Keg Storage

[BlackDuck]

I really want to brew this weekend, but I don't have any room in the keg fridge to put it. I might have room in a few weeks when it comes time to keg it, but then again, I might not. My setup is a dual regulator, each side has a wye adapter, so I can run 4 kegs. I have all four lines hooked up to kegs right now.

So it's really a simple question...if I brew this weekend and I don't have room in the fridge when it's time to keg, can I just fill the keg, purge with CO2 and leave the keg out of the refrigerator at basement temps until I have room in the fridge? Or does the beer need to be refrigerated right after kegging? I know that the bottles stay out of the fridge when bottle carbing/conditioning, so this really shouldn't be any different...right??

[John Sand]

Right.
Only my two serving kegs are refrigerated. The others sit in the basement, right now in the 50s, but warmer in summer. No complaints.

[BlackDuck]

Thanks John...
Do you carb them first, or just purge with CO2 and forget about them until there's room?

[Kealia]

Agree - not an issue.

I actually have a separate tank so I can carb the waiting keg but I didn't always have this. In those cases, I would simply purge and let them sit until there was room in the kegerator.
I may be doing that with the batch I brew this weekend, too - depending on how quickly I can kill one of the kegs currently in the kegerator.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Can treat it like a large bottle, purge it and let it sit till you have the room.

[Inkleg]

Thanks John...
Do you carb them first, or just purge with CO2 and forget about them until there's room?

Either will work, just depends on your set up and how you want to do it. You could also add some priming sugar to the keg and let it carb that way.

[bpgreen]

Thanks John...
Do you carb them first, or just purge with CO2 and forget about them until there's room?

Either will work, just depends on your set up and how you want to do it. You could also add some priming sugar to the keg and let it carb that way.

Another option (if the kegs are near the kegerator) is to periodically disconnect the CO2 canister from one of the kegs in the kegerator and hook it up to the keg that is sitting out for a few seconds. That way, it should be carbed and ready to go when you have room for it.

[John Sand]

I also have two CO2 bottles and regulators. I got the second cheap on craigslist. So I carb warm at 27psi. But before I would pressurize it higher than that and let it soak up CO2 disconnected.
I don't really "purge" my kegs. I use CO2 to push starsan out of them before filling, there is a fog of CO2 left even when open. The filling with liquid pushes most of the gas out, and I seal it with CO2. I think that leaves very little space for oxygen.

[BlackDuck]

Thanks everyone...I appreciate all the feedback.

[natural320]

you will be a-ok letting it sit at cellar (even room temp) for quite some time. the "treat it like a big bottle" comment is dead on.