Noob Kegging Question

[gjn200]

Hi all,

I currently brew kit stuff, stout mainly, and I am considering moving to a keg set up. However when I taste at bottling all my beer is pretty much undrinkable, 2 months in the bottle and it's fine. How is this going to effect a keg set up?

Will I have to condition in the keg and naturally carbonate?

Should I rack into another container and leave it in that for my normal maturation time?

Am I just not understanding it?

Is my beer crap/ should it be perfectly drinkable out of the fermenter?

FYI This is my normal brew

Coopers Irish Stout
.5kg Dried light malt
1kg Dried Dark malt
.25kg Maltodextrine
Danstar Windsor yeast
Brewed at 20/22 ish
Normally 9 days in fermenter

Any help/advice appreciated.

Graham.

 

[kelbygreen]

well there are a few things. The main thing is beer matures faster in bigger batches, so by kegging a whole brew it will mature quicker. another is that you try to drive as much yeast of as you can by CC or filtering or both as you dont need the yeast to ferment the sugars.

no need to rack or naturally carb in kegs unless you really have to. I would just ferment for 10+ days then CC for about a week or a few days and use fining. I see your in no rush so just keg once cleared (filter aswell if you have one) then connect to the gas at serving pressure leave a week then pour a beer. You can cut the times down alot but if you want it to mature then you will need prob at least 4 kegs so they can be 4 weeks conditioned before your drinking it.

 

[Nick JD]

Kit beer needs time for the strong flavours to mellow. Most of these strong flavours are undesirable, like fusels and acetaldehyde and wonky esters.

AG beer (usually) doesn't have these bad flavours - conversly, aging in many AG beers reduces its quality.

Or in other words, ho bags need makeup and plastic surgery; Sienna Miller doesn't.

Actually, your recipe looks quite tasty. I think you are tasting lack of carbonation and warmth.

 

[Bretto77]

Hi gjn200,
it sound from your post that youre after strategies to improve your beer quality. I could be wrong. If this is the case then my priorities would the following:



1. Temperature controlled fermentation ie ales at 18c and lagers 10-12 this by far makes the biggest difference. I did this before going AG and made the best possible extract beers possible.

2. AG brewing or if not keen use fresh wort kits instead of kit and kilo. This means that you escape the extact twang that everyone associates home brew beer as. At this point you stop being a home brewer and become a craft brewer (ie your make beer the same as any brewery but just on a smaller scale). Althernatively if you insist on remaining kit and kilo make sure you brew darker beers or big hoppy beers as that the only thing thats gonna cover the revolting taste of extract twang, hops and dark malt can cover a multitude of sins.

3. A kegging system, to me what the point of kegging beer that your not happy with, especially considering the investment in a kegging set up, at least $300-400.



4. Improve yeast handling, culturing and starter practices to pitch the correct qulauty of healthy yeast. This is wa I'm exerienting with now and it makes a diffrence. Possibly oving to liquid yeast cultures from Wyeast or White Labs (haven't done this yet).



Anyway that is my 2 cents.



Bretto77

Hi all,

I currently brew kit stuff, stout mainly, and I am considering moving to a keg set up. However when I taste at bottling all my beer is pretty much undrinkable, 2 months in the bottle and it's fine. How is this going to effect a keg set up?

Will I have to condition in the keg and naturally carbonate?

Should I rack into another container and leave it in that for my normal maturation time?

Am I just not understanding it?

Is my beer crap/ should it be perfectly drinkable out of the fermenter?

FYI This is my normal brew

Coopers Irish Stout
.5kg Dried light malt
1kg Dried Dark malt
.25kg Maltodextrine
Danstar Windsor yeast
Brewed at 20/22 ish
Normally 9 days in fermenter

Any help/advice appreciated.

Graham.

 

[pcmfisher]

I know a lot of people will disagree, but I think your beer will actually taste better out of a keg even if its only been in there for a short time.

 

[gjn200]

Thanks for the replies, I does seem I may need to 'suck it and see' and try different options, but I like big flavours so it may always be an issue with kits. I do like the wort kit idea but at $55 a pop it might be a case of kits +dex for normal swill and a wort kit for the fancy (mine!).

Is brewcraft the only place that sells wort kits in Adelaide?

G.