Kegging without a refrigerator

[rule4]

I have been brewing for a few years now and have grown tired of bottling. I received a keg setup as a gift and I am looking forward to giving this a try.

Can I keg beer and leave it unrefrigerated? I currently don't use a fridge for any of my home brew or store bought beer. I just leave it in the basement. It pretty much maintains an average temp in the 50's year round, even in the hottest days of summer. I know that a lot of guys hate the warm beer thing but I really only drink stouts and I prefer them at this temp.

From what I can gather the beer will be under constant pressure so there shouldn't be any exposure to the outside environment.

Will I run into any problems with a keg being used outside of a fridge? Do any of you do this?

 

[BierGut]

I do this exact same thing w/o any issues. I force carb and then set my serving pressure low ~4psi so the beer doesn't foam when I pour

 

[Thanks_Yeasties]

I don't see any issues with doing this, I have stored full kegs forced carbonated and connected or disconnect outside of my keezer for months until spots opened up for them to be chilled.

 

[Gavin C]

If you like the beer at 50F ish there are no barriers to storing and serving at these temperatures.

You can carbonate the beer with C02 at these temperatures but it will take more time and/or psi than at lower temps. Still doable. Also you can prime a keg with sugar to allow it to carbonate. Just think of it as one large bottle. This works and many do it as part of their routine. Biermuncher's threads he often mentions putting one keg on gas and priming another with sugar so theat when one keg kicks in a few weeks the other is ready to go.

For carbonation using sugar you would want to keep the filled keg at 70F ish for a few weeks. In the 50F range it will be very slow to carbonate.

Needed: CO2 tank, regulator, gas tubing to full keg, dispensing with a picnic tap

My personal tastes and lack of cool basement would preclude this method for me. It will work though.