Hi All, now with our RIS safely barreled I have been thinking about kegging my portion once the time comes. Reading a bit online their does not appear to be any major problems with this. Once in the kegerator and under pressure people have said that they see no problem with keeping big beers on tap for a year or more. One guy said he had a barley wine on tap for two years and the last pint was the best.
Anybody any experience of keeping a keg on tap for a long time, any major issues experienced?
my sixpence on it :)
shelf life will depend on a number of thing
strength of alcohol
volume of hops
storage temperature, usually the colder the better without freezing. A very strong beer wont freeze as easy as a weak one.
Hygiene is critical; ensure your keg is sterilised along with your siphon and so on.
Transfer under blanket of CO2 and purge the air from the keg as well.
Store at near freezing is in practise allow longer life than storing at say 16c and storing in say a garden shed will probably reach much higher temperatures which will speed up spoiling of the beer.
I dont see any reason (having followed above) that a strong beer wont last a couple years but in reality I would say best before 3-6 months. But testing is subjective it may be nice after 2 years but unless you tasted a 6 month one beside it you cant really tell if its better or worse after 2 years.
Hope this helps....debate welcome :)
Thanks Bren, all good points.
however I think I am more interested in keeping it tapped long term, as opposed to ageing, although I will probably leave it age for a few months, then I will be looking to tap it and leave it in the kegerator for a year or more...
good point tube, wondering whats your rational, I found taps can leak when very cold especially when theres a hose and jubilee clip, the plastic pipe shrinks and leaks. I found the hard was as I was lagering one of my first alts in the kegerator at 2 c and went out mornin with a pool of alt on the floor
so check kegs regular for gas or 'diesel' :D leaks! thats if ur storing long term...terrrible to go to ur keg after 6 months and find it flat or potentially infected if air gets in the when all the gas leak d out......even worse find ur beer leaked away altogether
The question with long life storage is: yeast or no yeast? Bottle conditioned beers can last for a very long time (multiples of years), but that doesn't mean the flavour doesn't change. If you're removing the yeast and force carbonating in the corny, though, you have to worry more about oxidisation. The big guys try to get the amount of dissolved O2 down to parts per billion levels and they give it a year's shelf life at the maximum. The argument against yeast, though, is that it as it ages and dies, it can release off flavours into the beer. Smaller volumes seem to be better for avoiding yeasty off-flavours. At least, brewers only give cask ale a shelf life of a month or so whereas they'll give a bottle conditioned beer a year or more.
I would bottle the RIS, if I were in your shoes.
Thanks for all the advice
I had been thinking of bottling from the keg with a beer gun.
I keep some of my beers in corny's for up to 10 months. The flavours do change but added to what the lads said be careful with the storage temperature.