Not enough fridges...

[ianmcc]

Hi,

I've just come back to brewing after a break of about 15 years. Not being a poor student anymore, I've bought a bit more kit I do AG in a bruheat (it doesn't seem possible to get these anymore but they are great! I can't remember how much mine cost but it can't have been expensive). I've just done my first brew with a dedicated mash tun (a rubbermaid cooler from Brewer's Choice). I've also got a Kegerator and kegging equipment.

I've got lots of questions, but to keep it simple for a start, my primary problem (as in I'd like to know this right now!) is, is it reasonable to store beer kegs for a week or so at room temperature? I have two brews in kegs, one I put in about 3 weeks ago, and another I put in 1 week ago. The problem is, I live in Brisbane so I need to use my kegerator to keep the fermenter cool in the Brisbane weather. Forecast for the next week is 23 - 26 and it will be warmer than that inside my house.

I did a brew this evening and currently I've got the fermenter cooling down in the kegerator and my full kegs out in the room.

At a pinch, I could clean out most of the fridge and put the full kegs in there, but I'd prefer not to do that, I'll have to throw away about half the stuff in it So will my full kegs get ruined with a week or so out in mid-high 20's degrees?

[Guru]

Welcome to the forum and good to back into brewing.

I have a similar issue with not enough fridges, although my problem is caused by the better half wanting to use the spare fridge to put food and drink in. This means I have to clean it out if I want to use it to brew. I don't have kegs so can't really comment on your particular issue but I suspect if they aren't getting to warm (i.e. above room temp) then they should be ok. I only bottle and they are always stored at room temp. until I decide to refrigerate them.

[ianmcc]

Thanks Guru.

I suspect it will be OK. When I did brewing before I never had a spare fridge, but I kept the bottles in a room at the bottom of the house that probably never got above 20 even in the summer (and was probably more often around 16). My concern is that 'room temperature' is rather different in Brisbane than it is in Tasmania! Keeping stuff cool was never an issue for me before.

What might be a killer though is that I sampled my first brew today - I had slightly more than a 19L keg so I put a bit in a bottle which I opened up at lunchtime. It was quite tasty, so I'm not sure whether I'll be able to survive for the next week or so without use of the kegerator! So I might have to clean out the main fridge anyway.

[Pogierob]

I recently went glamping and took a keg with me. It was left in the trailer for three days before we reached our destination.
My understanding is that if your sanitization was up to scratch when you kegged the beer then you should be able to keep it for a while refrigerated or not.
Keep in mind that at ambient temperature the beer will continue to mature.
And it is a more suitable environment for nasties to grow if they are in the beer.
I can't see any issue with keeping it at ambient temp for a couple of weeks assuming you keep it pressurised.

[rotten]

You need another fridge. Easy fix

[rwh]

If beer gets too hot it can be ruined, but if the temperature is in the 20's and reasonably stable I think there'll be no problem.