I have a two keg set up and I always end up running out of beer before I have the next batch ready. I was thinking of picking up a third and possibly fourth keg and I was just wondering, can you fill a keg, pressurize it , seal it and put it in a closet and wait for the next keg to empty? Or will this ruin the beer? I figure it won't carbonate , of very little with the warmer temps , but i would just carbonate it when it switches out. Otherwise I'll just have to make a keezer, oh darn...
kegs at room temperature
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mhurst111
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your plan will work fine. just follow your normal kegging process, hit it with CO2, purge a couple times and stick it someplace cool. As you say, it won't carb while waiting, but as soon as you swap it you can follow your normal carbonation process (set and forget, force/shake, high pressure, etc).
I've done it several times when wanting to get the beer off the yeast and not having enough room in the keezer.
I've done it several times when wanting to get the beer off the yeast and not having enough room in the keezer.
FloppyKnockers
Well-Known Member
That's exactly what I do. If you know it will sit for at least a couple weeks you could natural carb it while it's just sitting there.
stoneBriar
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I naturally carbonate in a keg quite often (particularly for english styles). You'll get a bit more sludge in the first pour, but I've cut my dip tubes short to account for that. I think your plan is fine.
FloppyKnockers
Well-Known Member
20ish works for me.
Are you planning to hit it with CO2 once to seal it and then taking it off gas? Or leaving it on gas the entire time you store it? It's possible if you only hit it with gas once, the CO2 will dissolve into the beer over time and you will lose the airtight seal on the lid.
This is definitely a concern if your kegs don't seal without pressure in them. Almost all of the CO2 in the headspace will dissolve into the beer in a day or two, even if you initially pressurize to 30 psi.
Brew on
I don't have a second tank and regulator so I was just thinking of filling with c02 then shelving it for however long. Even if it is sitting between 65 and 68 degrees you think it would absorb that fast where I would lose the seal in a matter of days? I guess worse comes to worse I could just top up on c02 every few days. I have never tried this before so if anyone who has done this could confirm, it would be helpful. I would hate to lose a batch to oxidation when it's already in the keg 
fwiw, for warm keg carbonation this is a handy keg carbonation calculator that ranges above that of our favorite carbonation table.
So, for instance, to carb beer at 70°F to 2.5 volumes of CO2, you'd set the CO2 pressure to almost 29 psi. And it will take the same time per volume per vessel geometry as if the beer was carbing at a lower temperature/pressure 2.5 volume combo...
Cheers!
So, for instance, to carb beer at 70°F to 2.5 volumes of CO2, you'd set the CO2 pressure to almost 29 psi. And it will take the same time per volume per vessel geometry as if the beer was carbing at a lower temperature/pressure 2.5 volume combo...
Cheers!
I like the idea of carbing a keg the "bottle condition" way using a priming sugar, but I really don't understand the logic behind it if there is a concern with oxidation due to a poor lid seal. It seems like that potential is still going to be there until the yeast consume the priming sugars. So how do you guys deal with the lag time from racking the beer until there's enough co2 produced to seal the lid? If you say 'put it on gas', then wouldn't it be just easier to leave it on gas from the start?
brewbama
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Just hit it with gas to clear the head space. Normally, the CO2 is busy dispensing vs carbing a keg in a closet
Valid questions and concerns. If the keg has a less-than-totally-reliable lid seal, the priming method could easily fail.
I'm a force-carb person ("set and forget", exclusively - no "shake'n'bake" for me
) so I'm clearly prejudiced towards throwing money at the problem to make it go away. If you have the hardware needed to force-carb just sitting there, I'd go ahead and use it...Cheers!
[edit] Should have noted: some recalcitrant lids can be sealed with no headspace pressure by sticking dimes under the latching lever feet...with some keg lube on the o-ring, of course...
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
I've had good luck with lids staying sealed using keg lube on the o ring and hitting with a single burst of high pressure. I've aged beers for months this way uncarbed, and still get a little burst of pressure when I pull the relief valve. I guess I wouldn't do it with a really finicky keg.
This is great feedback, I'm going to just have to give it a whirl and see how it goes. My kegs always seal nice and I always use keg lube so hopefully everything just keeps good seals and I can bank a few brews. Thanks aging everybody!
