Conditioning carbed beer in keg

Banjo-guy · Post by **Banjo-guy** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:54 am

I've got a fully carbonated stout that I would like to age for a few months. I've read that I should put 30 psi of pressure on it to maintain a good seal. Is this the correct procedure?

I gave it 20 lbs and disconnected the gas in line. It is sitting in my garage at 55 degrees.Will it over carbonate as it sits with higher pressure on the beer?

ScrewyBrewer · Post by **ScrewyBrewer** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:12 am

If it were me I'd force carbonate the stout until the carbonation level was perfect and then put it aside for conditioning. A typical stout requires between 10-12psi for a week or more to give about 2.5 volumes of cO2. Storing a keg of beer under 30 psi for a month will give you a highly over carbonated beer is what I'm thinking.

John Sand · Post by **John Sand** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:23 am

I would carb it according to the temp/pressure charts. 20psi@55* sounds about right.

Banjo-guy · Post by **Banjo-guy** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:33 am

It's carbonated already.
I'm trying to figure out if I give it 20 lbs to maintain the seal, take it off the gas and leave it alone for 3 months at 50-65 degrees will it continue to carbonate, lose carbonation or will it sit happily until I tap it.?
I'm wondering if 30 psi is needed to maintain the seal for 3 months and if that high psi will add carbonation if the. gas in line is not connected .

Inkleg · Post by **Inkleg** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 7:45 am

If it's already carbed then the lid seal is good. The 20-30 PSI is to seat the lid, then the bail holds the seal tight (in a perfect world).
Disconnect the gas and spray the poppet and lid with some Star San to make sure it's not leaking, then set it aside till your ready to drink.
It may loose or gain and very minuet amount of carbonation just due to temperature when carbing vs temperate how stored, but not enough to be noticed.

Banjo-guy · Post by **Banjo-guy** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:06 am

Thanks guys.

FedoraDave · Post by **FedoraDave** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:39 am

Good analysis, Jeff.

I had a batch of Amber's Amber Lager in the keg, hooked up for 3-4 months, at 12 psi, and even though I've gone through half the keg now, it's still kind of foamy with the first draw of the day. In the future, I'm going to forego putting anything in the keg that traditionally needs more than two or three weeks conditioning, and I'll be doing extended conditioning with a carboy in the lager fridge until two or three weeks before I want to drink it. Then I'll rack to the keg and hook it up to the gas just for proper carbonation.

So this makes me wonder....

Maybe it's better in all cases of long-term beers (lagers and stouts, mostly) to keg only a couple of weeks before wanting to draw, just for the sake of carbonation. Most of the beers I keg are ales, and most of those are Pale Ales and IPAs, that you want to drink fairly young anyway. I've gotten used to putting an IPA into the keg, getting it charged, and waiting a couple of weeks before drawing the first pint. And as I mentioned, the current lager was sitting charged for a little over three months. I've got an Oktoberfest in a secondary in the lager fridge, where I'm lowering the temp by ~five degrees every couple of weeks, and I intend to keg it in mid-September so I can draw from it in October (duh). I'll be interested in seeing what my results are. It may change my approach to when I keg lagers.

Inkleg · Post by **Inkleg** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:55 am

Dave, your first foamy pour might be due to warmer beer in the tower lines. A small computer fan circulating cold air up the tower will help with this.
One could long term store beers and than keg them a few weeks before serving. Another way is to slowly acquire more kegs over time, so your secondary storage vessel is also your serving keg. Less work.

Post by **Beer-lord** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 10:04 am

I agree with Jeff. My first pour is more foam than I like and I know it's due to my long and warmer line and the tower. I thought about the fan but decided against it since I like me beers warmer than most.

jimjohson · Post by **jimjohson** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:05 pm

Since I don't have all the equipment y'all use, I have but one thought here that might be germane. As I use a picnic tap and a co2 "gum" I keep all the equipment hooked up and in the fridge with the keg. I only have foaming issues the first 3 pours from the keg(as I try to work out serving pressure by feel). I only mention this because I have no first pour issues the second day. Could be Jeff is right about warm lines. As my line and tap are exactly the same temp as the keg.

