How Long Does Kegerator Beer Last And Why Is That Important?

Do you like your beer in bottles or from a keg?

Each variety has its own set of qualities that give it a unique taste and bubbly texture. If you think that there’s nothing better than a pint of foamy beer straight from the keg, you know that it can be hard to keep the beer fresh for as long as the keg lasts.

A party can’t happen without a keg of fresh beer.

When I found out that my own keg had been tapped a month ago, I was very worried. I didn’t want to serve old beer to my guests, even though the bar was mostly full. I wasn’t sure whether to drink it or just start a new one. But I couldn’t let such a waste of tasty beer happen, so I did some more research until I found the answer.

The rate at which a beer loses its best qualities depends on how much oxygen, bacteria, and temperature it is exposed to. On the day the brewery fills the keg, the beer is at its best. After that, it slowly stops being like this.

How long is a keg good for?

In general, a keg can last up to two to four months if it is stored properly. However, the shelf life of your keg will depend on many things, such as the type of pump, the temperature of storage, and the type of beer.

Thank goodness, my keg was fine, and the party went well.

In this guide, I’ll talk about the science behind how to store kegs and look at the different things that affect how long a keg will last.

Continue reading to learn more.

Why does the temperature of storage matter?

Let’s start by looking at an important issue: the temperature at which things are kept.

Even though it might not seem like a big deal at first (after all, you can always chill it again later), storage temperature is one of the most important things that affects how fresh your beer is. You don’t want to store your beer in a too hot or too cold place, since both can hurt the quality of your beer.

In particular, the following can be expected:

Your beer is too warm

Beer that is kept at temperatures above or equal to 50 degrees Fahrenheit can speed up the oxidation process, which changes the beer’s chemicals over time and makes it taste old.

But that’s not all.

Bacteria can even start to grow in your keg if you store it this way, which will have a huge effect on the taste and quality of your beer.

Your beer is too cold

So we know it’s a big no-no to keep your beer in too hot of a place.

But what happens if your beer is kept in a too cold environment?

Even though you should store your keg in a cool, dark place, it could freeze if you put it somewhere that is 28 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Carbon expanding inside a frozen keg can even cause it to burst open.

Science says that 38 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3.3 degrees Celsius, is the right temperature to store your keg.

If you want your beer to stay fresh for months, store your keg at a temperature that is close to this.

How hot or cold is it?

Most people don’t understand how important room temperature is and how it can affect the taste of beer.

As they age, most foods go through a certain chemical process. No matter how hard you try to stop it, it’s going to happen anyway. It’s just the way things work. Also, the temperature at which something is stored has a big effect on how long it will last or how short it will last.

The same goes for beer.

Even though the alcohol in beer helps to slow down the process as a whole, the temperature will affect how long your beer will last and how long it will be before it goes bad.

Keep your keg at room temperature – that might be the worst thing you could do.

Just like other things, the fermentation of your beer goes faster when the temperature is higher. The temperature will definitely affect your beer since most rooms are between 65 and 70 degrees.

This is fine if you only have a small keg or plan to drink all the beer in a few days, but not if you want it to last for a long time. On average, a keg of beer will only taste good for about two weeks before it starts to lose its flavor.

The best way to keep the taste of your food is to keep it in a cooler place. Cool, not cold, is what we mean. If you keep it in a very cold place, you won’t be able to taste the full flavor, or worse, you’ll get a block of ice.

No matter what kind of pump is on your keg, the quality will go down if you don’t store it at the right temperature. At 38°F, it’s the best temperature to store your keg. Try not to go much higher or lower than that.

If the temperature goes above this, the carbon dioxide in your beer may start to foam up because the carbon dioxide is being released too quickly. This not only makes too much foam, but it also makes the beer go bad. If the temperature goes above 55°F, bacteria will probably start to grow, which will quickly make the beer go bad.

If you keep the temperature too low, the carbonation will stay in the beer. If this happens, you won’t be able to taste and smell each pour as it was meant to be. If the temperature drops below 28°F, your beer will likely freeze. You shouldn’t store it at this temperature, of course.

It is best to keep your keg of beer in your kegerator or a refrigerator that has been converted into a kegerator so that it stays at the right temperature all the time.

Related: How To Defrost Samsung Ice Maker

How do you make a keg?

