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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> I aim to put a keg in the creek this winter.
> Ted

Check the temperature often. Unlike wine, which will keep well at merely 
cool temperatures, beer will go bad unless it is kept cold. Especially a 
15.5 gallon keg. My tapper temperature currently is 26 degrees at the 
bottom and 33 degrees at the top of the keg. Much colder than I prefer to 
drink it, so I fill a glass and let it warm before drinking. Beer has a 
relatively short shelf life and kegs typically last awhile. Here in the 
city I don't drink as much as when I am at home doing hard physical work, 
so the last keg lasted two months. Toward the end I found myself having 
morning diarrhea. At first I decided it was some moldy blueberries I ate--I 
saw the mold in the box after I had swallowed. As the condition persisted 
for several days, I suspected the beer. When the keg went dry and I took 
everything apart for cleaning I found lots of seriously nasty stuff inside 
the tap. After getting the new keg tapped with all clean equipment, all is 
well. Back home I used to keep a champagne plastic "cork" on the end of the 
tap to keep it protected from room air and bugs. Here, I think I will untap 
the keg and clean the tap every couple of weeks. Well, at least when I find 
negative morning symptoms recurring.