Lagering in a Keg

cooper · 12-28-2011, 07:38 PM

Just wondering if anyone does their lagering in a keg? Two or three weeks primary (depending on what the hydrometer says) at 52F and then into the keg for at least a month at near freezing (again depending on the starting gravity of the beer, what I use is 1 week per degree Plato from the day its brewed is how long its lagered before I start tasting).

What I'd like to know is does anyone put any pressure on if they lager in the keg? I've read some stuff where people will put 10lbs of pressure on the keg and let it sit for the lagering time.. What do you guys think?

wildwest450 · 12-28-2011, 07:43 PM

I only lager in kegs. You can purge with c02(30psi), and let sit. You will find that at those low temps the headspace will clear out in a few days as the c02 absorbs into the beer, I just carbonate as i'm lagering.

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cooper · 12-28-2011, 07:55 PM

Heck that makes things even easier.

**Hammy71** · 12-28-2011, 08:31 PM

Like wildwest said. I only lager in kegs. If I have an extra CO2 tank thats not being used, I'll carbonate at the same time.

**jeffd10** · 12-28-2011, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildwest450

i only lager in kegs. You can purge with c02(30psi), and let sit. You will find that at those low temps the headspace will clear out in a few days as the c02 absorbs into the beer, i just carbonate as i'm lagering.

_

+1

BrewThruYou · 01-05-2012, 07:16 PM

So if you lager in a keg, you don't bother jumping it to another keg for carbing to leave sediment behind? Or maybe I should just picnic tap a little bit out? I used to lager in glass, but now lager in kegs.

sonex · 01-05-2012, 07:23 PM

if you cold crash before you transfer to keg there will be little sediment on the bottom of your keg. so there is no reason to transfer after lagering.

**ajdelange** · 01-05-2012, 08:20 PM

But you don't want to do that. You want quite a bit of yeast in the lagering vessel. Without them proper lagering cannot take place.

sonex · 01-05-2012, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajdelange

But you don't want to do that. You want quite a bit of yeast in the lagering vessel. Without them proper lagering cannot take place.

even with cold crashing there is going to be some yeast being transferred so this is not a concern.

**Malticulous** · 01-05-2012, 09:30 PM

I don't want yeast when lagering. When I lager I'm done with them. That's the old way. They'd leave it at 40F for a few weeks to mature and carbonate. The diacetyl rest does the maturation, so will a long primary.