One of the most important things to think about is how the keg is made. Even though we don’t store beer in wooden barrels anymore (though some breweries still do this to some extent), how it’s made is still important.

Metal is used to make most kegs these days because it keeps the beer’s taste longer. How the keg is made is what makes the difference.

In general, there are two sizes of kegs: small and large. The shape of the bigger kegs is more like a barrel, while the shape of most of the smaller ones is more refined.

Obviously, the bigger ones can hold more beer, so you can drink more. But it has been said that smaller kegs seal in the flavor much better than larger kegs, so your beer tastes better for longer.

How long can a keg stay good?

The general rule is that non-pasteurized beer on tap that is served with CO2 will stay fresh for 45–60 days if the right pressure and temperature are kept. If you serve draft beer that has been pasteurized, it will stay good for about 90–120 days. If you just got a party keg with air pumped into it, you should drink the beer within 8 to 12 hours for the best taste.

Most breweries now print a date on the keg to let you know when the beer was made. Make sure to carefully read the label, as some breweries write this as an expiration date and others as a “born on” date. These dates take into account how long the beer has been in stock at the brewery. Typically, the date is printed on the cap or the side of the keg.

Is there anything that breaks the rule?

The short answer to this question is “yes,” but there are always exceptions.

For example, larger beers with more alcohol will last a little bit longer than “the norm.” Hops will change how the beer tastes a little bit, but these beers should still be good for up to six months. Sometimes, beers change even less quickly.

How do you know how much beer to buy?

There are ways to avoid having a keg that is too big to finish before it goes bad. There are different sizes of kegs, so you don’t always have to buy the biggest one you can find.

Here are the standard sizes and how much beer you can expect to get out of them:

• Full-size Keg (Half Barrel) = 165 12oz beers
• Euro Keg = 140 12oz beers
• Quarter Barrel Keg = 82 12oz beers
• Five Gallon Keg = 55 12oz beers
• Three-gallon keg = 32 12oz beers

If you follow these tips and know these facts about draft beer, you should be able to keep your keg fresh for as long as it takes you to drink the beer.

What kind of pump do you use?

How you choose to pour your beer also has a big impact on how long it will stay fresh. As long as the keg is kept at the right temperature and pressure, using a kegerator or draft system that serves beer by using CO2 shouldn’t affect how fresh the beer is.

You can figure out how long your tapped keg will last by following the tips given above.

When you use a picnic pump, party pump, or keg tap, things are completely different. These let oxygen into your keg, which makes beer go bad much more quickly.

Since a picnic pump uses oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, a tapped keg will only last between 12 and 24 hours, depending on the type of beer and how much oxygen was pumped into it. If you don’t finish the keg within that time, the oxygen will quickly make the beer go flat and go bad.

How can you tell if a keg has gone bad?

After all this, how can you tell when a keg of beer has gone bad?

Let’s look at a few common ways to tell if your beer has gone bad:

Strange taste

The worst sign of a bad keg is that it tastes bad.

Your beer might be too sweet and taste like apples or other ripe fruits. On the other hand, it might taste like sulfur. In either case, these strange (and maybe even bad) tastes can tell you right away that your keg is no longer good.

Looks cloudy

You might not even need to drink the beer to know it’s bad.

Beer from a keg that has been open for a long time often looks cloudy. If your beer looks cloudy or foamy for no reason, it’s probably gone bad.

NOTE: A small amount of foam is fine, especially if you are using a hand pump. But you might want to think twice about a beer that looks too “bubbly.”

Bad smell

A keg that has been there longer than it should have can also smell bad.

This smell can be stinky or too sweet, just like a bad taste. To put it simply, it won’t smell like the beer you like. Even though drinking old beer probably won’t hurt you, it won’t taste good and won’t make you popular at your next party.

Can you tap a keg twice?

Even if you’re with some of your rowdiest friends, you probably can’t drink a keg of beer in one sitting. You’ll want to know if your keg can be tapped twice. The good news is that you can, with some restrictions, tap a keg twice.

If you use a manual pump or an O2 pump, you’ll only be able to get one tap out of your keg.

If you use a CO2 pump, on the other hand, you should be able to tap your keg whenever you want because you’re not adding any new gases to the keg, which already has CO2.

Even so, it won’t matter if you don’t store your keg the right way. If you want to get the most use out of your beer, make sure to follow all of the steps for storing and tapping the keg.

