Keg Blending

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Not sure where to put this, so here it is.

After seeing bits of mentions about keg blending in other topics, status updates and stuff like that, I thought I'd post a discussion about it.

The obvious answer as to 'why' appears to be 'because I have too many half full kegs and I need to clear one to keg the next batch'.

Less obvious answers are How and What.

How do you do it? Run a hose from the tap on keg one straight into keg two, seal and regas?

But the most fun of the discussion is what. What do you like to blend? How do you decide on styles to mix?

Black and Tan is the most mainstream type of blend.

Are there reasons you blend certain beers? Too sour? Not sour enough? Hide an error in a beer? "That's what was left?" Dark plus light?

I'm interested to see what discussion comes of this.

 

[manticle]

I have previously (and will again) blended both ferments and kegs by running off any excess wort from a brewday that doesn't make it into a starter and fermenting in a 10 or 15 L. I just add cooled wort as it goes and let whatever yeast present do the fermenting. At some point this is kegged.

When racking from cube to keg, I always have some excess beer - maybe it has a tad too much particulate matter or maybe I had 21 L and only need 19 for the keg. This may also get runoff to the mongrel keg.

I was skeptical when I first heard about mongrels but since trying it (nothing to lose) I've been a convert. Some good blends have eventuated but it's really just a way of reducing waste without compromising the main batches. I need to buy a new 10 or 15 L cube so I can start again.

 

[Grott]

I've noted a few on here mix a whole lot of different brews with various results, being the left overs in the fermenter after filling a 19l corny.
I have transferred to mini kegs by the tap/hose method but at low pressure (5psi) with co2 settled in the bottom of the keg to be filled.
I'd mix a few but keep tasting notes as you go as if you made a ripper you may want to duplicate.

 

[damoninja]

Are there reasons you blend certain beers? Too sour? Not sour enough? Hide an error in a beer? "That's what was left?" Dark plus light?

Too bitter.

I have one in bottles I made which had incorrectly labelled hops, far too intense to drink on its own, I have to blend it with something with basically no bitterness in the glass. So would be far, far more convenient to just have done this in the keg if I were kegging back then.

Also 2 yeasts with good control, wine maker's trick fermenting 2 lots of the same (or different) must and blending post fermentation.

I have a 1/2 full corny I'm waiting to transfer in to mini kegs, when they come...

 

[JDW81]

I'll often blend two different beers in the glass (am yet to blend anything in the keg though).

I've got a lovely heavily hopped dark ale at the moment, which is quite strong (~7%). If I feel like a dark beer, but don't want to knock my socks off I'll often cut the dark 50/50 with a 4% simple golden ale (which has the same hops). It turns into an easy drinking, hoppy brown which has a nice roasty note to it.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I'm a single malt type of bloke.

But I have to say, that I grabbed some Johnnie Walker double black on duty free once and was more impressed with it than I expected to be.

There is an art to blending scotch I assume. We may have keg blending artists here.

 

[bradsbrew]

I used to have "the mongrel keg", which was the keg that received the fermenter left overs - any style ( I really only brew pales, IPA's, darks and stouts with the occasional lager).
Sometimes it was great sometimes it wasn't, but it was always there when the other kegs were empty. Since downsizing the keg fridge, I do not do it anymore.
I know have a good collection of growlers, so when I need to empty a keg I just use the growlers or mini kegs.

 

[Moad]

I blended a keg of brown with a keg of a sour Yurgy had made, we were going for an odebruin. Turned out really well, I am not sure if it was to style but it was delicious.

Haven't heard of the mongrel keg, sounds interesting.

I also blend different vintages of my RIS I do once a year. method is to transfer keg to keg through liquid, higher pressure in "sending" keg

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Wow, the mongrel keg is a big thing it appears. I'd never thought of that. I always bottle the extras if I have it.

I'm enjoying the different points of view. Carry on

 

[bradsbrew]

Wow, the mongrel keg is a big thing it appears.

Certainly is http://aussiehomebrewer.com/index.php?s=f4d66d4a235058877797c0f19a896fcd&app=googlecse#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=mongrel keg

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

So some blend the excess of a 21 or 23 L batch and keep topping up.

Others, drink it all up and start again.

Mant's method looks really interesting - keep whacking bits and bobs from different brew days and fermenting the leftovers. Sounds like an idea for a saison yeast.

 

[damoninja]

Sounds like an idea for a saison yeast.

Brett came to mind...

 

[peteru]

I've done a few SMaSH brews. They are educational and often enjoyable on their own, but it gets more interesting when they are blended.

I usually blend in glass until I get the ratio to my satisfaction, then do a liquid-to-liquid keg-to-keg transfer. At the moment enjoying a combo of 75% Maris Otter / Columbus and 25% Aurora / Centennial.

 

[620rossco]

I brew mongrel kegs all the time.
There is a 15litres of Pale Ale, 20litres of IPA and 10litres of Red Pale Ale on tap ATM.
It is a little bit bitter after the Red Pale Ale, but nice anyway.

The pity and uniqueness of these kegs is that there are never two the same.

Rossco

 

[hirschb]

For sour/funky beer brewing, blending is often needed. I pretty much always have a stash of super-sour beer in a keg that I can use to decrease PH in a beer that needs to be more sour. I'm currently ageing several carboys of all-brett beers to blend into beers that have become too sour. Often, it's a matter of taking a few carboys with interesting flavors, but don't quite make good stand-alone beers, and then blending them into something amazing (almost like traditional Gueze).

 

[Rocker1986]

I have a mongrel keg as well, it's a little 10L one that I call the little ******* keg. It gets the 4-5L leftover from two different batches after filling the 19L keg (although the excess goes into the little keg first). I've only just started doing this in the last few months, so the first blend was two single hop pale ales (Simcoe and Citra respectively) which turned out really well. The current blend is an English ale and an APA so it'll be interesting to see how that turned out once it ends up on one of the taps. I don't keep topping it up though, I just drink it dry and then fill it with leftovers of another two batches when they're ready.

I don't usually put lagers in it though, unless the batch turns out bigger than expected. I put about 7 litres of the XXXX Bitter rip off into it earlier this year because I couldn't be arsed bottling it. Normally the excess from lagers gets bottled if there's enough to bother.

I quite like having it though, it saves time on bottling since I only have to do it once every three batches and that's only if there's enough to bother. I haven't bottled anything since last year as it happens...

 

[shacked]

I blend kegs all the time. I hook two kegs up on the liquid posts and vent a little Co2 from the destination keg and the beer flows.

I put the destination keg on the scales first and tare it off so that work out how much is coming across.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Keg Blending?
Its kinda good idea sometimes in the simple way. I have three different beers on tap at best so if my brews get a bit loose on balance as they can with experimentations then I do mix beer by the choice of the 3 taps. :chug:
Its like a big "what if?" That unbalanced too bitter beer blended with that over malt beer etc. Tis Good!