Fermenter placement

[Rossi]

Alright I'm new to all this, done about 5 or 6 extract brews and just needing some advice. We have an old chest freezer that we have converted into a fermentation chamber it sits at about 19-21 degrees. We were thinking to maximise output we could keg our brew and place them in our kegorator once fermentation is complete, where it would rest for another week or so before force carbonating, allowing us to start the next batch a week earlier.. would this be detramental to the beer, Once fermentation is complete how important is temperature And does transferring a brew mid way harm it in any way?

Cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

If you mean transferring a brew midway through fermentation, then I wouldn't do it personally. It will do it more favours to leave it on the yeast for a week after fermentation has finished as it allows the yeast to clean up any off flavours that may be in the beer. If you do that, then keg it, chill it and carbonate it you'll more likely get a better beer than if you keg it too early.

If your chest freezer can fit more than one fermenter (?) I'd just get a second fermenter and put two brews on at once, rather than trying to cut corners.

 

[klangers]

Depends on how fast you can ferment out a batch.

If primary ferment is finished in a week, then putting them in the kegerator (nice and cold) would actually give them an opportunity for some cold conditioning which will help clarity and flavour development.

As Rocker alluded to, you should measure the progress of the ferment with a hydrometer to see if primary is finished before moving.

 

[earle]

Cold conditioning is good, but cold conditioning in the fermenter for a while after fermentation is complete will allow more yeast to drop and you will transfer a clearer beer to your kegs.

 

[Rossi]

OK cool don't have a hydrometer at the moment so might just wait 4/5 days after bubbling has finished then transfer into kegorator. The freezer has room for two fermenters. But yeah would like to get two batches going every two weeks or so, we drink a lot of beer!

Does this sound OK?

Brew let sit for 1.5 weeks at 19-21 degrees
Add hops .5 weeks
Place in kegorator .5 weeks assuming bubbling has stoped
Keg beer/Carbonate .5 weeks

 

[Blind Dog]

it should condition faster if you leave it in the fermentor once fermentation is complete as there's more yeast around to clean up all the fermentation by products. A week or so is your normal schedule. If you do keg (without filtering) a bit earlier and transfer to the kegerator (which I assume is colder than ther fermenting chestie) it should still condition, but is likely to take longer and there's likely to be more crap left in the keg.

At a pinch I've transferred beers immediately after fermentation is finished to a keg, primed (remembering you need less sugar to prime a keg) and left at ambient until I've had space to chill it down and serve. I would not recommend it though as those beers took a fair while longer to condition properly.