What to do with kegs you're not ready to put on yet?

[drgonzo2k2]

Hey gang, so I've really been trying to keep the pipeline up, and after several brew days I'm happy to have a fully stocked keezer and things that will be ready to keg in the next 1-2 weeks. The dilemma I face now is what to do with the kegs I'm about to fill before there is room in my keezer for them. Here's my situation...

The only place I have to store them is an un-insulated garage, and there's just no room in there for yet another fridge or chest freezer. This time of year the average temperature is about 55 degrees, but there are some temp swings from the high 40s to low 60s.

Further I have a CO2 tank with just a single regulator (so can only hook up one thing at a time) in the garage, but I'm likely to have 2-3 kegs at a time that won't be ready to go on in the keezer.

I was thinking that I could just refer to the handy carbonation chart, go for 55 since it's the average, and hook up a keg at the proper PSI that would give me the right volumes in the finished beer, but then I wasn't sure about a couple of things.

First, what do I do when I transfer the keg from the 55F garage to the 40F keezer? Assuming I was shooting for 2.4 volumes it would have been sitting at 19 PSI, and I'd need to drop it to 11 PSI for 40F. Do I just purge the keg, reset to 11, and I'm good to go? Do I do that before or after it reaches 40?

Also, how much do I need to worry about those temp swings in the garage while a keg is carbing up out there?

Assuming I go that route, then what should I do when keg 1 is carbing up and I also need to carb up keg 2? Can I just swap the regulator back and forth every other day? Does the keg need to be under constant pressure to carbonate properly?

I'm not against buying a dual regulator to carb a couple of things (at different PSI) at the same time, but would like to avoid the expense if possible.

Anyone else out there in this same situation? What do you do?

Edited to ask, also, how long would I need to carb a keg like this for it to be properly carbonated?

 

[Hammy71]

I keep my full kegs in my basement. It stays around 60 degrees. I carb them at a higher pressure like you plan on doing. Works fine. When you put the kegs in your kegger just let them chill for a day before you hook up your kegger CO2. I use the set it and forget it method so it takes about 3 weeks to carb the kegs.

 

[Lbm]

I do this. My garage doesn't get as cold, though. I use a gas manifold to allow me to warm carb 2 kegs and have a third port available for transfers if I need it. I don't think you necessarily need to buy a dual reg, because you can always aim for lower vol carb and finish up in the kegerator when you have room. I do have dual reg in my 20 lb co2 tank in the garage, but just use one for carbing and the other for pressure transfers.

I always purge before I put the kegs in the kegerator on lower pressure.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Even though the garage has some temp swings, the beer should remain a pretty constant temp. I would just carb to the actual beer temp in the garage.

When transfering to your keezer, set the kegs to serving pressure for 40 degrees. You can purge if you want, but the pressure should also adjust as the keg chills.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Thanks, gang! So it sounds like getting a dual regulator and/or some manifolds is the way to go here. I'll start looking into that. Also sounds like I shouldn't worry too much about the temp swings in the garage as they shouldn't impact the beer temp all that much. I did still have a couple of quick questions though.

1) Someone mentioned 3 weeks to force carb at those temps. Is that correct? Does that time frame change with the temperature? So if I'm doing this in the summer, and the average temp is 70F, would I need to carb for shorter/longer or no?

2) Do the kegs need to be under constant pressure at this time, or is it okay to swap gas lines from keg to keg as long as I always refill to carbing pressure every day?

3) What happens when I'm carbing a keg this way and a space opens up in the keezer? Can I transfer the warm, partially carbed keg to the keezer and finish carbing there?

 

[boochuckles]

I only I have one keg right not and a single regulator so I'm not sure if this would work but...

My thought is to get another regulator like :http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Sale-AR2000-Air-Control-Compressor-Pressure-Regulating-Regulator-Valve-New/271570388466?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D33878%26meid%3Df1279af4af244342bca6692fbc0eca42%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D261682909448

And then just set them up with t-ports and go down stream from the highest psi to lowest. At the tank 30psi for a new keg then next one say 12psi and then the last one at like 8psi. IDK if that's going to work like I think but it would be cheaper then a new regulator...

