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Author Topic: Any downside to kegging 3 -gal batches in 5 -gal kegs?  (Read 948 times)

Offline Lazy Ant Brewing

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Any downside to kegging 3 -gal batches in 5 -gal kegs?
« on: November 06, 2019, 08:17:16 am »
I'm planning in getting into kegging and I'd like to figure out the best setup for me before I spend my money instead of  spending more later because of wishing I had bought something else the first time.

My considerations include:

Because of age, weight, and possible medication issues, I normally drink only 3-5 beers per week. 

I will be refrigerating the kegs in a garage fridge that will also have to do double duty as a fermentation chamber.  Because I would be using the fridge for fermentation also, my plans would be to brew and ferment two different recipes at the same time in smaller batches say 3 gals each to minimize the time the fridge would have to be kept at ale fermentation temps rather than at keg serving temps.  Brewing two five-gal batches at one time would be too much for my normal consumption.

I can buy used 5-gal kegs much less expensively than the 3-gal kegs so I'm thinking about getting those.  I'm assuming that if you purge the additional head space with CO2 then that would keep possible oxidation at bay, and the 5-gal kegs would work okay.

Thanks in advance for your advise.

It's easier to read brewing books and get information from the forum than to sacrifice virgins to appease the brewing gods when bad beer happens!

Offline EHall

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Re: Any downside to kegging 3 -gal batches in 5 -gal kegs?
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2019, 08:32:39 am »
you are correct, any amount of less than 5gal in a 5gal keg will be fine, just purge the O2.
Phoenix, AZ

Offline Steve Ruch

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Re: Any downside to kegging 3 -gal batches in 5 -gal kegs?
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2019, 05:58:24 pm »
What's the difference in your ale fermenting temperature and your keg serving temperature?
You could use a yeast that works at keg serving temperature to ferment your ale recipes.
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Offline Lazy Ant Brewing

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Re: Any downside to kegging 3 -gal batches in 5 -gal kegs?
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2019, 07:09:33 pm »
I  plan on serving at about 40 F because I will be dispensing into room temperature glassware. My fermenting temp starts at 64 F ramping to 68 F and then up to 72 F to clean up before cold-crashing and then into the keg.
It's easier to read brewing books and get information from the forum than to sacrifice virgins to appease the brewing gods when bad beer happens!