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My question has to do with leaving beer in the fermenter for an extended period of time for convenience.
I have a couple mini-kegs that do not cover the volume from a 5-gal batch. How long can I leave the beer in the fermenter, for refilling the mini-kegs, before affecting the taste, etc, of the brew. Not quite ready to invest in the cost of a larger keg/co2 tank and required ancillary parts.
 
the real question here is how will you keep out oxygen, so you dont oxygenate the beer? if you are not flushing the fermenter with co2 as you refll the mini-kegs, it wont take long for that to happen.

the other concern is autolysis. this can take month, but if you leave it on the yeast for that long, it can result in ruined beer.

might be worth spending $50 on a 5gal corney to store the beer in .
 
@Minbari Thank you for the input. I hadn't considered fully the resultant oxygenation to the remnants in the fermenter. I did notice some degradation to the beer on subsequent fills of the minis.
I have not seen any corny kegs for less than $100US. There are other parts as well that would run the price up 50%. Maybe I just have to bite the bullet and go big keg. Trouble with that is I will want a second...a third...

Good brewing, brother.
 
@Minbari Thank you for the input. I hadn't considered fully the resultant oxygenation to the remnants in the fermenter. I did notice some degradation to the beer on subsequent fills of the minis.
I have not seen any corny kegs for less than $100US. There are other parts as well that would run the price up 50%. Maybe I just have to bite the bullet and go big keg. Trouble with that is I will want a second...a third...

Good brewing, brother.
They exist, just don't get new ones

https://beveragelements.com/beverage_elements_shop/kegs/reconditioned-ball-lock-kegs-pin-lock-kegs/5-gallon-ball-lock-keg-dual-handle-reconditioned/?utm_source=Google Shopping&utm_campaign=shopping_us&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=89&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21302698057&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_Na1BhAlEiwAM-dm7Bv4l88PjUEPQbDRIj9KiyzgrxMWZPF58fTU1EhY6VhUWzQsr6gV7hoCPF4QAvD_BwE
 
Maybe bottle the excess that won't fit in the keg(s). You could alternatively put the excess beer in 2L PET (pepsi/coke) bottles, carbonation caps for those are cheap and readily available. Morebeer has them.
 
Used kegs are the way to go.
 
To answer your original question, you should be fine for a couple weeks as long as you are able to prevent oxidation. I wouldn't push it though. If you are not ready to invest in a whole keg setup, you can always transfer the beer to another airtight container and cold crash it and keep it just above freezing to prevent autolysis (which is when there is not enough fermentable sugars for the yeast to eat so the yeast eat each other/themselves). To do this without exposing the beer to oxygen without a CO2 setup is difficult. And if you don't plan on drinking all of it pretty quickly, oxidation is really important to avoid if you want your beer to last.


However,

If you are concerned that you may want to expand, I'd definitely just bite the bullet and get a full keg setup. You don't have to spend crazy money to get a proper keg setup, but it is an investment. I find that spending a few hundred to get my keg system up and running was one of the biggest advancements I made in my brewing.

You can buy reconditioned/used kegs in packs as well to cover your bases if you think you may want to expand (link 1). I recently upgraded to using sanke kegs, and while they are a bit harder to open and close, the parts were more readily available and less expensive (I found). I worked in bars for a long time too so I'm used to working with sanke kegs.

As far as parts go, I bought my fist kegerator for around $350, and it came with everything I needed except the kegs. I found a pretty similar one on Walmart's website (link 2). A lot of those all-in-one systems (including the one linked) are for sanke kegs, but you only need to replace a couple pieces to get it to work with corny kegs or you could just go with the sankes. My homebrew shop sells a kit (link 3).


And you can always go second hand. I sold my first kegerator to a friend who was just getting into homebrewing. Check facebook marketplace and craigslist. (I do worry about buying the kegs themselves second hand, because you want to make sure they are NSF Certified and still hold pressure. If you do buy kegs second hand, take it somewhere to have it pressure tested and also replace the o-rings. When you get it, soak it in sanitizer for an hour or so and again for 5-10 minutes before you use it for the first time.)


Long story short, there is no right or wrong answer here. I personally think it is worth investing in a full keg setup. If you are thinking you may expand to more batches at a time, buy a few corny kegs. If you think you want to expand to larger batches and therefore larger kegs, go with a sanke setup so you can start with 1/6 barrel kegs (a bit bigger than a corny) and you can upgrade to a 1/4 or 1/2 barrel in the future. If you are fine with your setup now and don't want to get a bunch of extra equipment, try my suggestion earlier for cold crashing it. Or, bottle the remaining beer and share with friends or coworkers!

(1)

https://www.amazon.com/Reconditione...g=se&keywords=corny+keg&qid=1723742167&sr=8-8


(2)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arctic-King-Single-Tap-Kegerator-4-9-cu-ft-Black/868973640


(3)

https://annapolishomebrew.com/colle...ts/ball-lock-to-sankey-coupler-conversion-kit
 
There are several longish threads on the topic of kegs here, search those to get some additional info.

Bottom line: a keg, CO2 system and picnic tap can be had for under $200, but keeping it cold is the usual trip-up.

I store my kegs pressurized, with a gallon or so of starsan sanitizer in it. Never had an infection...but did dump a batch when I forget to remove the starsan...:-(
 
The oxebar kegs are well priced.

Other idea:
Get some 1 liter pet bottles (like sprite or coca cola) and bottle.
It's not much work.
6-8 gram sugar per litre bottle
Add wort (carefully). Then push the bottle so wort almost overflows. Screw on the lid and thats it.
Keep them in the dark and at room temperature and carbonation will be done in a week or so.
You obviously need to clean the bottles before use
 
What do you do with the Sprite or Coke?
 
I hope someone else drinks it...
I actually use tonic & dry lemon bottles as they go well with gin :)
 
I've wondered the same thing about leaving the beer in the fermenter longer than recommended. I have an IPA in the ferenter now. I dry hopped at 7 days and it seemed to me the yeast kicked back in, went back to work and they have been working real steady for two weeks. So yesterday, I dumped the trub and I plan on kegging today and cold crashing it for a couple days. The final gravity is looking pretty close to the predictions. I've gone about a week over recommendation, will this ruin the beer or what possible affects will this have on the beer?
 
I've wondered the same thing about leaving the beer in the fermenter longer than recommended. I have an IPA in the ferenter now. I dry hopped at 7 days and it seemed to me the yeast kicked back in, went back to work and they have been working real steady for two weeks. So yesterday, I dumped the trub and I plan on kegging today and cold crashing it for a couple days. The final gravity is looking pretty close to the predictions. I've gone about a week over recommendation, will this ruin the beer or what possible affects will this have on the beer?
Look up "hop creep"
 

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