Jeff Flowers on July 24, 2013 16 Comments As we all probably know, draft beer is a brew that is dispensed from a cask or, in modern times, a kegerator. Because yeast and carbon dioxide influence its characteristics, knowing the right temperature and pressure plays a crucial role in the overall quality and flavor of your beer. Casks and kegs mediate these variables and cause the resulting draft beer to differ from beer consumed from a bottle or can. Certainly, there are a number of qualifications that must be met for a beer to qualify as draft beer, and the success of each batch depends on the quality of the keg. Here’s three things to take into account when you buy and store your draught beer. 1. Temperature Temperature, for example, is a crucial determinant of the taste of draft beer. The majority of the time, the beer inside your keg has not been pasteurized, so it’s important to keep it cold. From the moment you get it from the distributor until it’s empty, it’s important to maintain the proper temperature or you will sacrifice the quality of the beer. When its temperature is to high, foam dominates the beverage because the higher temperature liberates carbon dioxide too quickly. This will cause your beer to foam more than it should, leading to a loss in flavor. Conversely, draft beer that is too cold retains carbonation, causing the beer to taste flat because the true flavor cannot escape. The optimal temperature to store and serve your draft beer is right at 38°, especially for ales. You can go slightly lower without sacrificing the quality of the beer, but it’s not recommended to go above that temperature. Any reputable kegerator system should be able to maintain the proper temperatures in order to avoid these problems. 2. Pressure Furthermore, a great draft beer depends on pressure, just as much as it does temperature. If the beer is kept at a pressure that is too high or too low, the over all taste and characteristics of the beer will be detrimentally altered. If the pressure is too low, the first few pours coming out of the keg will have excessive amounts of foam, and then gradually the rest of the pours will produce beer that tastes flat. On the flip side, too much pressure will cause the beer to come out of the keg at a faster pace than normal, and eventually produce beer that has too much foam. Generally, the pressure regulator on your kegerator should stay at a consistent 10-12 PSI for American ales and lagers. Unfortunately, the proper amount of pressure may differ slightly between the various brands, not to mention the many different styles and types of beer. Because of these variables, it would be wise for you to call the distributor from which you got your keg and ask what they would recommend. You can look online, and find some general information, but the distributor or brewery will give you a better idea. 3. Let It Settle Before Tapping When you get your keg, try to be gentle with it. It doesn’t matter how large or small it may be, it is important that you try to limit how much you shake or roll it around. It’s always wise to let it sit idle for a few hours before tapping it. We all know what happens when you shake a can of beer and then immediately open it. The same principles apply to a keg, as it does a can of beer. Once you get your keg set up in your kegerator, we would recommend letting it sit for at least an hour or two before drinking from it. This should be plenty of time to let it settle a bit. However, depending on how long it took you to get from the distributor to the kegerator, you may need to give it more time to chill a little long to reach the proper temperatures. Takeaways When it comes to storing draft beer, the flavor profile of beer is very much dependent on temperature and pressure. These two factors work together to retain the beer’s intended taste and aroma. Although there is an optimal temperature range that retains the qualities of draft beer, this may vary somewhat when you take the type of brew into account. It’s important to find the optimal temperature and pressure for your beer of choice prior to serving, and the distributor of that beer may prove to be an invaluable source of information. What storage tips for draft beer would you add to this list? We’d like to hear your successes and failures in the comments below.
David Schoon says September 19, 2013 at 11:13 am Jeff, Great write up. I would suggest however that a keg needs nearly 24 hours to attenuate before tapping. This seems to be the recommended suggestion in the craft brewers associations draught manual. Reply
Jeff F. says September 19, 2013 at 11:15 am Thanks David. That’s a great tip! I will do that. Jeff Reply
Sean Higgins says April 18, 2015 at 9:38 am Great article. I do have 2 small things to add that helped me greatly with my fridge door kegerator. 1. Keep the beer line above the keg. I just coil it and put it on top of the keg. 1. Use 8′ of beer line. I made these 2 small changes and it was like night and day. Without any other modifications all my foaming issues were resolved. Reply
Jeff Flowers says April 19, 2015 at 9:00 pm Thanks Sean! Both great tips. Thank you for contributing and helping everyone improve their love for great draft beer. Jeff Reply
Tony Graham says May 29, 2015 at 4:26 pm Altitude can play a huge role in pressure and foaming. If you live at 4,000 feet and take a keg up the mountain to 7,000 feet, you will have issues. Pressure on your keg has to be raised to compensate for higher altitude. Also, when you bring the keg back down the mountain, if there is any beer left in the keg it will all turn to foam. Bummer. Reply
Bill says March 11, 2017 at 5:52 am I presume that your voice is the voice of experience, but that seems counterintuitive–I would have thought you’d need lower pressure at a higher elevation (and probably some time left in the keg to sort of “equalize” before dispensing), and more pressure at lower altitude (again with time to equalize). Reply
Georgia B says November 16, 2016 at 2:07 pm Thanks for the tip on letting the keg settle before tapping it. It’s good to know how important this is for when you want to have the beer ready to serve at a certain time, such as a party or other event. Then you can make sure it’s set up and allowed to settle for an hour or two beforehand. Reply
Tim says August 31, 2017 at 8:54 am PSI for Corona? I can’t tell what is going on. I have tapped 3 kegs of Corona Extra, each time they seem over pressured. Do you know or could you please tell me what the optimum PSI should be. As a rule I have drafted at right around 12 PSI. I am not a beer drinker, but have tapped kegs for over 5 years with no results even close to this. Regulator looks right, but after 3 kegs, I am getting leery. Thanks Reply
Jessie says October 4, 2017 at 1:58 am How did you change the beer line? I’ve looked up videos on changing beer lines and I can’t seem to find any. Reply
Chris says December 28, 2017 at 11:36 pm Tim did you ever find the proper psi for corona. I usually do IPA but I am having a New Years party this weekend. And I wanted to get a friendly beer for everyone to drink. I just set it up I have it at about 12 PSI and it seems pretty good, not much head probably a 1/2 inch. I just don’t drink corona. I am also at 3,600 ft elevation. Reply
Dave says January 1, 2018 at 7:33 pm My local club is on our 500th + keg. We’ve learned some tricks. At regular bar pressures the beer absorbs too much CO2. If your keg sits for a week between sessions you’ll have a foam matress in your glass. Leave the keg under pressure but cut off the gas when you’re shutting down for the night. Give it a boost when the flow rate goes down. Trust me it works great. thekeeclub.org Reply
Dave says January 1, 2018 at 7:48 pm The pressure in the keg is atmosphere + the gauge pressure hence the need to add as you head up the mountain. Reply
William says March 12, 2018 at 8:21 pm In am curious and need help. I would like to purchase a 1/6 keg but need to to know how to tap and store it???? Reply
Michael Renfro says July 10, 2019 at 6:57 am I would like to have and extra keg on hand in my basement. Question can beer be stored in room temp for a month? Reply
Kegerator.com says January 17, 2020 at 4:58 pm Hi Michael, The short answer to your question is that you can absolutely store an unopened keg at room temperature for a month (recommended storage conditions allow for up to 6 months when stored between 33-75 degrees F). This, of course, can vary by the type of keg and the alcohol content of the beer, but you should be fine. Hope this helps, Cheers! Reply
Thomas T Askew says September 29, 2020 at 7:16 am I have two valves on my fosters tap what are they for and how do I use them Reply
