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So I have a related question here, but my questions are the following:

I only have one (and only have room for one) dedicated chest freezer/fridge for brewing. I have one beer (Marzen) kegged and carbed (and in this chest freezer, chilled to 35). I have another beer (IPA) cold-conditioning in the same chest freezer. I would like to keg and carb the IPA for a competition that is one week from yesterday. I would also like to brew a stout this weekend and control ferment temp, but if I carb up the IPA, I may be able to store it at the restaurant where the comp is in their cold storage walk-in.

Questions:

1.) If I store a keg at room temperature (that was carbed at 35*), pour into a growler and stick it in the fridge for serving, will it be overcarbed (since CO2 is more soluble at lower temps)?

2.) If I were to let the carbed, chilled marzen warm up when I remove it from the fridge (as I need the fridge to control the ferment of my stout this weekend and into next week), I believe I do need to adjust the pressure to a higher PSI AND LEAVE THE CO2 hooked up, but if my fridge becomes available again and I can keep a keg in there, do I simply bleed the keg and dial the pressure back down?

3.) Would I be able to keep a keg hooked up, carbed, and warm, and pour into a growler, chill and serve, or would it build up too much pressure while chilling in the growler?

Sorry if these are terribly involved questions, and I know, I probably should just stick to bottling until we move, but I have the kegs and thought I would give them some mileage.

Thanks in advance

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  • For Q1, it's important to state what temperature the keg was carbed at - cold or at room temp.
    – mdma
    Oct 18, 2012 at 19:39

1 Answer 1

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The simple rule is: for the same amount of CO2 in the keg (not significantly adding/taking away) then higher temperature means lower dissolved volumes of CO2.

Q1. No, It will not be overcarbed. If anything it will be undercarbed depending upon how long it has been at room temperature - it takes few days for the CO2 to come out of solution. (warmer=less volumes CO2 dissolved.)

Q2. Before putting in the fridge, just shake the keg and bleed a few times to get some of the excess CO2 out of solution. Then hook up and chill.

Q3. I've not used a growler so I don't know what pressure they can withstand. But chilling the beer will result in less pressure not more. (The beer will chill quicker than the CO2 escapes, unless you shake it a lot, and the chilling will reduce the pressure in the headspace.)

Incidentally, when dispensing the beer at room temperature into the growler, you will need a long draft line to balance the pressure so you don't lose a lot of the carbonation as foam on serving. You will lose some CO2 anyway, so if you are particular about carbonation levels, then it's best to slightly overcarb by 10-15%. You can always remove the carbonation by pouring between glasses, but it's not so easy to add more CO2 if you undercarb!

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  • For Q1, I think the beer will almost certainly be under carbonated, as the warmer temperatures allow some CO2 to come out of solution. Also, with that extra out-of-solution CO2 "pushing" the beer, you're going to have a problem with foam when filling the growlers. Oct 19, 2012 at 1:31
  • ugh. kegging is more cumbersome that bottling for me! I guess I need to hang it up until I can get a serving fridge.
    – Pietro
    Oct 19, 2012 at 14:36
  • yes, kegging doesn't work well at room temperature. You can wing it for one sitting, but for multiple servings you really need temperature control.
    – mdma
    Oct 19, 2012 at 18:24

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