How long do kegs last: hand pumps vs. CO2

Now that we’ve talked about all of this, let’s talk about another important part of your keg: the pump style.

In general, there are two main types of keg pumps: those that are operated by hand and those that use CO2. You might not have given it much thought, but the type of pump you use could affect how long your keg lasts (and the quality of your beer).

At first glance, it might not seem like such a big deal. After all, as long as it gets to your mouth, everything is fine, right? But if you ask this question in a room full of beer lovers, you’ll be sure to start a fight.

The difference is less in how it gets to your glass and more in what steps are taken to get it there and how they affect your drink.

How do they differ?

Let’s take a look:

Manual pump

If you’ve ever brought a keg to a party, you’ve probably pumped it by hand. Pumping air into a manual pump keg forces the beer out of the keg and into your glass.

When you use a manual pump instead of CO2, setting up is much easier. You just need to hook up a pump to the kegerator, and with a few presses, you’re done. You’re drinking beer.

This is a very good way to get alcohol out, but it doesn’t do much to keep beer fresh.

Here’s why: once oxygen is added to your beer, the process of oxidation moves quickly. Because of this, hand-pumped kegs can go bad in as little as eight hours.

Because of this, you shouldn’t use one of these pumps to store your keg for a long time.

Most of the time, a keg with a hand pump will only keep beer fresh for a few days before it starts to taste bad, so make sure to drink it quickly.

CO2 Pump

A CO2 pump works the same way. It puts pressure on the keg to force the beer out.

But most people who like beer choose to set up a CO2 dispenser. That’s because, compared to the manual pump, the CO2 dispenser does a much better job of keeping your beer’s taste intact.

CO2 pumps don’t need oxygen as manual pumps do. Instead, they use carbon dioxide to keep your beer fresher for longer.

With a CO2 pump, your keg can last for months, even after it has been tapped.

Setting up a CO2 dispenser, on the other hand, is much more expensive than setting up a manual pump. If you don’t drink much, you may be spending money on technology you don’t need.

If you like to store larger kegs or drink more than just a few drinks at a time, the CO2 dispenser is the way to go.

There are, of course, other things you should think about, so keep reading to make sure your beer stays as fresh as possible.

3 useful ways to keep your keg fresh

We’ve talked a little bit about this before, but it’s worth going over them again. If you want your beer to last a long time, you’ll need to keep the keg fresh.

Let’s talk about some of the best ways to do this:

Purchase it fresh

The first step to getting a keg that will last a long time is to buy as fresh as possible. If you buy a keg that is getting close to its “sell-by” date, you won’t have as much time to enjoy it.

Remember that the sell-by date is different from the expiration date, which could be months after you open the beer if you store it properly.

Put it away the right way

This brings me to my next point: if you want your keg to last a long time, you’ll need to store it properly.

This should be somewhere cool and dark since both heat and light hurt the quality of the alcohol in the keg.

This also means making sure your kegerator is at the right pressure. If the pressure is too low, the beer will be too foamy and flat, and if the pressure is too high, the beer will come out of the keg too quickly and will be foamy as well. This wastes the beer.

The amount of pressure you need to use on your kegerator depends on the type of beer you use, but for most standard ales and lagers, you should keep the machine between 10 and 12 PSI.

Get the right pump

Lastly, you need to make sure you use the right pump. As we’ve talked about, CO2 pumps are the way to go if you want your keg to last as long as possible.

The shelf life of various types of beer vary

In some ways, the keg itself has nothing to do with how long your beer will last. Also, you should pay attention to what’s in your keg.

Keep in mind that different beers last for different amounts of time.

A good rule of thumb is that the longer a beer will last, the more alcohol it has. Still, regular ales and lagers can last up to four months, which I don’t think is too bad.

In general, your draft beer’s shelf life will depend on whether it’s:

Pasteurized beer

Pasteurized beer, which has been treated to kill harmful microorganisms, has the longest shelf life of any draft beer, lasting anywhere from 90 to 120 days (3 to 4 months) in total.

Unpasteurized beer

Unpasteurized beer, or beer that hasn’t been treated before it was packaged, will last between 45 and 60 days, or 6 to 8 weeks if it is stored properly.

Don’t forget that this timeline will start before you tap it.

Pasteurized vs. Non-pasteurized

Beer fans can argue about whether pasteurized or unpasteurized beer tastes better, but they can’t argue about how much longer pasteurized beer lasts than unpasteurized beer.

