Aging In The Keg

[Frag_Dog]

I'm thinking of moving over to kegging in the next few months. So far my reasons are:

* Less cleaning (No need to clean and sanitise 25 - 30 long necks)
* Can get 1 glass of beer at a time, instead of 2 (more for my girlfriend)
* Cool factor

I've only been doing homebrew for about 5 months, but a guy at work told me that he lets his beer sit for 2 months before opening. I've started doing this and I've noticed the beer is much more drinkable then after 1 month.

So if I move to kegs and force carbonate, will I need to wait the same amount of time for the beer to be at the same level of drinkability? I imagine that not priming will bring it that 2 months in a bit, I just would like to know how much...

Costs of the kegs starts to become a factor if i need to leave them the same 2 months. At $70 a keg plus a it starts to cost a bit....

 

[SJW]

I drink some of my kegged beers 10 mins after transfering to the keg. Just crash chill, force carb and drink. Now that all depends on the style.
Do a seach on kegging as there are hundreds of threads already been done. But yes I bottled for years and going to kegs was the best thing I ever did.

Steve

 

[raven19]

Just do it, You wont regret switching over to kegs! I wish I did it years ago...

Check out Ross's keg special, 4 kegs for $270. That way you can condition some kegs for longer if need be. A small investment for a lifetime hobby!

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1043

 

[Effect]

well, if you have only been homebrewing for 5 months, I can only guess that you do kits and bits. So conditioning for 2 - 3 months will be a great benefit - as for AG beers - that is a different matter.

 

[devo]

I sugar prime and keg my Belgian Dubbels leaving them to naturally condition for anywhere between 2 to 6 months.

 

[Pumpy]

I drink some of my kegged beers 10 mins after transfering to the keg. Just crash chill, force carb and drink. Now that all depends on the style.
Do a seach on kegging as there are hundreds of threads already been done. But yes I bottled for years and going to kegs was the best thing I ever did.

Steve

Yes I agree Steve ,

Just split a 40 L batch of Californian Common with my mate he will have to wait four weeks for it to Carb up in the bottles ,I can drink it a few days later

Pumpy

 

[clean brewer]

Depending on Style, advice I was given is that "Beer should be drank Fresh" and if made correctly should be drinkable straight away. I now carb at 300kpa for 24hours and have only 4 kegs in rotation, im drinking 2 and trying to have 2 sitting behind them ready to go once the first 2 are gone..

So, it takes me about 1 month to drink 2 kegs, so after fermenting, the 2 back-up kegs should get 2 weeks Conditioning before being tapped, im slowly getting on top of my brews to get on top of the rotation..

• 2 kegs - drinking
• 2 kegs - conditioning
• 2 brews(2 kegs) fermenting
• 2 brews no-chilling

Thats my rotation plan...

 

[browndog]

As said, some beers like APAs and wits are best drunk fresh! Buy your kegs, you will never look back.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Frag_Dog]

Thanks for the replies. I've done a few searches but couldn't find what I'm after...

I'm just doing Kit and Kilo beers at the moment. So far they have all turned out really good at the 2 month mark, but a bit average earlier then that.

I realise that alot of people drink pretty early on, but last night I tried a Coopers Draught I bottled a month ago and I couldn't finnish a glass of it, let alone a whole bottle. I don't have the stomach for 'green' beer.

I guess the question is, does not re-starting the fermentation process (force Carbonating) reduces the 'greeness' of the beer?

(My tastes so far with beer is pretty simple, Pilzner, Mexican Cerveza, IPA etc which is why I'm looking to Kegging this year and maybe All Grain next year....)

 

[MarkBastard]

General rule is 1 week after kegging. That's about how long it takes to naturally carb too.

 

[dj1984]

MMMM hydrometer sample tasting :icon_drool2:.
Draughts/lagers can do with some CC in the fridge but ales im having a taste when i use the hydrometer MMM Fresh APA.

 

[Fourstar]

As im about to have 7 kegs on hand my plan will be as follows for aging.

