Taste of kegged -vs- bottled?

**Cpt_Kirks** · 10-02-2008, 09:27 PM

How does conditioning in a keg compare to conditioning in a bottle?

Since, by force carbonating, we are skipping the in-bottle priming, does this have a major effect on taste?

Does beer in a keg "stay green" longer?

lilzaphod · 10-02-2008, 11:22 PM

My understanding, and this could be completely off base...

All bottle conditioning does, besides carbonate the beer, is let the beer age.

So I believe if you let the beer sit in a secondary (or tertiary) for a while before you keg, you are achieving the same thing as if you put the beer in bottles.

I believe the "green" of kegged beer is do to greedy gus' putting the beer on tap before it ages.

Also- On the taste front, again, this could be a WAG (wild ass guess). I believe a properly aged beer not sugar carbed will not have quite the same taste to the discerning pallate. It will be a more "pure" taste since the sugar you add to prime the bottle usually isn't a malt. Personally, I cannot tell the difference since the amount you add to bottle is minimal. But I'm willing to bet the people who win homebrew contests do not use sugar to bottle.

Anxiously waiting to see responses to this to make sure I have it right in my head.

**Bobby_M** · 10-02-2008, 11:33 PM

Here's the thing.. conditioning is time based. Some people throw green beer into a keg, burst carb it on 30psi while shaking, then drink it. That's green beer. It's not so easy to rush it when you're trying to carb in a bottle. It forces you to wait 2-3 weeks minimum. If you carb the exact same batch using both methods and let them both sit warm for the same 3 weeks and sample, they should taste ABOUT the same. Notice that I said let them both sit warm... that's another important part of conditioning beer.