How Long Does Draft Beer Remain Fresh? – There is no one hard and fast rule for how long a keg of draft beer will stay fresh. This is especially true for craft beers because different styles of beer last longer than others. A good rule of thumb is that the shelf life for a keg of pasteurized beer is about 90-120 days (or 3-4 months), and unpasteurized draft beer will last about 45-60 days (or 6-8 weeks) when stored at the proper temperature.
Many import and domestic beers are pasteurized. If you’re unsure whether or not your beer has been pasteurized, then treat it like it is unpasteurized. An important thing to remember is that countdown starts the day your keg is filled at the brewery, not when you tap it or buy it. One of the first things you should do when you pick up a keg is to check is the label to see if it has a “born on” date or expiration date.
If the beer in your keg is passed its expiration date, then we wouldn’t recommend drinking it. 
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How long should a keg of beer last?
Kegerator – The kegerator is the king of beer dispensing, which is the reason why many restaurants rely on kegerators to dispense their kegs. Not only is the taste and experience of drinking beer from a kegerator better than other dispense systems, a kegerator is designed to preserve the quality of a keg.
With a refrigerator storage cabinet, the keg is stored at the ideal temperature for the specific beer that is stored inside. This temperature maintenance also prevents beer from being dispensed warm and foamy. The CO2 dispense system of a kegerator prevents oxygen from accessing the beer and maintaining the fresh brewery taste.
For a properly stored keg in a kegerator, how long the beer will remain fresh will depend on the style of beer. Pasteurized beers can stay fresh from three to six months. For non-pasteurized beers, you can expect the keg to stay fresh approximately two months.
How do you keep a keg fresh after tapping?
Why Storage Temperature Matters – Here’s where it starts to get a little bit more complicated — How you store your keg is important, No matter what kind of pump you have on your keg, if you don’t store it at the right temperature you will notice a decrease in quality. The recommended temperature to store your keg is 38°F, Try not to go too much above or below that temperature. If the temperature rises above this, your beer may become foamier as the warmer temperature liberates carbon dioxide too quickly.
Not only does this cause excessive foam, but also leads to stale beer. If the temperature rises above 55°F, then it’s likely that bacteria will start to grow which will spoil the beer pretty quickly. If you keep the temperature too cold, the beer will retain its carbonation. If this happens, you won’t be able to experience the true flavor and aroma of each pour,
If the temperature falls below 28°F, then your beer will likely freeze. Obviously, you want to avoid storing it at this temperature. It is recommended to store your keg of beer in your kegerator, or perhaps a converted refrigerator, so that it maintains this desired temperature at all times.
Should you let a keg rest before tapping it?
A: You tap a keg by using a keg coupler. Do not agitate the keg. If there has been excessive agitation during transportation, allow the keg to settle for 1 to 2 hours before tapping. Make sure the beer faucet is in the off position prior to tapping. Remove the dust cover from the beer keg.
Why is my beer foamy after tapping keg?
Foamy Beer Tap: How To Fix It There are many reasons you may be getting a lot of foam coming out your tap. Without being there to see your system setup and what you are doing it’s very difficult for us to give an answer as to why it might be. We’ve tried to cover the main ones below, along with what you can do about them.
Under carbonated – strange but true, if you are getting a lot of foam but it is flat when you taste it your drink may be under carbonated – let it sit for a day or so at the pressures recommended on, Over carbonated – if you are getting a lot of foam and the drink has carbonation when you taste it it may be over carbonated. You can adjust it by releasing some pressure, letting it sit for an hour then releasing some more pressure. Then set the regulator to the level recommended in the table on the to get the correct level. A warm glass or tap – Often the 1st pour will be foamy as the cold liquid with lots of dissolved CO2 loses the CO2 when it hits a warm surface like the inside of a tap or a glass. Keep your glass in the fridge or cool it with water before pouring if it’s warm. Keep your tap in the fridge if possible (like with our mini kegs), ensure any liquid lines outside a fridge are well insulated and ensure a font fan is blowing cold air inside the font to cool it if you have a bar top font. Pouring onto foam causes more foam – You will often see the bar tender at a bar put the glass under the tap after only a bit of beer has come through the tap and gone into the drip tray or they will pour out the bit in the glass if it is foamy before starting again. This is because if you have some foamy beer in the glass it causes the rest to foam as it pours onto it. Better to waste the first 30mls than have a whole glass of froth! Not enough beer line – Beer line is measured depending on it’s internal diameter. We provide minimum 1.5m of 4mm internal beer line with our kegerator packages etc as this is the length needed to slow the liquid enough that it pours well when it reaches the tap, if you cut it short and don’t have a flow control tap it will pour to quickly and cause foaming. Too much pressure – If your pressure is set too high the beer will flow too fast and cause it to be agitated and foamy when it pours. If you have a flow control tap or a kegerator with correct length lines you should set your pressure at the recommended one from the, Too little pressure – If your keg has too little pressure in it it will cause the dissolved CO2 to free itself from the liquid. This causes gas bubbles in the beer lines or tap. If you can see bubbles in your beer line this is a likely cause. Your beer may also be pouring heady but flat as it is becoming under carbonated due to not enough pressure to keep it carbonated. Beer hasn’t settled – If your keg has just been filled from a tap, then driven home, carried inside and plonked on the table it has been shaken, agitated and been through temperature changes. It will pour foamy unless you let it sit for at least 30min. We had someone wonder why their 50L keg was pouring foamy after rolling it from the pub to car, car to a speed boat, boat to party on an island and then tried to tap it 15min later. An interruption in the flow – This is something more equipment based you can look for if you think everything above is correct. A rough edge inside a hose where it was cut, a steel burr inside a tap etc. will interrupt the smooth flow of liquid and can make it pour foamy
: Foamy Beer Tap: How To Fix It
Can you only tap a keg once?
Can a Keg Be Tapped Twice? – If you’re like most of us, you can’t drink a keg of beer in one sitting—even if you’re surrounded by some of your rowdiest friends. Naturally, you’ll want to know if you can tap your keg twice. The good news is yes, you can tap a keg twice —with some limitations, of course,
- In the event that you’re using a manual or O2 pump, you’ll unfortunately only get one tap out of your keg.
- If you’re using a CO2 pump, however, you should be able to tap your keg at will, as you aren’t introducing any foreign gases into the keg, which already comes with CO2.
- With that being said, it won’t matter if you don’t store your keg the right way, so make sure to follow all steps of the storing and tapping process if you want to get maximum use out of your beer.
