Kegging

[Mark10409]

Hello,
I've been bottling for about 7 yrs and have made the switch to kegs. I have a mini fridge that I can fit one 5 gal keg and Co2 into. I've got two 5 gal batches ready to keg. I have one in the fridge under pressure now. My question is I'd like to store the other keg in the basement (62 Deg F) under pressure, but i'm not sure how much or how long it can just sit there until the other one is empty. It is a Northern brewer Speckled Heifer Partial Mash Kit. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Mase]

Just like the beer in the store, it cycles between warm and cold temps. It’ll be fine* until the current keg taps out.

* assuming you get it carbonated first.

 

[J A]

If there's any sort of contamination or light infection, you'll find out. Even beer that's sort of iffy holds well for quite a long time at 32 degrees but if your beer stores well in a keg at room or basement temp, you know you did a great job of keeping things sanitary and having a clean fermentation process.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I think it's when that storage temperature fluctuates too much that can cause some staleing too.

 

[ChicoBrewer]

I too have this issue. Outside of having a fridge for conditioning/lagering and another for serving and another for fermenting it's a problem addressing all of these processes...

I do my best but right now I have one in the kegerator serving and another lagering in my fermenting fridge at 1C leaving no room for the beer I want to make tomorrow

 

[GFHomebrew]

I too have this issue. Outside of having a fridge for conditioning/lagering and another for serving and another for fermenting it's a problem addressing all of these processes...

I do my best but right now I have one in the kegerator serving and another lagering

in my fermenting fridge at 1C leaving no room for the beer I want to make tomorrow ​

Brewers 1st world problems. Too much BEER!

 

[Mark10409]

Well I purged out all the air on the second keg, put a couple of pounds of Co2 on it and put it in the basement.....Hope it survives

 

[Mase]

Well I purged out all the air on the second keg, put a couple of pounds of Co2 on it and put it in the basement.....Hope it survives

I would fully carbonate the beer before storing it

 

[Bubba Wade]

Carbonate using natural carbonation. That will allow you to more accurately achieve the right CO2 volume. Storing at 62 should be perfect for this. It will also provide a bit of conditioning time. Provided all your sanitation is good, this should give you at least a month with no problems.

 

[J A]

Well I purged out all the air on the second keg, put a couple of pounds of Co2 on it and put it in the basement.....Hope it survives

Carb it up. If you only have a couple of pounds of pressure and it cools down, pressure drops and it'll lose its seal altogether.
Use the keg carb calculator here on the site or find a chart that tells you exactly how much pressure to hold at a particular temp. I've fully carbed at room temp before but it's more efficient to get CO2 in suspension at much lower temperatures. Process is the same at higher temps but it requires more pressure.