kfgolfer

Recipes 

Hey,

I only have one keg and one CO2. I am in the process of picking up a couple of kegs so I can keep a fair amount of batches going at once. My question is this: when I do the usual 1 week primary, 2 week secondary and I rack into the keg, can I just set the beer aside to age without any CO2 before my CO2 opens up when I kick an older keg?? and if Yes, does it matter what temp it sits at? can I just leave it in my garage (I liveon the East coast so its cold) or down my basement? I heard somewhere that colder temps aid in clearing the beer.

thanks much.

david_42

Recipes 

Colder is better for clearing. What I do is set the kegs in an aging cabinet in the old garage. I put a little CO2 on them just to be certain the lid is sealed. If I had a basement, I'd use that. Another approach is to prime the keg (about 1/2 the bottling rate) and let it naturally carbonate at room temperature, then move it to a cool spot. I'd be a little concerned about freezing in a garage where you live.

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gnef

Recipes 

just to echo what david_42 said, if your lids don't seal without pressure, make sure you give it a little blast to seat the lid properly.

cold is definitely better than warm. they say you don't want to store your beer warmer than the mid 70's. since you said it is cold, i wouldn't worry about it.

also - like you said, the cold will help to crash the beer and clarify it. if you want to keep it clarified, you'll need to transfer it to another keg after drawing off whatever has settled out. use a 'jumper' tube for this. just a tube that connects to two liquid QD's, for me this is just a piece of 1/4'' tubing with two flared nuts on it.

remember, there will be trub that is sucked out at the beginning of the draw, as well as towards the end of the draw. if you want to keep your beer clear, you need to draw off a pint or so at first, and stop the transfer once you see the liquid becomes cloudy again. if you don't do this, the clarifying will have to be done again in your kegerator.

i don't know how warm it gets in the summer there, but if it gets more than mid 70's, you may want to move the kegs to your basement where it should stay cooler.

beer will age quicker when warmer as well, just a tidbit, so if you need the beer to be done sooner, you can keep it in the upper 60's to low 70's. i believe it will age 'cleaner' at lower temperatures though, but it will take longer.

similar to lagering - it's faster at higher temperatures, but you get a cleaner product with the colder temperatures for a longer period of time.

hope this helps!