Storing kegs

[Ryano2]

Hey guys. 

So I'm interested in storing some of my batches as I like to make beer but can't drink it quick enough. 

I have noticed when I fill a keg and purge it there will be some pressure left and I'll get a hiss when I pull the release rab. 

After say 5 days I'll notice there is no more pressure release. I assume the beer is absorbing the co2? 

So I need to keep topping it up with co2 for longer storage? Or is it fine to just leave it? 

[Journeyman]

20 minutes ago, Ryano2 said:

Hey guys. 

So I'm interested in storing some of my batches as I like to make beer but can't drink it quick enough. 

I have noticed when I fill a keg and purge it there will be some pressure left and I'll get a hiss when I pull the release rab. 

After say 5 days I'll notice there is no more pressure release. I assume the beer is absorbing the co2? 

So I need to keep topping it up with co2 for longer storage? Or is it fine to just leave it? 

1. STOP PURGING!  What you are doing is DRAINING the CO2 out of the beer. 

2. Fill the keg, put it on gas, purge it maybe 2 or 3 times maximum within a few minutes then store it somewhere with constant temp. The idea of purge is to get the CO2 to force out the oxygen - once you have done that it is normal to leave the keg on the gas and over time the beer will absorb the CO2. If you're not storing at serving temp there's not much point leaving it on gas - it will not absorb much CO2.

3. The time the beer spends just sitting around will improve the beer.

4. When ready to start using it, stick it in the fridge and on gas - if you can't wait a week for it to carb up you can try force carbing

5. You can force carb at 30 psi for 2 days, 40 psi for maybe 24 hours or use a lesser pressure and sit rocking the keg for a while - you want the gas post at the bottom so the gas going in is made to go through the beer.

Edited September 21, 2020 by Journeyman

[Ryano2]

Hey mate. 

I do purge and leave it. But my concern is I think it looses pressure. Or the pressure leaks out. 

If I leave it for 5 days and then go and pull the release tab, no gas comes out 

[Journeyman]

Ah... I misunderstood. In that instance, yes, some CO2 is taken up by the beer. I doubt it is leaking out. But it won't be leaking air IN so just let it sit until you're almost ready to use it. There will be CO2 in the headspace keeping things healthy.

It's possible pulling the PRV when the internal pressure is way down could let some oxygen in, so maybe put it back on gas to purge again then leave it.

Edited September 21, 2020 by Journeyman

[Ryano2]

Awesome that's answered it! Cheers mate 

[MitchellScott]

Like @Journeyman has said, the beer is simply absorbing the small amount of C02 you have in the headspace. Just give it a purge when first filling, then you can store it with no issue. The pressure from the headspace will naturally absorb into the beer but that is normal.

Mitch.

[Lettucegrove]

@Ryano2 I've been in the exact boat you are in and have left a keg for two weeks. I came to it and there was no gas release when i checked. Once it was cold and carbed i tasted it and it was fine.

[Bribie G]

I once kept a keg from November to April and it was fine.

If you don't mind using twice as much gas another trick is to fill the keg with a weak starsan solution and "serve" it through the tap, giving you a keg full of CO2.

Then fill it quickly, opening the lid just enough to let the hose in and as the beer enters, the gas - including any O2 that has snuck in, will be ejected. Seal immediately, purge a couple of times to be really certain, and store the keg.

If you want to prepare a few kegs full of CO2 for future use you can just make up one kegful of starsan solution and "daisy chain" the kegs. In the photo the keg that is being filled with the Starsan then becomes the serving keg for the next one, and so on.

[Shamus O'Sean]

@Bribie G, I do similar except I have a spare gas bottle.  I run a jumper "beer out disconnect to beer out disconnect" between the StellarSan filled serving keg and the keg being filled.  I fit a gas out disconnect to the gas post of the keg being filled.

I have three kegs waiting to be cleaned, sanitised and purged.  Also a StellarSan filled keg from the last cleaning run.  If I remember I will post a photo of the process on the weekend when I do the clean. 

[Bribie G]

Sounds like a brilliant solution, looking forward to the post.

[Shamus O'Sean]

@Bribie G, I got around to the cleaning yesterday.  So my process is similar to yours but instead of running through the kegerator, I just use a beer out to beer out jumper.

This does use a fair bit of CO2.  I wish I had an air tight fermenter and a big enough fermenting space to hold the fermenter, and two kegs.  Then I would connect the fermenter to the keg full of stellarsan and use the CO2 from fermentation to push the stellarsan to the empty keg.  Free CO2.

[Bribie G]

Thanks for the tip. I've actually got a spare black bronco tap thing that I don't use, so I can cannibalise that, replace the tap end with another beer-out QD and make the "jumper". One of my gas lines is really long and I use it for headspace flushing etc. - I used to have a counter pressure bottle filler as well - so that can become my gas source. 

Cheers.

Edit: re free gas, I used to make Aldi apple juice cider and sweeten it in the keg with a 2L bottle of apple juice. Over the weeks the cider yeast was still working slowly at around 7 degrees serving temp and the cider would get dryer and dryer so I'd tip in the next bottle of apple juice. Meanwhile the fermenting gas would get distributed to the two beer kegs as well through the common gas lines. Never noticed any twang getting into the beer. I even had to vent some gas now and again and the main gas bottle lasted me twice as long!

Edited September 24, 2020 by Bribie G

[Shamus O'Sean]

On 9/25/2020 at 8:45 AM, Bribie G said:

Edit: re free gas

That's a good tip.