Transporting 2 kegs across 2 states.

[toastermm]

I'm sure some of you have been in this situation before...

A really good friend of mine from college wants me in his wedding. Sweet. He knows I brew beer and he loves it. So I ask, "Do you want some brewed for the reception? or rehearsal dinner? or just to have for relatives there?...", He doesn't know, says he'll get back to me.

One month before the wedding (You know this was coming), he says, "What can you brew for me for the rehearsal dinner?". Dang. One month. Thank the almighty I have a two tap jockey box I just built. So I tell him, I can make a light beer and one other (both 5 gallons, let's assume this is enough). So I made "Cream of three crops" and "Red Rye Ale"- proven recipes on the forum here. They are done fermenting as of yesterday, and I racked them onto a secondary with gelatin for 2-3 days.

So this Thursday I will be kegging them. I have two kegs that I will be transporting to the wedding (Montana to Minnesota) by car. They will also be served (under serving pressure) at room temperature. They will also hit lots of bumps on the road for 18 hours.

The reception is the last day of April. So we're talking a carbonation time of the 22nd through the 30th. What should I set my pressure to? If need be I have two full 5lb CO2 tanks I will be taking- and I have a gas splitter thingy, so both kegs can be hooked to one CO2 tank, if needed.

Any thoughts? Or am I off my rocker? (I already know I am anyways, I mean we brew our own beer right?)

 

[samc]

Without telling us the temp of the beer when carbonating and the volumes of CO2 wanted how can we help? You don't need more than 1 tank of CO2 unless you have a leak.

I would have never made that offer and rather than rush beers I would find a brew pub that will fill your empty cornies near where you are going. Those beers are going to be pretty green to my taste, I like minimum 6 weeks before letting them out for public consumption.


But that's just me!

 

[toastermm]

Without telling us the temp of the beer when carbonating and the volumes of CO2 wanted how can we help? You don't need more than 1 tank of CO2 unless you have a leak.

I would have stated the CO2 levels had the recipes on here had them. Cream of Three crops does not state a CO2 volume in the recipe, and neither does the Red Rye Ale. I guess that's sort of the responses I'm looking for here. Transportation will never make it the beer warmer than 75. Also, like I stated above...

They will also be served (under serving pressure) at room temperature.

I would have never made that offer and rather than rush beers I would find a brew pub that will fill your empty cornies near where you are going. Those beers are going to be pretty green to my taste, I like minimum 6 weeks before letting them out for public consumption.


But that's just me!

I just tasted them as I racked them- they actually taste really good. I know what green beer tastes like, I've had plenty of it, and these don't really taste that way. Sure, they will probably taste better, given an extra week or two, but they meet my standards.

This is a great friend of mine, and if he asked me to bring wort that I just chilled to serve out of my grandma's undies, I would... with the warning it wouldn't taste the best.

Also like I said...

They are done fermenting as of yesterday, ...

I've seen plenty of people on this forum have great results carbonating in less than 3 days and I have a week. I know I'm cutting it close, but I don't think I'm rushing it to the point of beer not being ready. At worst case, the beer won't taste it's absolute best.

...

Anyways, I was thinking about setting the PSI at about 30 for both for a week. Any thoughts on the PSI setting?

 

[Yooper]

You're carbing at room temperature, I understand. So, according to this carb chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php, you'd want to go with at least 30 psi. It'll take every bit of two weeks to carb up, though at room temperature. It'd be great if you could get them cooler to help carb them up.

What I like to do when I transport kegs is to let them carb up and sit for two weeks or so, then "jump" into a new keg, leaving the sediment behind. Driving such a long distance and jostling the kegs around will stir up the sediment terribly, and most people don't like cloudy beer. If you have a couple of extra kegs, moving them into a fresh new keg after it's carbed up is easy. I can tell you how to do that, if you're interested.

 

[Jknapp]

Hey Yooper - off topic for this post, but can you give us the run down on your transfer method. I'd like to know..