Because of how beer is made, it has a lot of yeast in it already. When beer is pasteurized, most of the yeast is killed, making it last much longer than beer that hasn’t been pasteurized.

If you’re the kind of beer drinker who can’t drink beer that has been pasteurized, you should know that your drink won’t last as long. Even if a keg of beer is stored in good condition, it will only last a few months at most.

If you’re not sure if your beer has been pasteurized or not, you should call the company to find out.

What’s the state of your kegerator?

The condition of your kegerator is just as important as the beer or the keg itself when it comes to how long your beer will last.

A kegerator is a device made to hold a keg of beer and keep it cool so it can be drunk. Without a kegerator, the beer in the keg would only last a few days before it lost all of its flavors.

There is a kegerator for every size of keg because kegerators come in many different shapes and sizes.

A kegerator is easy to get; you can buy one online or even make one yourself.

Still, things like quality can affect how long your beer will taste good. Most companies that only make kegerators will make better ones, and when it comes to storing beer, they are much more likely to keep it safe and fresh for longer.

But other companies may make kegerators that aren’t as good, which could change the way your beer tastes. This is especially true when it comes to how many times you’ve tapped your beer.

Good kegerators can tap your beer anywhere from two to four times for smaller kegs and even more for larger kegs while keeping the taste the same each time.

In kegerators of lower quality, you can only get one or two taps before the beer starts to taste stale. The quality drops quickly because of things like how much air can get into the keg from the outside.

Why is a kegerator important?

Before you get your own kegerator, you need to know why kegerators exist and what benefits they offer. As the price of good beer keeps going up, kegerators are becoming more and more popular in this day and age.

You might want a kegerator for the following reasons:

• Instead of having to store and keep cold bottles or cans of beer, you can get a cold beer on tap whenever you want.
• With a kegerator, you can serve more people at once than with bottles or cans.

Draft beer has better taste than bottled or canned beer. Kegerators are a great way to start a conversation and can make your home bar look really cool.

What kind of kegerator should you get?

Now that you know what a kegerator can do for you, you can decide which one is best for you. When making your choice, there are a few things to think about:

• How much beer would you like to keep? Some kegerators can only fit one keg, while others can fit more than one.
• How much space does your house have? Some kegerators are small and easy to store, while others take up a lot of room.
• Do you just want a simple draft tower, or would you rather have digital controls and other features that make pouring beer easier? There are a lot of different kinds of draft towers, from simple systems that use pressure to ones that turn.
• What is your budget for your kegerator? There is a wide range of prices for kegerators, so there is definitely one for everyone.

Should you just put together your own keg?

You might want to build your own kegerator if you are an experienced homebrewer or beer fan, or if you have friends who like to make their own beers. Putting together your own kegerator is a great way to save money and get the size and features you want.

It’s never been easier to build your own kegerator, and it’s very easy to get the tools you need to get started. In fact, you can even use an old refrigerator to make it.

You’ll need a refrigerator or freezer, a CO2 tank, beer lines, connectors, shanks, faucets, and a CO2 regulator to build your own kegerator. Depending on which parts you choose, these parts can cost anywhere from $200 to $450.

Still, you should be careful about how you make it because your homemade kegerator can affect how long your beer will last.

To avoid making a low-quality kegerator and giving your beer a low-quality taste, make sure that your repurposed unit is properly sealed to keep the cool air in and the oxygen out.

To reduce the amount of oxygen that could flow into the keg, you could also attach a CO2 dispenser instead of an oxygen pump.

No matter which option you choose, you’ll be able to enjoy a great beer every time as if it’s the first time. Drink well, friends.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Now that you know how long a keg lasts, you’ll be able to store all of your drinks and get the most out of your beer, whether you’re drinking alone or getting ready for the biggest party of the year.

Since that’s the case, we thought we’d give you some extra tips on how to be more crafty with your beer so you can get the most out of it.

You should know by now if the keg in your basement is good or bad. By following the right steps, you can keep your kegs fresh for months, which will save you money and make sure you’re always the life of the party.

In the end, a kegerator is a great way to always have a cold beer on tap. As the price of good beer keeps going up, it is becoming more and more popular.

There are many kinds of kegerators, so think about what you need and how much you can spend before making a choice.

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