No room in keezer, fermentation almost over...

[RockfordWhite]

What do you guys usually do when you don't have room in the keezer but a beer is ready to be kegged? I have open kegs, but I just can't get them on constant CO2 or in the keezer?

Should I just put it in a keg and blanket it with CO2?

Thoughts?

 

[ChefRex]

What do you guys usually do when you don't have room in the keezer but a beer is ready to be kegged? I have open kegs, but I just can't get them on constant CO2 or in the keezer?

Should I just put it in a keg and blanket it with CO2?

Thoughts?

Yes.

 

[b-boy]

I just keg the beer, top off with CO2 at about 30PSI, and move to a cool place to condition until I'm ready to drink. I usually top off the CO2 every few weeks since the beer will absorb it over time.

It will keep for several months, even longer in some cases. I've had kegs siting up to a year and I've never had any problems.

 

[Rockn_M]

If I can't hook a keg up to constant co2 I just leave it in the fermentor until I can. If you just hook it up to co2 to purge the air the co2 that is in the headspace will be absorbed and leave the possibility for air to get in.


Sent from my kegerator

 

[jahdub]

If I can't hook a keg up to constant co2 I just leave it in the fermentor until I can. If you just hook it up to co2 to purge the air the co2 that is in the headspace will be absorbed and leave the possibility for air to get in.


Sent from my kegerator

How does air get in if your keg is sealed shut?

 

[acidrain]

Bottle the beer in the keezer, and rotate in the new stuff.

 

[Collmorgen]

Drink, drink, drink, drink!

 

[Rockn_M]

How does air get in if your keg is sealed shut?

Once the co2 is absorbed and there is no longer enough pressure inside the keg the seals can give and give a place for the air to get in.

 

[SuliBrew]

How about natural conditioning? Add sugar solution to the keg, rack to keg, layer blanket of co2 and let it sit.

 

[sconsi]

Have a kill the keg party! Then kick everyone out when the desired keg is empty.

You could bottle condition in the keg.

 

[jahdub]

Once the co2 is absorbed and there is no longer enough pressure inside the keg the seals can give and give a place for the air to get in.

So this happens if you have bad seals? It sounds like a keg that can keep 30psi of CO2 in isn't really sealed, which makes me wonder why they don't leak CO2.

 

[pvault98]

How about natural conditioning? Add sugar solution to the keg, rack to keg, layer blanket of co2 and let it sit.

This is what I do. If it is going to sit around at room temp, might as well get it carbonated naturally and save yourself a little CO2 in the process. The nice thing about naturally carbing in the keg is you can always dial in the exact amount of CO2 later but you will be 95% of the way there. once space opens up in the keezer.

Make sure you read up on this process if you are not familiar as you only need about half as much sugar for the same volume of CO2 compared with bottle conditioning. Ok prob don't need to read up on it now since that is basically the only difference.

 

[Rockn_M]

So this happens if you have bad seals? It sounds like a keg that can keep 30psi of CO2 in isn't really sealed, which makes me wonder why they don't leak CO2.

If there is constant co2 the kegs can keep for years. What happens is if the beer is not fully carbed the beer absorb any co2 in the headspace. Once that happens you no longer have outward pressure on the seals and the seals can relax a little bit causing gaps for the air to get in. You can have perfect seals and this still can happen.

I hope this helps.

 

[jahdub]

If there is constant co2 the kegs can keep for years. What happens is if the beer is not fully carbed the beer absorb any co2 in the headspace. Once that happens you no longer have outward pressure on the seals and the seals can relax a little bit causing gaps for the air to get in. You can have perfect seals and this still can happen.

I hope this helps.

So, if the beer is carbed, the pressure inside the keg will be much higher than atmospheric and there won't be any oxidation?

I'm just trying to figure out why carbing a keg and leaving it is a bad thing.

 

[orangemen5]

So, if the beer is carbed, the pressure inside the keg will be much higher than atmospheric and there won't be any oxidation?



I'm just trying to figure out why carbing a keg and leaving it is a bad thing.

If it's a fully carbed keg it's not a bad thing to leave it. His beer is not carbed yet.

 

[Rockn_M]

So, if the beer is carbed, the pressure inside the keg will be much higher than atmospheric and there won't be any oxidation?

I'm just trying to figure out why carbing a keg and leaving it is a bad thing.

I think we are starting to veer off the original question. I don't think carbing a keg and leaving it is a bad thing. I do it for my Oktoberfest. I brew it in the beginning of March then keg and lager it until September.

The OP's original question was to blanket the beer with Co2 which I took as give the keg a burst of Co2 and then disconnect. This generally doesn't work because of the pressure outside vs inside the keg.

As long as the outward pressure inside the keg is greater than the inward pressure on the keg the beer could be left for a very long time without any issues.