Storing beer in kegs with no carb

[Ester Trub]

So I didn't really think this through properly.
I have made 200 ltrs of beer to put in 10 kegs to supply beer for an event.
I was going to carb 2 up at a time in the fridge for a week each, but I just realised that means that the rest will be sitting in kegs uncarbed for up to 5 weeks.
If there are no infections present inside the kegs the beer should be ok?
No different to racking your beer right?
Any advice?

Cheers
Ben

 

[wakkatoo]

2 options - Naturally carb the other kegs or just replace the air in the keg with a layer of CO2, 'topping' up every few days until you are ready to carb it. Beer should be fine.

 

[Spiesy]

First fill all kegs with CO2, purge oxygen out, top up with CO2 and then get to work carbing them up as you had planned.

No dramas.

 

[Ester Trub]

So if you purge the oxygen the first time and the CO2 gets absorbed by the beer, what's left in the dead space?
Surely it's still CO2? just less pressure. Is it necessary to top up every couple of days?

 

[citizensnips]

CO2 will be in the dead space because you haven't put enough in their to 'force' carbonate the beer

 

[manson81]

My beer goes from FV to keg and then sits there uncarbed for 6+ weeks. I just burp it a few times and leave a layer of C02 over the top. Never top it up or anything. Dunno if I should or not, but I never have any issues with my beer!!

 

[anthonyUK]

Without any intervention such as pasteurisation or a sorbate addition your beer will continue to ferment for months.
You could add a small amount of sugar/DME/LME to help them carb up naturally.

 

[bradsbrew]

So I didn't really think this through properly.
I have made 200 ltrs of beer to put in 10 kegs to supply beer for an event.
I was going to carb 2 up at a time in the fridge for a week each, but I just realised that means that the rest will be sitting in kegs uncarbed for up to 5 weeks.
If there are no infections present inside the kegs the beer should be ok?
No different to racking your beer right?
Any advice?

Cheers
Ben

Why not give them all the Ross method. http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/8535-ross-method-of-forced-carbonation-of-kegs/

 

[Ester Trub]

Because I've been told by a number of people that it's unreliable.
Especially if you're not going to drink them straight away.
Plus, I've been told that the beer tastes better with the longer conditioning period.

What are your thougts? Can you use the Ross Method and then store your kegs long term, outside of a fridge, without them losing carb?

 

[doon]

Do you not want to naturally carb them for some reason

 

[QldKev]

100 kpa for 7 days = carb'd
300 kpa for 1 day = carb'd


So once carbonated are you going to allow these to warm back up?

 

[Ester Trub]

Do you not want to naturally carb them for some reason

They have to travel a long way and won't have time to settle before they are served. I am worried about the excess trub clouding it up.

So once carbonated are you going to allow these to warm back up?

Yes. I Only have room for 2 kegs i my fridge at a time. So they will be warmed back up and sitting in my brew room for up to a month or more before serving.

 

[bradsbrew]

Because I've been told by a number of people that it's unreliable.

Its more reliable than storing them uncarbed.

Especially if you're not going to drink them straight away.
Plus, I've been told that the beer tastes better with the longer conditioning period.

Well they will still get the conditioning period. Depending on the beer style IMO beer tastes better force carbed than natural carb.

What are your thougts? Can you use the Ross Method and then store your kegs long term, outside of a fridge, without them losing carb?

Been doing it a fair bit, in fact I had three kegs all filled from the same fermenter. All got the fast force, first one went in the fridge for drinking other two sat outside the fridge, when the second one went in it actually tasted better and carb was on the higher side but still OK, still got the third one sitting next to the fridge, waiting for space, been there a few months. When I first started doing it I would test the PRV now and then to check pressure is still there but these days I just have a longer gas line on one of the disconnects and just give it a hit with serving pressure, more times than not they don't even top up.

Cheers

Edit. How long will you have them at the venue before serving? And will you be cold crashing them before kegging? Don't think the fast force will work to well on warm beer. How did you ferment 200L ?

 

[joshF]

Can you elaborate further on the 'traveling a long way' aspect? You mention you don't want excess trub yet they will be sitting stationary for up to a month? These two statements kind of eliminate the problem itself.

If you were to naturally carb with sugar, whatever trub was generated over that period would well and truly have settled out. Then, once refrigerated and tapped, the majority of trub will have poured out within the first glass or so. Even if it were slightly shaken up over the month, it's going to be pretty solid at the bottom of the keg unless you invert it and shake it around like tarzan. I think you'll be fine naturally carbing it mate.

Regarding people telling you that Ross's method is unreliable, this is probably similar in many regards to buying a used car, ie tonnes of conflicting opinions from both sides. I'm sure you'll find just as many, if not more people telling you this particular method is more than reliable.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I reckon you have two options.

Do as QldKev suggests and increase the Co2 pressure, for faster carbonation, or the other option is to naturally carbonate with, eg. dextrose.