3 kegs on constant rotation in the keg fridge. 2 kegs for ales 1 for lagers.

The 4 other kegs will be my lager/cold conditioning roationals kept off premises at my parents house.
These will be for conditioning belgians, stouts, porters, barlywine, and of course lagers!

The 2 ales will primarily be used for my quaffers. Direct from fermenter to keg and inhaled! Bitters, Pale Ales, IPA's, Cream Ales, witbier, weizens.

I like my plan

 

[tangent]

The more kegs and fridges the better. I have 11 corny's and it's still not enough. I'm currently drinking an Oktoberfest that's been sitting in a cold fridge for 6 months. Sensational!

 

[brettprevans]

i have 6 kegs and planning to purchase another 4 soon for aging/maturing longer term brews

 

[Frag_Dog]

Thanks for all the replies.

Now I just have to wait for my $900 from Mr Rudd

 

[jeremy]

Thanks for all the replies.

Now I just have to wait for my $900 from Mr Rudd

KRUDD will not be pleased, think of all the excise he is missing out on with your $900 going to a means in which to not buy commercial beer...

 

[brettprevans]

KRUDD probably wanting us all to spend it on alcopops!

 

[mesa]

I realise that alot of people drink pretty early on, but last night I tried a Coopers Draught I bottled a month ago and I couldn't finnish a glass of it, let alone a whole bottle. I don't have the stomach for 'green' beer.

I guess the question is, does not re-starting the fermentation process (force Carbonating) reduces the 'greeness' of the beer?

No one seems to want to answer your question directly (which might mean the answer is not really straight forward) so I'll try.

Normally turning priming sugar into bubbles is quite quick (1 week at 20C should see it done) but i f you have a cold spell it will take longer. Normally this won't affect flavour very much at all (its only a small amount of sugar) so its likely that if you beer needs to be aged when bottling it will probably need to be aged when kegging. Bear in mind that its still less effort to age for kegging so you shouldn't hesitate to get a keg (and you don't have to do it in a keg if you don't have any spare, you could use a "cube" or jerry can from Bunnings if you like. They're cheep and you can get the next lot fermenting before you finish the last keg.

There are some situations in which kegged beer will mature differently than bottled beer. Largers may be better sooner with kegs than with bottles. Usually with largers you don't want yeast and you need to wait for it to settle in the bottom of the bottle and try not to disturb it when you pour, but if you keg and force carbonate you will have less yeast in the keg to begin with (and you could use a filter) so there won't be so many issues.

Other than that there are a range of issues which may mean you beer needs to be aged more than other peoples, but these applies to kegs as well as bottles. The top ones I can think of are using sugar or dextrose with the kit and fermenting at too high temperature. If you use a tin of malt instead of sugar the time to age may decrease (you may want some extra hops as well as a tin of malt will probably make it sweeter than a kg of sugar). If you temperature is too high, the yeast may go a bit hyperactive eating all the sugar/malt they can find, but not consuming any of it completely. Latter on, if you leave it they will get hungry and finish their meal, but if you keep the temp down around 18-20C for an ale you might avoid this situation to begin with. Of course some styles of beer just need more time than others, so it may just be this.

 

[Frag_Dog]

Thanks mesa, thats what I was looking for.

So there won't be any adverse effects on the beer if I add to keg, purge with CO2, then set asside for 2 months+, unrefridgerated until I want to Force Carbonate and drink? (I've read in other threads that this is an OK method)

I guess I'll just buy kegs as I need them...

I figure there will be enough people tipping their $900 down the pokies Ruddy get 75% of it back anyways.....


One other thing, my girlfriend has taken a liking to Soda/Mineral water recently. Can this be done with a homebrew keg setup? Add some filtered water and force carbonate (maybe add some minerals or something)

 

[brettprevans]

Soda/Mineral water recently. Can this be done with a homebrew keg setup? Add some filtered water and force carbonate (maybe add some minerals or something)

soda water - plain water and add gas
mineral water - lots of posts. im using PoMo's recipe here. salts etc can be bought from online sponsors.