Aging Kegs

absolutely. Many bars do this. In fact, a local bar did a vertical of DRAFT Bigfoot from 1993-present for his 20th Anny. Talk about epic.. no one could believe he had cellared 20 kegs of vintage BF and NOT tapped any of them for 20 years!!

 

Oh hell yes it's worth it! Go for it!

 

Honestly, I always figured they were stored in the cooler at his largest bar (I mean, it does have a HUGE walkin, guess you need one for 50+ lines). But don't know for sure. If you can store then in the cooler though, it's obviously a much better environment for storing kegs long term, for aging.

 

You don't want to ever "cellar" kegs at 50 degrees. bottles- different story. kegs demand the cold storage.

 

Bigfoot, the hops begin to fade. It takes a long time before they're faded a lot but it's noticeable at two years. It's such a hop bomb fresh though I prefer it at five years minimum.

Narwhal is similar but since it's not too aggressive fresh, it's just a little more dry with time.

 

Storing in the cooler is great. Good plan!

 

All of the kegs I've aged at work have been in the cooler, but I am curious as to why you say that they can't be cellared at a higher temp.

 

CO2 will slowly come out of solution and change the mouthfeel of the beer (especially over a longer period of time).

 

A local bar had a keg of 05 Cantillon Kriek and threw it in their cooler for 8 years. Opened it up recently, and it was delicious.

 

As in leak out of the coupling seal? Or create its own head space in the keg? I guess it makes sense I just never thought about that happening.

 

Depends on the beer, but the latter seems to happen most often. Then when you go to refrigerate, you lose quite a bit of CO2 in solution and mouthfeel changes, affecting the flavor profile of said beer, as it was intended by the brewer.
Basically, the best way to age kegs is closest to walk-in box temps as possible. I've seen not so high abv (as low as 7.5%-8% beers) hold up for an extraordinarily long time if refrigerated the duration... obviously not IPA's... but even brown ales, saisons (and any belgian for that matter), and double stouts (I have a problem calling 8% an imperial stout). IPA's need to be consumed freshest of course, and I would avoid aging anything with a large wheat bill.

 

Side question: I have a sixtel of Bourbon County Stout that was tapped momentarily at the bar (probably about 5 or 6 10oz servings out of the keg). Would it still be ok to put away for a year or two (or more) down the road?

 

Just enjoyed some 2001 Big foot (keg)at the EBF and it was great. No hops taste ,sweet and malty like and English barley wine.