Do Keggers Let Your Beer Age?

[MHB]

Abso-bloody-lutely

 

[Coodgee]

I have a bit of a problem with supply keeping up with demand. When supply is low, I tend to be filtering, force carbing and tapping my foot waiting for it chill enough to drink. at the moment though, I have two full kegs, one jerry in the fridge and another still in the primary, but I have crashed the temp on the fermenting fridge to 5 degrees this morning.

did you get all that?

I have a month's holiday starting next friday, and I have 150kg of grain waiting to be picked up, some I'm going to buy another 4 or so kegs and get the supply up a bit. will then hopefully do some lagers that will benefit from a long storage period.

 

[mikem108]

There always seems a point in the life of a kegged beer where it peaks, the flavours blend together, any last yeast smell or tang disappears, it becomes really clear as the CO2 and cold temp finishe off the last of the yeast and send it to the bottom of the keg
Depends on the beer but anything from 3 weeks to 3 months keg aging for my beers.

 

[Jye]

There always seems a point in the life of a kegged beer where it peaks, the flavours blend together, any last yeast smell or tang disappears, it becomes really clear as the CO2 and cold temp finishe off the last of the yeast and send it to the bottom of the keg

That would be the last pint before it blows

 

[tangent]

that's the perfect Pint - always!

 

[Coodgee]

I hate that pint. It's the pint of sorrow. I always feel a sense of loss that is hard to quantise. maybe 19 Litres of loss, but maybe more.

 

[PistolPatch]

Howdy Steve! Enjoyed hearing of your WA adventures My answer below contains some stuff that you already know but thought I'd throw in the extra detail for others who haven't had as much experience....

I think your original question can't be easily answered as it poses so many other questions, the most important being, "What are you brewing?"

I think I'm in the same boat as you on refrigeration space (as in bugger all) so here's a few things that I keep in mind or know when trying to improve my, 'brewery efficiency." That is, getting quality beers from the fermenter to the tap asap. I'm also making the assumption you are doing all-grain and I have only done around 15-20 AGs...

1. The Fastest Beer from Fermenter to Tap: Many ale recipes can be fermented for 9 days, racked to keg, force carbonated and drunk a half hour later. Predominant disadvantage will be clarity. Filtering or even sometimes 12 hours chilliing will solve this. From tasting other brewers' beers and my own, their are heaps of beers you can brew like this and time will not often improve the flavour though at least a day in the keg seems to often make a difference. Recipes like this are great for us!

2. A Slower but Clearer Beer: Ale recipe like above. Primary 7 days, secondary 7 days, then into fridge for 2 days will usually give you a clear beer. 7 days in fridge virtually guarantees it even without the secondary. There are many compromises available between this and 1 above.

3. Lagers - You are stuffed here from what I know or have been told. 3 weeks cold conditioning bare minimum. 6 weeks preferable.

4. How to Lager Lagers! - Should you lager in the cube or in the keg? Ross started a thread on this question some time ago. I'm sure I would have noticed if a definitive answer had been offered on this question but I don't think there was. Personally, I'd imagine that a kegged and carbonated beer would lager better but I think that for people in our position the taste improvement wouldn't be justified.

Unfortunately I'm a lager guy so fridge management is crucial. You hopefully have seen a pic of my fridge set-up but if not, one fridge allows me 3 beers on tap, 2 ales and one lager served via 2 Broncos and one fridge tap. It also allows one ale and 2 lagers to be cold conditioning not to mention a fermenter being kept at lager temps. And I'm in QLD!

The key for me currently is finding ale recipes that can move from fermenter to tap as quickly as possible producing beers that both I and visitors enjoy. The more I succeed at that, the more room I have to play around with lagers. The first of these is just about ready.

Whoops! Looks like I've written way too much - again! Sorry mate.

PP

 

[sluggerdog]

I hate that pint. It's the pint of sorrow. I always feel a sense of loss that is hard to quantise. maybe 19 Litres of loss, but maybe more.

I seem to always love that last pint because it means I can start on the next keg. I always try to have around 5 + kegs full where 4 are always chilled (only 2 taps though)

Always excited to see how the next one had turned out.. :beer:

 

[tangent]

(Coodgee @ Sep 21 2006, 06:38 PM)

I hate that pint. It's the pint of sorrow. I always feel a sense of loss that is hard to quantise. maybe 19 Litres of loss, but maybe more.



I seem to always love that last pint because it means I can start on the next keg. I always try to have around 5 + kegs full where 4 are always chilled (only 2 taps though)

Always excited to see how the next one had turned out..

i know what you mean Slugger, it's a woohoo-f*ck-woohoo event.
Woohoo - this beer is the best one i've had, awesome!
Next pour - F*ck!, empty so soon? - spurty coughing foam.
Woohoo, time to gas up the next batch I've been hanging out to try.

 

[Stoodoo]

I find my APA's taste great after 3-5 days being in the keg and carbonated. I only got a few pilsners done before average ambient temps turned my beer production towards ales, though I have a triple decocted boh pils that I kegged about 3 1/2 weeks ago and I'm trying to hold out tasting it until December. Don't know if my willpower will be strong enough though.

Cheers