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A local craft brew is having a sale on kegs which they brewed up a while back and have not been able to dispense due to the current pandemic situation. I have a 1/2 barrel in my kegerator now and thinking about purchasing a (probably already chilled) keg and letting it sit in the basement for a couple months before installing in the kegerator.

I've also never home brewed before but am reading up on it and slowly acquiring equipment so this question is somewhat related to the forum; If I fill two corny kegs on brew day (put one in the kegerator, and let the other sit for a month in the basement) how will this affect the room temp keg as far as flavor if at all?

Thanks!

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  • What temperature is your basement? If it's between 0 to 12 C, I wouldn't worry. If it freezes, bottles could burst. I don't know how much pressure kegs can take. If it gets too warm, you'll have to cool the kegs before serving. AFAIK light damages beer, temperature not so much.
    – Robert
    Commented May 14, 2020 at 14:23
  • The basement is 19C (66F) right now. Seems about the average all year 'round. I would plan on putting the room temp beer in the kegerator for a day or two before serving. Both to chill and allow it to absorb more C02. I'm wondering how that plan would work for a home brew keg as well. It would probably be sitting for a couple months. It would be moving right from fermentor to keg-at-room-temp (or maybe just ferment in the keg).
    – HomeBrew
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 10:23

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Beer ages faster at higher temperature, but less than 6 months at 19°C should not harm your beer. I would not worry.

Flavour fades in time (malt and hops), so I rarely find that after a year the beer is as good as it was. Some beers are good to drink young, others are better after 3-4 weeks, it all depends on the type of beer. By keeping a beer cold, you extend the amount of time before it starts to age.

I just had a bottle of Stout from my basement (about 19°C as well) that was 20 months old and it was still quite good. This time I really was surprised how well my beer aged. The type of beer, hops and alchool content affect its preservation time. This is an extreme case, I don't recommend keeping it so long at that temperature since there is always a risk of ending up with a bland beer that you won't want to drink, but it shows it is possible to age beer for a lot longer than we think (if the style of the beer allows it).

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