Storing Kegged Beer

[Ghillie]

Hopefully some day I'll be ahead of schedule in terms of my beer stock. i.e. have fresh kegs waiting to be hooked up when kegerator/keezer space becomes available. Everyone needs to dream...

Am I right in assuming that it would be preferred practice to fully carbonate the beer before storing? I'm under the impression that if you were to apply 20-30PSI to "flat" beer straight out the FV and store for later use, that the beer would eventually absorb that head of CO2 - potentially leading to a leaking lid?

 

[phildo79]

If you are storing the beer for later use, why not use sugar to prime and then just seat the lid with a quick blast of co2?

 

[Ghillie]

If you are storing the beer for later use, why not use sugar to prime and then just seat the lid with a quick blast of co2?

It is an option, but as I really like clear beer - force carbing is my preferred method.

I must batch prime a keg just to see the difference.

 

[phildo79]

The clarity of the beer in the keg seems to be determined by a few things for me.

1. Have finings been used during the boil.
2. How long has it been stored for conditioning.
3. How long it takes to finish the keg.

With the last one, I do generally notice my beer getting clearer as I work my way through it. I only ever prime with sugar but I leave the gas turned on if I know I'm going to be having a few drinks. This means that the gas is sometimes on for many hours and sometimes overnight, if I forget to turn it off (that's happened quite a few times). Never had any issues with over-carbing though... yet.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @Ghillie
My own choice would be to carbonate before storage - you have a closed system like a bottled beer. The carbonated beer will continue to mature in the keg.
However, I doubt whether a keg of flat beer that has been purged of O2 and put under a bit of pressure will leak. My own experience of keg lids is that they don't just fall out when pressure is released - they are determined to stay shut and have to be whacked quite firmly.
The other thing to remember is that the beer will not absorb all of the CO2 from the headspace - equilibrium will be achieved at some point.