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5 GAL CORNY; HOW LONG DOES IT LAST FOR YOU?

Detmurds

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Just wondering,..in general,....how long does a full 5 gal keg last you on average?  There has been times that I went to the well and got nothing but foam with full shock,..I have only been consuming for a week or two.  So really,..how long?
 
When I got into kegging, I was a bit surprised at how quickly a keg would evaporate!

But then I realized that we are dealing with 5 US gallons, not imperial, and that of course translates to about 19L. 

I suppose a normal Canadian "pint" bottle is around 345 ml, so that equates to 55 pints  - but then I normally use larger UK style beer glasses which I imagine hold closer to  around 500 ml thus  about 38 glasses.

I generally have a beer or two daily as a treat after my daily exercise session.  Having a kegerator, it is hard to really now how much I drink as I often don't fill the glass full - don't know why! - but then will go back and top it up a couple of times.   

My wife doesn't drink beer at all,  but now and then of course I will share a pint with a friend, but truth be told I consume most of it myself !

These numbers would indicate I should expect a keg to last me maybe a month on average, and I think that is pretty close to what I do experience.

Brian.




 
Not long enough! Five gallons is roughly two cases of beer. You can ALWAYS tell when you're about to run out because your beer has the greatest clarity at that point. I'm trying to get ahead of the game by brewing enough so I can have the luxury of conditioning my kegs for a minimum of four weeks before tapping. If I wasn't so cheap, I'd buy two more kegs (seven total). There's absolutely no question that conditioned beer tastes better and looks better the longer you leave it undisturbed.
 
1 keg would last about a week all said and done in my house. However I keep 4 on tap and atleast 2 conditioning at all times, but yes I change a keg atleast once a week.
 
MikeinRH said:
.... You can ALWAYS tell when you're about to run out because your beer has the greatest clarity at that point.... have the luxury of conditioning my kegs for a minimum of four weeks before tapping.... There's absolutely no question that conditioned beer tastes better and looks better the longer you leave it undisturbed.

before you rack to your keg do you crash the fermenter down to the 40-48 range for a couple of days? this also does great things for clarity.
how long do you primary/secondary before kegging? (wondering what effect you have seen on how fast it conditions once kegged.)
::noob question:: doesn't just letting your chilled corney sit with 15-20 psi for 3 days carbonate and condition enough before lowering to delivery pressure?

and 5 gallons lasts a while for me since i always have so many batches as partials. sadly i am still stuck in bottling so i can have 9 partial batches but i read and dream about kegging. once i have enough room and money kegs are mine!
 
Once your beer gets good enough that people ASK for it, it doesn't take long at all.  I can kill as many kegs as I want to, as fast as I want to.  All I have to do is give everyone who is constantly bugging me for beer....beer. 

I took a keg of Ordinary Bitter to a party Saturday.  I set it next to the keg of Peticolas (local craft brew).  People stopped drinking the Peticolas until I ran out of CO2 (I used a keg charger, and the keg lid apparently leaks with less than 10psi).  Still they drained about 2/3rds of the keg before I ran out. 

If its just me drinking the batch, maybe a month or so.  But, SWMBO has started drinking the beer too.  So, now wer're down to a couple weeks or less (SWMBO drinks more than I do, sometimes).  Add the odd 6 or 12 pack for a party...it goes fast. 

I think that's a good thing, because I can brew more.  I have 6 kegs, and 4 fermenters.  I do occasionally run into issues. I'll buy grain because I want to brew.  Then I go into the cold room, only to find all my kegs have partial bere in them, and my standard ale (non-brett, non-bugs) fermenters are full.  I have nowhere to drain the new beer into!  I've got another kolsch grain bag waiting on this exact problem, right now.  I have 1 empty keg, but I have a kolsch and a barlywine in the fermenters right now.  I need to finish off the Ordinary bitter, so I can move the kolsch & Barleywine to kegs.  Then I can start the next Kolsch and the first Pliney for the season. 