Just my 2 cents

 

[Hammy71]

Thanks, gang! So it sounds like getting a dual regulator and/or some manifolds is the way to go here. I'll start looking into that. Also sounds like I shouldn't worry too much about the temp swings in the garage as they shouldn't impact the beer temp all that much. I did still have a couple of quick questions though.

1) Someone mentioned 3 weeks to force carb at those temps. Is that correct? Does that time frame change with the temperature? So if I'm doing this in the summer, and the average temp is 70F, would I need to carb for shorter/longer or no?

2) Do the kegs need to be under constant pressure at this time, or is it okay to swap gas lines from keg to keg as long as I always refill to carbing pressure every day?

3) What happens when I'm carbing a keg this way and a space opens up in the keezer? Can I transfer the warm, partially carbed keg to the keezer and finish carbing there?

1. Some people will set their regulator at higher pressures and/or shake the keg to shorten the carbonation time. I prefer to charge my kegs at serving pressures or what is on the chart per temps. This requires some patience, but you'll never have an overcarbed beer. Doesn't matter if the beer itself is cold or not....CO2 dissolves in liquid easier if it is cold. Thus, why when warmer you'll need a higher pressure.

2.You'll need to keep the keg under constant pressure if your using the chart/temperature recommendations. There isn't enough room in the headspace of the keg to really just fill with CO2 and then unhook.

3. Yes you can just move the keg to your keezer. I would recommend waiting a day before you hook up your gas lines to the keg. As stated above, it's a good idea to purge the keg before hooking up to your gas. If you don't have check valves on your air lines you'll risk beer backing up into your regulator if you don't.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Hey, Hammy, thank you very much for all your answers here. Unfortunately I'm still not totally clear on #1...

Is 3 weeks just a general time frame, and more or less any keg at any temp, kept under pressure at serving temp will carb up properly in that time frame? Or is there some formula not reflected on the carbonation chart that I should reference? For example will a keg held at 80F and a keg held at 35F both be carbed properly in 3 weeks?

 

[beersk]

Is there a reason you couldn't naturally carbonate with sugar and keep them inside your house?
I just racked a Belgian dubbel to a keg last night with 2.6oz of sugar in 1 cup of water boiled for about 7 minutes, poured hot into sanitized keg, and racked beer in. Sealed it up and put in my hallway closet to hangout for a while.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Is there a reason you couldn't naturally carbonate with sugar and keep them inside your house?
I just racked a Belgian dubbel to a keg last night with 2.6oz of sugar in 1 cup of water boiled for about 7 minutes, poured hot into sanitized keg, and racked beer in. Sealed it up and put in my hallway closet to hangout for a while.

Well, 2 reasons...

1 - One of the things I like about force carbing vs. natual carbing is you don't get a build up of additional trub with force carbing.

2 - My wife would kill me if I started storing kegs in the house.

 

[Hammy71]

Hey, Hammy, thank you very much for all your answers here. Unfortunately I'm still not totally clear on #1...

Is 3 weeks just a general time frame, and more or less any keg at any temp, kept under pressure at serving temp will carb up properly in that time frame? Or is there some formula not reflected on the carbonation chart that I should reference? For example will a keg held at 80F and a keg held at 35F both be carbed properly in 3 weeks?

If you use the chart to keg....most beers will be fully and properly carbed in around 3 weeks. Temperature doesn't matter if you use the chart. That's what the chart is doing for you, the math. There is no drop dead date where you can say "Voila, it's done", but for most of us 3 weeks at "chart temperature" and psi will get you close enough to perfect.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

If you use the chart to keg....most beers will be fully and properly carbed in around 3 weeks. Temperature doesn't matter if you use the chart. That's what the chart is doing for you, the math. There is no drop dead date where you can say "Voila, it's done", but for most of us 3 weeks at "chart temperature" and psi will get you close enough to perfect.

Cool, thank you very much! I will give that a shot!

 

[beersk]

Well, 2 reasons...


2 - My wife would kill me if I started storing kegs in the house.

Why? It's your house too, isn't it?

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Why? It's your house too, isn't it?

Haha, well, that's true, but, I don't think you'll get very far in life always telling your SO what you're gonna do with communal property instead of having a discussion about it first.

