Kegging at Room Temp

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

AdamBomb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2014
Messages
46
Reaction score
16
I've searched and can't quite find the answer I'm looking for.

I do not have the space for a kegerator so would there be any problem with kegging and carbing at room temp then dispensing into growlers as needed and cooling in the fridge?

I've looked at the Blichmann beer gun. Could I use it for this application or would it be a foamy mess?
 
What I hav done is use a carbonater cap for pop bottles either a bought one or homemade. I use the homemade one with the tire valve stem, search youtube. I fill my keg up with beer and purge with co2 and seat the orings. When I want a homebrew I take a 20oz or 2 liter and fill it up. Put in the fridge to cool, when its cold iramp up the co2 to 30psi. Squeeze out the excess air from bottle then hit it with co2. Shake like hell u will feel the bottle get softer. I will hit it again with co2 and shake the crap out of it. Then will stick it in the fridge for the co2 to equilize. I may hit again with gas depending how carbonated it is.This does take a little planning but can be done with in a short period of time.
 
Yes you can carb at room temperature no problem. I will carb in the garage or spare room.

Foaming is a huge concern. What I would do to prevent this is invest in a carb cap and cool then carb a couple/few 2-liters at a time. I've done this when I really really want some of what I've got in my pipeline.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Depending on what your room temperature is you may be approaching 30PSI needed to carbonate your beer and would definitely need to counter-pressure fill your bottles. I'm not sure that I would want to apply that much pressure to a glass growler.
 
The issue is that once you have the beer carbed trying to pour warm beer will cause it to foam. This is because less CO2 can be dissolved into the beer. What you might want to do if you without a frig is if you live in a cold climate you can just leave the beer outside as long as is does not freeze and temps in the low 40's. The other option is to get a trash can that fits the keg with just a little space around for ice and water to bring the beer down to the 40's you should be able to dispense into your growlers. To carb at room temp just use the calculator put in the volumes of CO2 for your beer style and the room temp then set your gauge at that PSI I would leave it at that pressure for about 10 days then ice the keg down or leave outside.
Once the keg is as cold as you can get it bleed off any pressure in the keg and set your regulator to 2 psi. Refrigerate your growlers to get them cold. You can use this method to help control the foam (you will need some equipment) it has worked well for me in filling bottles.
 
Thank you all for the great info.

cjhammel, I think you have the solution. I can put a keg in my chest freezer after carbing at room temp to chill before bottling. Is there a way to measure the beer temp in a keg? I can't turn the freezer down since it is full of meat.

Will it hurt for the beer to return to room temp after "bottling"?
 
It won't hurt the beer to go from chilled to room temp to chilled again. It really doesn't mind. Anything you've heard of this skunking beer is usually a by product of being exposed to light.

If you put a stick on thermometer to the side of your keg, then when you take it out of the freezer wrap it in a blanket for a few minutes (to insulate from ambient and equalize a bit) it will give a close enough temp of the contents. It'll equalize between the beer and steel rather quickly.

I would give the opinion that you're looking at kegs for most of the wrong reasons. You don't have a spot to put a dedicated keg fridge. You need to wedge it into the meat freezer carefully timed to not freeze it but still have cold enough for transferring. Doesn't really speak to me.

A keg fridge can be as small as a dorm fridge. Some have even managed to squeeze a single keg and tap into their everyday fridge in the kitchen along side the eggs and milk.
 
I would give the opinion that you're looking at kegs for most of the wrong reasons. You don't have a spot to put a dedicated keg fridge. You need to wedge it into the meat freezer carefully timed to not freeze it but still have cold enough for transferring. Doesn't really speak to me.

A keg fridge can be as small as a dorm fridge. Some have even managed to squeeze a single keg and tap into their everyday fridge in the kitchen along side the eggs and milk.

One of the reasons for this is I am attempting to craft a sparkling wine and a cider or graff that has a high FG (for the wife).

Also I have made wine for a long time and bottling is my least enjoyed part of the process and with beer without spending a small fortune on 1L ez cap bottles there are twice as many bottles to clean, sanitize, cap, ect. So I was thinking that carbing in a keg (at room temp) then putting into kitchen fridge size containers for enjoying would work out without a dedicated kegerator.

Aside from being expensive I'm now leaning toward 2.5-3 gallon keg in the kitchen fridge. Once carbed can I just give it a squirt of co2 now and then for serving?
 
One of the reasons for this is I am attempting to craft a sparkling wine and a cider or graff that has a high FG (for the wife).

Also I have made wine for a long time and bottling is my least enjoyed part of the process and with beer without spending a small fortune on 1L ez cap bottles there are twice as many bottles to clean, sanitize, cap, ect. So I was thinking that carbing in a keg (at room temp) then putting into kitchen fridge size containers for enjoying would work out without a dedicated kegerator.

Aside from being expensive I'm now leaning toward 2.5-3 gallon keg in the kitchen fridge. Once carbed can I just give it a squirt of co2 now and then for serving?

Not really- as it will go flat as you pour unless you go through the keg really, really fast.

If you're going to keg in a small volume, why not try something like those party pigs (I think that is what they are called), or get a dorm sized fridge? It would be very difficult to enjoy draft beer without a way to keep it cold as warm beer foams and would be more of a pain than bottling for sure.
 
Back
Top