Transporting a King Keg. Full.

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Doglaner

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Tamworth
Hey all.

I'm chilling a King keg of best bitter down to 10c ready for a trip to Edinburgh from Tamworth in late August.

Two questions.

1) in others experience, will 45 pints with that thermal mass stay reasonably cool for 24 hours? I plan to duvet it....

2) Will it survive the journey as long as it is well packed in?

3) Should I take the bus or the train? (I jest. Obviously the former).

When I cleaned it out last time, there was barely any sediment on the bottom, but it had conditioned nicely, nonetheless.

Any thoughts?

Dog.
 
I took a Woodfordes Sundew brew in a top-valve King Keg to France this time last year.

On the Monday, I racked it from the FV into the KK, added the carbonation sugar and strapped it into the front passenger seat of our motorhome with the seat-belt. (SWMBO prefers sitting in the back - thankfully!)

We set off on the Tuesday, stayed overnight at Collyweston and on the Wednesday evening sailed from Portsmouth to arrive at St Malo on the Thursday morning.

From St Malo to our bit of land is only a two hour drive so by noon on the Thursday the KK was sitting in the shade under the front of the motorhome covered with a wetted towel to keep it cool.

It took an amazingly short time to condition so by the following Thursday it had almost cleared and was very drinkable within two weeks.

I will be doing exactly the same run in about a month's time with a Midas Touch Golden Ale in the KK. :thumb: :thumb:

In your case, assuming that you transported the brew carefully and it was fully carbonated, conditioned and chilled:

o A top-tap KK should be drinkable almost immediately.

o A bottom tap keg would probably need a couple of days for the sediment to settle. (One way to reduce this problem would be to transport the keg in a sloped position with the tap at the high point.)

Enjoy! :thumb: :thumb:
 
I dont envy you the journey with a full PB,.. good luck, I took a PB and FV bucket on a bus upto the north east with 2 bus changes and it was a right pita without the mass of beer too.
cold retention is the least of your problems but packing with insulating materials will help, (bubblewrapp, foam beans etc.. in a stout 3 wall cardboard box)
it will be cloudy yeast soup by the time you arrive at your destination and will need a few days to settle in the cool,

a sheet of gelatin finnings when the pb was filled might have helped it settle and clear more readily.

Also be mindful that some beers just dont travel, for example Breakspears cask ale wouldnt travel much more than 10 miles before turning to ****.
Nectar within a radius of the brewery and rank outside..
 
Yeah agreed with Fil, Ive just taken a PB to a festival with me, and when i got there it was stirred up despite being put into a box with foam etc. Although after few days and cool tea towels etc it did clear and was extremely drinkable
 
It will still be very cloudy after the journey and will take a long time to settle.
What I would do is, brew and ferment your beer until its at the bright stage. Transfer to your KK and give the top of the beer a squirt of Co2. Take to wherever your going, take your gas bottle with you. use the gas to dispense the beer, you will probably use a whole bottle.
 
johnnyboy1965 said:
It will still be very cloudy after the journey and will take a long time to settle.
What I would do is, brew and ferment your beer until its at the bright stage. Transfer to your KK and give the top of the beer a squirt of Co2. Take to wherever your going, take your gas bottle with you. use the gas to dispense the beer, you will probably use a whole bottle.
Click to expand...

what will the CO2 do to help settle the yeast in solution + would it be better to use NO2 as it is a smaller compound
 
Doglaner said:
Hey all.

I'm chilling a King keg of best bitter down to 10c ready for a trip to Edinburgh from Tamworth in late August.

Two questions.

1) in others experience, will 45 pints with that thermal mass stay reasonably cool for 24 hours? I plan to duvet it....

2) Will it survive the journey as long as it is well packed in?

3) Should I take the bus or the train? (I jest. Obviously the former).

When I cleaned it out last time, there was barely any sediment on the bottom, but it had conditioned nicely, nonetheless.

Any thoughts?

Dog.
Click to expand...

I'd drink it before you go and tell everyone you spilt it :lol:
 
Thanks all for your comments.

I fermented it out over 2w and 2 d, so it was pretty much bright when put in the Kk. The only sediment I would expect is that from the conditioning in the Keg itself. I'm not averse to drinking beer with a slight haze.

It is dispensed using a top-draining tap.

I'll wrap it in wet towels when I get there, too.

I'm going to chance it, anyway, and will see what the results are. I'll feedback.

Hopefully it will travel well......

Dog.
 
I don't do kegs but if transporting a keg would it be worth racking off to a secondary FV, shall we say ten days in to get the beer off the yeast and then syphoning and priming in the keg to avoid the transfer of sediment, just a suggestion. Although I suppose that would kick any idea of dry hopping to the kerb.
 
I did syphon straight into the keg, and primed in the keg, too. I will have sucked up a little bit of yeasty sediment, but only a hint.

I have been sampling it a little, just to reduce weight and save fuel when transporting it, you understand. Also there are only 4 of us, and 40 pints is a stretch, even for us, as we are also going out on the town.

Finally, they are not by any means connoisseurs, and have been known to drink homebrew made in a bath. That was 30 years ago, mind you, when we were students. It wasn't very nice, apparently.

Dog.
 
Just as an update in case anyone else is thinking of transporting a keg, too....

In the end I chilled it down to 8c over a couple of days before travelling, and put it on the floor behind the passenger seat to wedge it in. When I arrived it was about midnight and cool, so it was kept outside overnight. Had a wee taste after the journey and it was fine.

The beneficiaries also enjoyed it the next day, too.

It was slightly hazy, however had kept its flavour nicely and hadn't spoiled.

I've just got back home, and there is a fair bit left, so it will be chilled again, and then polished off over the next few weeks.

Visited a great homebrew shop in Edinburgh whilst there as I had forgotten the gas cylinders and red screw-in apple factor thing. They had Wakatu hops, which I bought 100g of, so looks like my next brew will be another SMaSH! Onwards and upwards.

Dog.
 

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