Ageing In Keg - Temperature?

[goatus]

Hi All,

I am pretty new to kegging, and have limited cooling space in my fridge setup. I have been thinking about getting a few more kegs so I can have 2 on tap at a time, and a few more aging, ready to replace the 2 I have on tap. Problem is, the fridge I have at the moment can only fit 2 kegs max, so it will be cooling the 2 kegs on tap only.

What is the deal with temperature control after a beer has been fully fermented out and kegged? Can I just leave these kegs out at room temperature while they age? I suppose at this point in the process it doesnt matter if the yeast die off because of the higher temperature, but will it create off flavors? Is the alcohol alone a good enough preservative to stop the beer going off? Would love to hear what the rest of you do.

 

[mxd]

I have a similar issue, so I naturally carbonate the kegs.

so for me,

Put co2 into keg
Put sugar into keg
put fermented beer into keg
connect keg to co2
burp keg.
remove co2
leave in garage


good luck
Matt

 

[OzBeer_MD]

I have asked this question and had different replies. I have the same issue with a fermentation chest freezer that can only accomodate one fermenter, a two tap kegerator with room for three corny's and seven kegs.

1) Local HBS owner; 'yeah no worries, I leave them under the bench waiting till I need them'

2) Keith Grice at Bitter and Twisted Home brew session 'no you must have beer chilled, every time you ley it get warm it prematureley ages the beer'. Those that were at Keith's session might agree that the talk seemed to be more about being a head brewer in the industry rather than home brewing.

Premature ageing might not be a bad thing? I currently have three kegs in the study next to my desk. They have been crashed to 1 degree while still in the primary, kegged, placed in the 'third' spot in my fridge, carbonated, tasted and then removed to make way for others while they condition at room temp.

 

[Pennywise]

I normally have 8 kegs full but only have space for 3 in the fridge. In my experience, they'll be fine for a couple of months. Haven't really kept a full keg longer than that, if I'm planning on holding on to a beer for say 12-18 months I'd bottle it

 

[zephon]

I had great success recently aging an unbalanced (overly bitter) beer in the keg at room temperature (~24 degrees) for a couple of months.

I can't comment on whether this is likely to effect the long term life of the beer as it's so good now that it's not going to last long enough :icon_cheers: .

 

[Jeff Margrie]

Last week I had 9 kegs full all stored @ room temp. I have done it that way for over a year now with no probs.

I only can store 2 kegs in the serving fridge at my bar.

I now have just finished a chest freezer with fridgemate and can store 8 kegs (5gal) + 2 (3gal) kegs as well, at a nice cold temp. Now have 10 or so different beers cold ready to drink. (2 much choice)

Most home brewers that keg, told me storing @ room temp is fine and will age the beer, but if stored @ cold temp will last a lot longer. But most of my kegs don't last that long.

But anyway, go and buy more kegs. More kegs more beer more choice. I have 14 kegs and thats suits me.

Cheers WoolBrew.

:chug:

 

[whitegoose]

Wouldn't you just age a keg in the same way and at the same temp as conditioning a bottle?

 

[glaab]

Wouldn't you just age a keg in the same way and at the same temp as conditioning a bottle?

from www.coopers.com.au

Kegging beer
There are a couple of options open to you when it comes to kegging. If you are in a hurry for the beer (a
party on the weekend) and it will be consumed within a couple of months, then artificial carbonation is the
best option. Natural conditioning will give you a better beer in our opinion but the conditioning period is
much longer (several weeks as opposed to several days). Well made, naturally conditioned beer will last as
long in the keg as it does in bottles (at least two years or so).
Artificially carbonated beer will deteriorate after a few months.

 

[benno1973]

If you have the room in a fridge, storing as cold as possible is best. If you don't (like me), there's no real option but to store at room temps. I find some undesirable results coming through in beer stored at room temps, generally at very small (just perceptible) levels:

1. A fruity/alcohol/wine aroma is sometimes present, possibly from the remaining yeast continuing to ferment at uncontrolled temps.
2. The hops flavour and aroma tend to drop slightly, along with the bitterness, sometimes unbalancing the malt/hop profile

Having said that, I don't tend to crash chill my beers before I rack to the keg, so this could explain some of it. As OzBeer_MD said, you'd be better off crash chilling in the primary before kegging if you're planning on storing them for sometime. And obviously look to store them in a location with stable temps, not in a tin shed on a 40C day.

 

[rowanb]

I dont have personal experience with long-term beer management, so I'm just referring to what I've heard - but from from listening to Charles Bamforth & others on the Brewing Network, they maintain that all things being equal regarding sanitation, & a good vigorous fermentation, cold storage significantly impedes the staling of beer. They also argue that repeated variation of temperature accelerates staling.

 

[goatus]

OK I think my method will be rack to secondary, crash chill, keg, carb (nessesary? or just burp it to get rid of any pesky oxygen?), room temp, serving fridge, carb, enjoy.

I somehow doubt any of my kegs will last much longer than a couple of months anyway.. when we are talking about staling beer, how quick are we talking?

On natural carbing - Does a naturally carbed beer take longer to clear in the keg? and do you get any problems with trub getting sucked up your keg lines from the in-keg fermentation?

Cheers all for your advise, very helpful!

 

[rowanb]

.. when we are talking about staling beer, how quick are we talking?

Don't remember exactly, but it was discussed in one or more of the 'brew strong' sessions featuring Charles Bamforth (probably the Q&A). These were all very good sessions with far less of the usual off-topic banter. Far more dense in terms of information content.

Q&A
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/582

Beer haze
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/572

Hot side aeration
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/475

 

[goatus]

Just whacked it on the ipod for the drive to work.. cheers =P