Looking for basic understanding of kegs and storage.

[HOPCousin]

I've been finding more technical info on kegging but I'm still at the basic level here.

If i were going to a local beer bar... are they getting refrigerated kegs and then force carbing them or are they keg conditioned and come carbed already and or both?

I assume if it's not keg conditioned then it has to be kept refrigerated and if it is then it can be cellared?

Trying to understand if i head toward kegging how I will keg, store, and time my batches.

Thanks for any clarification, insights and info you can provide :fro:

Chris

 

[shafferpilot]

at a bar, the kegs come chilled, carbed, and ready to tap

you can keg a beer and carb it at room temp... it requires rather high pressure but is fine. You have to chill the keg down to temp when it's time to serve it (this can take two days) and then vent any residual pressure before hooking it up to your kegerator gas.

You can store a beer in a keg and wait for room in the kegerator, but why? It makes more sense to leave the beer in the secondary carboy and keg it when there is room. The beer will only get clearer over time. If it's in the keg all that time then when you put it in the kegerator any additional yeast and stuff that settled gets stirred back in.

 

[Agentaaron]

I always keg store my beer...

If it is going to be awhile before you tap it, just dump in 1/3 cup of priming sugar mixed with about a cup of water, rack in your beer, hit it with a couple quick shots of co2 to purge out the air and to seal the keg...when you cool to serving temp, purge out the co2 and hook it up at your serving psi, all the sediment comes out in the first half pint. (As long as your careful about moving it)

If I am going to force Carb my beer (usually a hefe), I just rack it, burp it a few times to get all the air out, set it in place and run 17-20 psi into it for about 48-72 hours at serving temp (about 38*) then purge out the co2 and hook it back up at serving psi

Depending on what's in my pipeline and what I want to tap, I have had several that were stored for 6 months +. As long as there is no air in the keg (and it holds pressure), you have nothing to worry about.

**of course, this makes best use of my space and equipment...I have 13 kegs, but only 5 carboys for fermenting**

 

[HOPCousin]

Do you boil your water and dissolve your priming sugar as you would for bottling?

What kind of setups are you guys running and did you go with any of the ones advertised above? I'm trying to do my research for the fall when I should have the funds for the project.

 

[cheezydemon3]

YES!!! Boil.

Conditioning beer at room temp is far superior for flavor. Carbed or uncarbed matters not.

 

[Agentaaron]

Do you boil your water and dissolve your priming sugar as you would for bottling?

What kind of setups are you guys running and did you go with any of the ones advertised above? I'm trying to do my research for the fall when I should have the funds for the project.

Yes I bring it to a very mild boil then let it cool for a bit...its only like 1 cup, so it doesn't take long.