PSI in "stored keg" drops

[hydrasports]

I have a few kegs but only able to keep 2 in my refer at a time. So I racked over 3 kegs and pressurized the extra keg, blead it out of oxygen, bumped the psi to roughly 20 and set it aside. I checked it the other day and noticed that yes there was still a positive pressure inside the keg but not to the degree that was put in. I belive that what is happening is the beer is absorbing the co2 which decreases the pressure inside the keg??? Is this true and if not what's the deal... I mean I figure if the keg leaked it wouldn't have any pressure in the keg at all when I checked it.

 

[jd3]

You'll need to force carb over a few days. If it still drops after that, it has a leak, though usually the leak would go to zero.

Yes the Beer is taking on co2.

 

[Gunfighter04]

What's your goal here? If it's just bulk storage, hit it with 30psi to seal the lid and wait until you have room in the fridge, at which point you'll have your 2 weeks to wait until it's carbed an ready to serve. If I have an extended period that a keg is going to sit at room temp I'll prime it with sugar and it will then carb just like a bottle. Just remember it takes about half the priming sugar you would use in a bottle. I prefer this method as then the beer is ready to server as soon as it's place in the keezer and chilled.

 

[Bobby_M]

You can actually hit it with 50psi in one shot. After a few days, it will drop to about 5psi but it's 25% carbed at that point.

 

[Changeduser123]

By using a gauge with the kegs I prime, I am able to monitor the pressure. I did it for 4 kegs, and it has consistently been the same behavior:

* I prime the keg and hit it with 30 psi.
* After a day, it is down to something between 5 and 10psi. I assume this loss of pressure comes from the fact that some CO2 got in solution.
* After 3 days, the pressure starts rising due to priming sugar. It reaches about 25psi in 10 days.

So in your case, you have the same loss of pressure that I have at the beginning, without the priming sugar to compensate.

BTW, since you store at room temperature, have you thought about priming, so that your beer is ready to drink sooner ?

 

[hydrasports]

It turns out that when I do hook up a keg to the CO2 it only takes me at most 5 days at 20 PSI and then it is good to drink. After that initial 5 days I either lower the PSI when I go to drink so it doesn't flow so fast and when done either bump it to 10PSI or back to 20PSI. Either way works due to the fact that I usually drop the PSI to 4 prior to pouring.

Again even with no priming sugar it is ready to drink in 5 days or less.

 

[hydrasports]

One question does come to mind... knowing that the PSI can and will drop to say 5 PSI after an initial bump to 20 PSI... Will the keg ever drop to 0 PSI if there are no leaks or just stay at a positive pressure?

 

[Bobby_M]

It won't drop to zero otherwise it means all the CO2 is gone. Think of the headspace charge in terms of proportion to the overall keg size. If headspace is 1/10th of the keg, a single 20psi charge will equalize to 2psi when it fully dissolves (assuming to temp changes).