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[ted <music AT thenightshades.com>]

Hmmm, could be harder than I anticipated. Our winter is not so stable as to
provide for anything that steady, and we don't drink that much beer that
fast. May have to remain a special occasion thing- work parties and that.
Ted

on 1/6/05 9:00 AM, homestead-request AT lists.ibiblio.org at
homestead-request AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

> 
>> 
>> 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.
>