I keep glassware on the top of my kegerator so its kind of a pain to open and check the kegs in any manner.
I’m usually the one doing most of the drinking so I have a general idea how long a keg will take to kick but its still sucks when you get that blast of gas and sediment on the last pull:)
Sometimes, when I tip a keg and see that it is very low, I’ll bottle the remaining beer and put it in my beer fridge or cellar it, or to just have an alternative to what remains on tap, and/or to share with friends. It also helps to get rid of the anxiety of “will I have room for the next two kegs almost due to fit in here?”
I went on a fishing trip last weekend and before heading out had a low keg of Dubbel and was bottling other beers too to share with a fishing buddy from another state, and so bottled what I figured would be two or three beers left of the dubbel, but ended up bottling eight of them. No big deal, I keep lots of empty bottles and caps on hand for just such situations.
I learned that very thing 25 years ago and ramped up my brewing so that I now always have a few cornies on hand that have had at least 8 to 10 weeks of quiet rest (and a lot longer for my IPA and Burton).
A little diligence and a lot of patience result in tasty rewards.
Professor, what does your IPA look like that you can age it that long? Lots of hops, or more English IPA style and traditional? Just curious, as most want to drink their AIPAs as fresh as possible. Just looking for new alternatives