Kealia · Post by **Kealia** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 8:11 pm

FedoraDave wrote:Good analysis, Jeff.

I had a batch of Amber's Amber Lager in the keg, hooked up for 3-4 months, at 12 psi, and even though I've gone through half the keg now, it's still kind of foamy with the first draw of the day. In the future, I'm going to forego putting anything in the keg that traditionally needs more than two or three weeks conditioning, and I'll be doing extended conditioning with a carboy in the lager fridge until two or three weeks before I want to drink it. Then I'll rack to the keg and hook it up to the gas just for proper carbonation.

So this makes me wonder....

Maybe it's better in all cases of long-term beers (lagers and stouts, mostly) to keg only a couple of weeks before wanting to draw, just for the sake of carbonation. Most of the beers I keg are ales, and most of those are Pale Ales and IPAs, that you want to drink fairly young anyway. I've gotten used to putting an IPA into the keg, getting it charged, and waiting a couple of weeks before drawing the first pint. And as I mentioned, the current lager was sitting charged for a little over three months. I've got an Oktoberfest in a secondary in the lager fridge, where I'm lowering the temp by ~five degrees every couple of weeks, and I intend to keg it in mid-September so I can draw from it in October (duh). I'll be interested in seeing what my results are. It may change my approach to when I keg lagers.

I'd say with almost absolute certainty that the warmer lines are the issue here. But you have a keezer your brother built, right? Meaning that the lines are inside and not higher than the kegs themselves, right?

To your second point, there's nothing in the aging in the keg that would be causing the foam so no "need" to age/lager in the carboy versus a keg unless that's just personal preference.

Kealia · Post by **Kealia** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 8:13 pm

jimjohson wrote:Since I don't have all the equipment y'all use, I have but one thought here that might be germane. As I use a picnic tap and a co2 "gum" I keep all the equipment hooked up and in the fridge with the keg. I only have foaming issues the first 3 pours from the keg(as I try to work out serving pressure by feel). I only mention this because I have no first pour issues the second day. Could be Jeff is right about warm lines. As my line and tap are exactly the same temp as the keg.

Yeppers. With the picnic tap and hose all being inside the fridge/keezer everything is the same temp. With a tower (and with heat rising) the taps and lines up there tend to be a little warmer and will cause a bit of foam until cold beer starts pushing through it and dropping the temp down a bit.

D_Rabbit · Post by **D_Rabbit** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:53 pm

Just a quick add to this. My first pour tends to be a bit foamy too but all my tap lines are inside the kegerator and same temp. My issue is the beer falls out of the line so a few air pockets become present causing some foaming action. I usually bleed the line with a few open and closings of the tap and im good to go at that point.

Post by **BlackDuck** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:01 am

Here's an article from Craft Beer and Brewing I thought I would share:

Keg Carbonation for Every Type

FedoraDave · Post by **FedoraDave** » Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:30 am

The thing is, in my case, I'm drawing from two kegs at the same time, and obviously the conditions inside the keezer are the same for both of them. The only difference is how long they've been in there carbonating. I get foam on the first draw of the lager, which was kegged and sat charged since early January. No foam issues with the IPA, which I kegged in early April. The lines are the same length. I also never had any foaming issues with any other beers I've kegged and tapped after the normal couple of weeks.

Unless it's the beer itself, for some reason, but I can't imagine why a certain recipe would cause this.

Anyway, my decision to lager the Oktoberfest in a secondary is pretty much personal choice. I have three kegs and two taps, and I'm trying to keep all three kegs filled and charged for quick rotation, so I don't want to tie one of them up during extended conditioning. Plus, I already have the lager fridge and a secondary carboy, so I might as well get the use out of them.