure it's not inside the car because it's technically an open container.

 

[coh]

Keg before you move it. It will keep it from oxidizing and/or spilling. Apply 40psi and you're free to move it. Make sure it's not inside the car because it's technically an open container.

Sorry for the ignorance, force carb it at 40PSI? or leave the gas up at 40PSI while moving it?

 

[Poindexter]

I moved my 888RIS from Los Angeles to Dallas, TX, unprimed in a cornelius. I had it buckled into the front passenger seat so I could pull the vent every day without making an ordeal out of it.

Cliffs: transport it flat, let it rest when you get there, then prime.

I would argue that a keg with no tap on it is not really an open container.

I let the RIS settle for about a month before I primed and bottled...

I also moved three kegs from Dallas to North Carolina three months later. All three were on priming sugar and shot with about 12psi of CO2 at kegging to seal the Orings. I kegged these about a week before the move, on moving day all three had digested enough of the priming to be slightly pressed and holding pressure (per the scientific jiggle the vent valve test). The two lagers in that bunch spent a year in a keezer, the IPA took a boat trip from Wilmington down to the Bahamas and back.

14 months after priming all three rode from NC to Alaska over the Al-Can with no transportation related flaws. I wish to hell I had boiled the butter out of my lagers harder.

Honestly, I was going to tell the border dude about the homebrew under the blanket in the back seat, but after I counted the commercial beers in the front seat he moved on to asking about weapons and never did go back to check if I had anything to add. I think the Canadian government might have a teensy issue with a fellow dragging fifteen gallons of homebrew through, but I just answered all the questions as best I could and said "Yes Sir" when he told me to drive up to the orange dumpster to ditch my USA firewood. Drove the speed limit too.

 

[r2eng]

Like BobbyM said... just purge and hit it with 40PSI CO2.

It is not carbonated at this point, just pressurized to keep it sealed. Obviously some CO2 will go into solution, but it will not be carb'd.

 

[Clayton]

keg it and move it.

Keg before you move it. It will keep it from oxidizing and/or spilling. Apply 40psi and you're free to move it. Make sure it's not inside the car because it's technically an open container.

technically its not if the tap is not hooked up.
I usedto haul kegs in a van for a river float trip company
and it was total legal, but then bobby did not site witch state he is refureing to, his, yours ,who knows here its not , and we have open container laws and strict alcohol rules

 

[Dwain]

Not sure how long it's been in secondary, but if it's over a month, what about just priming and kegging it before it's moved? Let it settle while you're getting your house set up and then tap it. - Dwain

 

[Bobby_M]

keg it and move it.



technically its not if the tap is not hooked up.
I usedto haul kegs in a van for a river float trip company
and it was total legal, but then bobby did not site witch state he is refureing to, his, yours ,who knows here its not , and we have open container laws and strict alcohol rules

You're right, I have no idea what the state by state laws are. Via hearsay here in NJ the fact that you can open the lid, take a pull off it, and replace the lid to the previous state makes it "open". In other words, unless there's a factory seal, it's open. A sanke would be a bit different because you couldn't possibly pour out of it.

 

[Bobby_M]

keg it and move it.



technically its not if the tap is not hooked up.
I usedto haul kegs in a van for a river float trip company
and it was total legal, but then bobby did not site witch state he is refureing to, his, yours ,who knows here its not , and we have open container laws and strict alcohol rules

You're right, I have no idea what the state by state laws are. Via hearsay here in NJ the fact that you can open the lid, take a pull off it, and replace the lid to the previous state makes it "open". In other words, unless there's a factory seal, it's open. A sanke would be a bit different because you couldn't possibly pour out of it.

This is why I always put growlers in the trunk.