Storing unused kegs in keezer

[jburton1103]

Hey all. Quick question.

Would it hurt anything to store unused corny kegs in my keezer with tap water in them? If so, should I leave them open or shut?

I have a 7 tap keezer that’s no where near populated right now and the extra liquid would sure help maintain the temp and extend my cycles. Right now the cycles are relatively short even with a 1 degree deadband just because of all the empty space.

thanks in advance!!!
cheers.

 

[LittleRiver]

That won't hurt anything. Throw some ice in with the water, to help your compressor with the work load it will take to bring all that water down to serving temp.

Ideally you'd want all those kegs to be full of beer which is conditioning, but until you get your pipeline fully primed, your idea is solid.

 

[jburton1103]

That won't hurt anything. Throw some ice in with the water, to help your compressor with the work load it will take to bring all that water down to serving temp.

Ideally you'd want all those kegs to be full of beer which is conditioning, but until you get your pipeline fully primed, your idea is solid.

ahh awesome. Thank you!

 

[visitor]

I try to do this when I have room in the keezer, sometimes I'll even hook the keg up and carb up the water to have sparkling water on tap.

 

[jharmon203]

Why not increase your deadband? I keep my beer at 36 with a deadband of 2 degrees. I would only store kegs in a keezer if you have no space to store them elsewhere or if your keezer is short cycling (it should be on for at least 5-10 minutes) Anything you have in your keezer costs money to keep cool so only keep cool what you need to keep cool IMO. However, I never have issues with having stuff I actualyl want to keep cool. A happy keezer (and happy meet) is having at least 4 things on tap at all times. This includes sparkling water which is way cheaper to make yourself than buying cans. I found that putting 2 packages of unsweetened koolaid mix (sharkleberry fin) flavors an entire 5 gallons pretty well. The first 5 glasses will be a bit strong because of the settling, but after that it's a good balance.

 

[Saunassa]

I keep empty kegs in the beer fridge with maybe a quart of sanitizer in them. The steel cools quickly and takes up dead space. That with a 2f rise and 10 minute compressor delay it does not run often.

 

[jharmon203]

What sanitizer due to use? Star san isn't supposed to use for much past an hour. Onestep is good for about one week.

 

[Saunassa]

A weak mix of starsan and then co2 to pressurize. I figured it was better then just plain water and works for me, ymmv

 

[jharmon203]

A weak mix of starsan and then co2 to pressurize. I figured it was better then just plain water and works for me, ymmv

Starsan says not to use the mixture much longer than an hour after mixing. Onestep is up to a week. Refrigeration and CO2 probably greatly extends this though.

 

[rsquared]

Starsan says not to use the mixture much longer than an hour after mixing. Onestep is up to a week. Refrigeration and CO2 probably greatly extends this though.

Even if that is true, once the inside of the keg has been sanitized, it's safe to leave the starsan in there indefinitely. It may not have any power left to sanitize after that point, but it's already done its job, and opening the keg to dump gives a point of entry for new conaminants.

That said, the general consensus is that the 1 hour recommendation is just there as a CYA. I've always heard that as long as it stays clear as the pH is below 3.5 it's still effective. One of the founders of Five Star essentially confirmed that here The Session 03-19-06 Sanitation w/ Charlie Talley | The Brewing Network

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I always store my carboys and kegs with a couple of ounces of Star San in them to swirl around before setting them aside for the future. I've never had any evident issue with this. Otoh, I once set a pair of kegs aside after cleaning but without sanitizer. When I went to use one of them and shined a strong light to the bottom, there was a nickle size round of mold floating there in the rinse water that had eventually collected at the bottom...

Cheers!

 

[Sammy86]

I always store my carboys and kegs with a couple of ounces of Star San in them to swirl around before setting them aside for the future. I've never had any evident issue with this.

Same here, plus I have an old decommissioned corny that I keep filled with it.