Following that same logic I could paint the house bright pink and when she gets mad my response could just be, "well it's my house too."

And when she sells the car, same thing, and so on.

We both have hobbies that require a lot of space and have a lot of clutter, and we've got dedicated areas for those to avoid the mess in the house. Mine has spilled over to a kegerator in the dining room (which benefits both of us), but there's no reason for that to extend to keg storage too.

 

[beersk]

Well, this may be why I'm still single, haha. Mostly by choice though, I just don't want to have to answer to someone else. I often think people get into relationships and get married because that's what they think they're supposed to do with life. Maybe someday, but not right now. At 32, I'm content to be on my own.
But it seems to me that a couple kegs won't take up that much space. Got a closet in the basement or spare bedroom? But it sounds like there is no place for them, so...you're SOL, dude.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Well, this may be why I'm still single, haha. Mostly by choice though, I just don't want to have to answer to someone else. I often think people get into relationships and get married because that's what they think they're supposed to do with life. Maybe someday, but not right now. At 32, I'm content to be on my own.
But it seems to me that a couple kegs won't take up that much space. Got a closet in the basement or spare bedroom? But it sounds like there is no place for them, so...you're SOL, dude.

Unfortunately, living pretty much on top of a fault line, we do not have a basement. Also, you'd be surprised how quickly everything else in life eats up your "spare" closet space.

I should be good with the space in the garage. Won't take up any more space full when empty, so definitely room enough out there. Plus it gives me more excuses to go hang out in my garage a bit

Just ordered a couple of 3-way manifolds and a dual regulator this morning, so should hopefully be getting things setup this weekend. Should work well with the 20# CO2 tank I ordered from EZ, and then I can sell off my old 5# tank and single regulator.

 

[m00ps]

I wouldnt sell off your single regulator and 5# tank. I just my old single regulator for purging kegs and bottles for my beer gun. My full kegs sit there at 35psi room temp while waiting for room in the kegerator

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Oh, that's actually pretty much what I use my 5# tank for now.

I've got a 20# tank in the house that feeds into my bank of 6 secondary regulators to power my 6-tap keezer.

Now out in the garage I've got a 5# tank with a single regulator that I use for purging kegs, fermenters, and so on.

I'm replacing that with a 20# tank with a dual regulator, and each regulator will feed to a 3-way manifold.

So I should have plenty of open hoses to carb up kegs, attaching my CO2 purging wand, purge kegs, and so on.

Plus, in my neck of the woods I've found that it's $13 to swap out a 20# CO2 tank at my local hydroponics shop vs. $25 to swap out a 5# tank at my LHBS, so it's kind of a no-brainer to use 20# tanks instead of the 5#.

I'd actually ordered this 20# tank from EZ for that very reason and was gonna just hook it up to my single regulator, now it just works out even better as I'll use it to carb up kegs as well.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Well wouldn't you know it? I got everything all setup this weekend, and it's working great. I had an IPA force carbing before I switched over to the manifolds, and then once I got the manifolds setup I started force carbing a quick mead. The IPA has been force carbing at about 55-60F for 10 days now and the mead for 2 days. Just last night I blew not 1, but 2 kegs on the keezer, so now I have two empty spots.

What to do?

- Continue force carbing at 55-60F until each keg has been there for 3 weeks, then move them over to the keezer

- Put them in the keezer now, reset pressure once they've cooled, and then carb the beer for another 4 days (so 14 days total) and the mead for another 12 (also 14 days total)

- Put them in the keezer now, carb at 30 PSI for 24-36 hours, then reset

?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Well just guessing the IPA is around 2/3 carbed and the mead hardly at all. I wouldn't do 30 psi for more than 12 hours on the IPA, the mead is still flat more or less.

Easy to add more, more difficult to take away if you over carb.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking - easy to screw up and hard to fix.

I put both in my keezer last night, with the gas line disconnected to let things cool down to serving temp.

When I get home tonight I was planning on purging the pressure on the IPA, resetting to serving, and then letting it finish up without burst carbing.

For the mead I was going to purge, reset to 30 PSI, and then burst carb it for 24 hours, then reset to serving.