Beer keg in the mountains?? elevation question

[4byRANGER]

ok were planning on a 4 day camping trip with a keg.. location: wishon res, ca


now the elevation there is about 7500 or somehtin close, our elevation is about 1100.. but were worried about KEG EXPLOSION bein the worst.. foammmmyyy beer for second. or even flat beer..

has anyone here takin one up in the hills?? or know anything about this?

 

[rangerbum]

tap it now drink some to give some extra room. so you have a little less beer up there, o well, take 2 or 3 or even 16 kegs.

 

[Will]

Never thought about that before.

You are going to loose about 3psi in atmospheric pressure going up 6,000ft in elevation I think. That certainly won't burst a keg. But the relative pressure inside the keg will be higher.

I would turn this question over to a beer dispensing enthusiast site.

 

[Bent Bolt]

Yeah, never thought about it. Mind you , I never taken a keg up a mountain.
But I have seen a water bottle that I've emptied at the top, screwed on the cap and watched it get crushed by "itself" at the bottom.

Kinda cool.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Tap keg at bottom. Begin drinking as you travel up the mountain to relieve pressure.

Seriously though, I don't see a keg explosion (unless you're going to the top of say Everest) as a very likely event. Pressure will likely build inside the tank, but if you use a pump-up tap, once the initial pressure has been bleed off by dispensing beer, it will require more pumping to build pressure in the keg than on a lower elevation due to the air being thinner.

Foam will likely build from bouncing over rough terrain or dropping a keg. I would think that you may get a little more foam when dispensing but I'm not sure it would be significantly more.

I don't see it going flat unless it's skunky.

 

[Southern3.0]

You could bring the keg and a 24 case, once you get there tap the keg and let it settle down while you kill the case.

 

[evanesce69]

the keg will not explode, like will said, you only gain a few psi. maybe foamy at first, but the beer comes out faster.

Can you complain about faster beer???


I thought not!

 

[alaskan155]

they have kegs in cheyenne,wy thats 6k feet up

 

[rickcdewitt]

this intrigued me enough to ask my father who's the plant engineer at the local brewery.he said the extra pressure will make it foamier but if you keep them real cold it will minimize it.(they take kegs all over for conventions and brewfests)
he said not to worry about hurting the keg itself.
just make sure someone is taking away keys if theres lots of beer flowing,drunken wheeling is a good recipe for getting killed.

 

[MAKG]

Kegs can take a LOT more pressure than the 3-5 PSI you're going to get at high elevation.

It may get flat faster once tapped, but it is NOT going to explode. You get much more pressure driving on a rough road, or especially when it gets dropped in the warehouse....

 

[Maverick]

I have an annual camping trip that I bring a keg to. The keg travels from sea level to an elevation of 5750 ft. The only problem I've had is the bumpy road getting there shaking the beer up. We just let it settle while setting up camp (about an hour) and it's good to go.

 

[4byRANGER]

wooah thanks for all the help guys, were gettin our keg filled half way up the mountain at the local beer store.. then pickin up some 30 cases so i think we will be good.. and dont worry when we drink theres no driving involved.. just racing!

kidding, but thanks for the input! really helped out alot

 

[4byRANGER]

once again changed our minds at last minute

this is what we came up with.. 270 beers 3 1.75L bottles of smirnoff, malibu and JAGER

 

[4byRANGER]

talk to you guys in 4 days.. leavin early tommarrow

 

[svtranger04]

thats not enough!!!!