It's Keg Season! (part 1 of 2)

A 5 gallon keg can be a convenient way to serve beer but I don't have a kegerator so I typically use mine in winter.  It can also be a great place to collect bumper stickers. 

      Many of you are probably thinking, "Is there really a season for using kegs?"  Technically there isn't. A draft witbier sure would be refreshing in the heat of summer, but I tend to use kegs a lot more in the winter.  Kegging systems are not only cool; they eliminate the tedious bottling process.  It sure is convenient to siphon your beer into one sanitized keg rather than 50+ cleaned, sanitized, and then dried beer bottles.  However, this convenience in brewing can result in a very inconvenient utility bill if you use a kegerator.  There are two easy ways to avoid the hidden costs of a kegerator, but they both boil down to not using a kegerator.  I'll describe one tonight, and then post the other tomorrow.

      The first way is to use mother nature, rather than a kegerator, to chill your keg.  When I was in college, I didn't use my heat because my roommates and I did not want to pay for it.  We ended up with about three months of chilly nights, but I find the positive in every situation.  Our house was the perfect temperature for serving stout!  Some parts of our house were a little warmer than others, but after recording temperatures around my house, I found that our closets tended to stay at about 50 degrees.  For those of you who do use your heat, or for those of you who serve styles of beer that need cooler serving temperatures, you can always just put your keg outside (or in a garage if you have dishonest neighbors). 
      Any beer drinker knows that kegs must be chilled to a proper serving temperature, but not everybody knows that chilling beer is also very important in ensuring proper carbonation levels.  The problem is that even small changes in temperatures can change the level of carbonation.  If you are not familiar with this topic, check out this table. To use the table, first decide the level of carbonation you want, either from a recipe, experience, or just base it off of a similar beer (most beers should be carbonated between 2.2 and 2.6 volumes of CO2, shown in green on the table).  Then look on the left side of the table for the temperature your beer will be chilled to (this will be determined by your kegerator settings or, if you put the keg outside, it will be the ambient temperature).  Then, just follow the row over until you find your desired volume of CO2.  Now, follow the column up and you will find the PSI that you need to set your regulator at.
      Notice that if the temperature changes, the carbonation level also changes.  However, you still have some room to work with.  For example, suppose my local weather man predicted that for the next few days, the temperature would be 43 degrees.  I would set my regulator at 13 PSI.  That way, even if the temperature fell to 40 degrees or rose to 49 degrees, my beer would still be in the green zone.  Of course, it might not be the optimal serving temperature, but it would be close enough.
      Besides, there is an easy way to reduce, or decelerate the changes in carbonation and temperature.  All you have to do is insulate the keg once it has been chilled.  I set mine in a box for a night, and then the next day I stuff some blankets around it.  The blankets help slow heat transfer, so even if the ambient temperature is in the 50's during the day, and the 30's at night, there is a good chance my beer will remain in the 40's (especially if it is in a garage). The ability to resist change in temperature is also aided by the large heat capacity of water, and the large volume of water in the keg.  Just remember, the more you drink from the keg, the easier it will be for the beer temperature to fluctuate.
      There is one other point to consider.  Even if the beer temperature does change a little, the change in carbonation will not occur simultaneously.  The dissolving of CO2 is a process that takes time.  That is why when we force carbonate beer we can't just chill the beer, dial in the correct PSI on the regulator, and then immediately enjoy the beer.  So even if my beer temperature changes a degree or two throughout the day, the carbonation level will stay fairly constant. 
      The same principal makes it possible to adjust your PSI to get a proper pour, without worrying about carbonation in the keg changing.  You want to pour at less than one PSI, but each foot of beer line (3/16") drops the pressure by about 2.5 PSI.  So if you are carbonating your beer at 13 PSI, and your beer line is 4', you would want to drop your PSI by 3 pounds (13 PSI - (4ft*2.5PSI/ft) = 3 PSI) to achieve the less than one PSI at the faucet.  Just turn the PSI down a little when you are serving, and then back up when you are done for the night (you could avoud this by balancing the keg but it is not as practical for temporary setups). 
      To many of you, this may sound like a lot of trouble.  To me it is great way to save some money, and space.  I don't earn much and I move frequently, so doing without a kegerator benefits me.  To those of you with kegerators, I hope you still found this interesting or informative.  I'll get one eventually, but probably not until after grad school.  Until then, I'll enjoy some draft beer from my garage.  Actually, I set it up the other day but I'm waiting on a replacement part.  When it arrives, I'll tell you how my pumpkin ale tastes!