 
If it's just me 4-6 weeks.  Usually much sooner due to fests and also since co-workers want growlers.  I ship bottles to AHA events as well. 

Mark
 
Tom: I've probably learned more from your posts than Palmer's book! Ha! I've found a pretty neat solution for preventing a situation you described where you ran out of gas at your party. It's a hand-held pump with a ball lock fitting that I can manually jack up the pressure to keep the beer flowing. Obviously, injecting air isn't a good thing if you end up with something other than an empty keg when it's time to go home. Attached is a photo of my solution for a great day on the golf course.
 

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Geez,..I tapped into my keg just last Friday and last night I lifted that keg and it was already pretty easy to do so :eek:!  Say it ain't so!  I think I will bottle a couple and keep them for an "emergency"? 
 
MikeinRH said:
Tom: I've probably learned more from your posts than Palmer's book! Ha! I've found a pretty neat solution for preventing a situation you described where you ran out of gas at your party. It's a hand-held pump with a ball lock fitting that I can manually jack up the pressure to keep the beer flowing. Obviously, injecting air isn't a good thing if you end up with something other than an empty keg when it's time to go home. Attached is a photo of my solution for a great day on the golf course.

Sheesh...thanks for the kind words.  I'm glad you've found some of it useful.  But, seriously....not more than Palmer.  Most of what I put up here is creditable back to him and Jamil.  They are all my own experiences, but those experiences just affirm what Palmer and Jamil have said many times before.

I thought about a hand-pump, but I just can't bring myself to inject oxygen into my keg.  If I KNEW that it was going to get drained....I'd probably be okay with the idea.  I'm leaning towards a paintball canister...if I can find just the right regulator solution.  Having some portable CO2 around the brewery could be handy anyway.

Now, I think I need to go buy some more kegs.  Anyone want some lightly used carboys?....I've got 11.  :)
 
If I have no plans or expectations there will be anything left in a keg after a party, the hand pump is a phenomenal device.
 
One keg a year lasts for about four hours. It's the one I take to a coworker's bbq. The rest last for anywhere from two weeks to a month. All depends on how many different brews are on tap, and how much cribbage I play with the old guy next door. He likes to complain loudly that his neighbor shows up fairly regularly with a pitcher of homebrew. No one gives him any sympathy.
 
Maine Homebrewer said:
One keg a year lasts for about four hours. It's the one I take to a coworker's bbq. The rest last for anywhere from two weeks to a month. All depends on how many different brews are on tap, and how much cribbage I play with the old guy next door. He likes to complain loudly that his neighbor shows up fairly regularly with a pitcher of homebrew. No one gives him any sympathy.

You folks from Maine are an odd bunch.

 
Just got my last glass of IPA yesterday.  Took me a week,...I liked it a lot, that is for sure.  Glad I bottled, and saved one for later! 
 
How long will you last drinking 5 gallon cornys? 

Assuming an 8% IPA, that works out to about 18 calories an ounce.  For 5 gallons, that is over 11,000 calories. 

To burn those calories with normal walking, you need to walk 2400 minutes or 40 hours. 

For every pint, you need to walk 1 hour to burn off that pint.

(Based on a 45 year old male weighing 210 and 5'10" walking on sidewalk around 3 MPH)
 
jomebrew said:
(Based on a 45 year old male weighing 210 and 5'10" walking on sidewalk around 3 MPH)

Having some reflections while walking will burn some extra calories ;)

R, Slurk
 
jomebrew said:
How long will you last drinking 5 gallon cornys? 

Assuming an 8% IPA, that works out to about 18 calories an ounce.  For 5 gallons, that is over 11,000 calories. 

To burn those calories with normal walking, you need to walk 2400 minutes or 40 hours. 

For every pint, you need to walk 1 hour to burn off that pint.

(Based on a 45 year old male weighing 210 and 5'10" walking on sidewalk around 3 MPH)

I hear ya,..but I am not 45, I am 50 in July!  LOL!
 
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