Kegging

I've had a breakfast stout in primary for 3 weeks. I don't secondary. I do usually cold crash before kegging. I failed to put my primary in the fridge til now. I'd like to force keg it and pour one today to see how it turned out. My question is is it necessary to cold crash and how long will I have tto
to let it chill

Before kegging and carbonating?

I keg it at whatever temp it is sitting at in my fermentor stick it in the keezer with the gas set to 30 psi and let it sit a few days before touching. If you want to drink some quick chill it after kegging then carb up with the shake or roll method. Not the ideal way to carb but faster than my higher psi and let sit for a few days method.

You can but why would you want to? A stout that is 3 weeks old would be a waste to drink now. Give it the time it deserves.

It's certainly no necessary to cold crash. I believe the primary purpose of cold crashing is to help the yeast settle out more quickly, thus leaving them behind in your primary-to-keg transfer (i.e. clearer beer). If you transfer without cold crashing you'll just end up transferring over more yeast which will mean a bit more sediment on the bottom of your keg because it will eventually settle out in the keg. HOWEVER, after your first couple pours from the keg you should be done with most of the accrued sediment.

Once kegged, you can certainly push through a glass of flat beer to get an idea of how it turned out, but you WILL have a more enjoyable result in a couple weeks. The carbonation will also add a little acid to the overall flavor profile so factor that in when sampling it flat, not to mention that bubbles just change things in general .

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Enjoy!

beerman0001 said:

You can but why would you want to? A stout that is 3 weeks old would be a waste to drink now. Give it the time it deserves.

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I think he just wants to try it. My philosophy is that you should always sample your beer at various ages to get a feel for it and how its developing even if you know its not going to be peaking.

Trying to carbonate a room temperature beer will take forever. Sayiong you want to force carb and try one today, I assume you mean using the "shake" method. I think your best bet is to keg the beer. Set it in the chiller at 30PSI (don't shake) and give it about 30 hours...then start tasting for proper carb levels.

And yeah....a stout is best drunk on the fresh side...so no need to let it sit around too much longer.

mooshimanx said:

I think he just wants to try it. My philosophy is that you should always sample your beer at various ages to get a feel for it and how its developing even if you know its not going to be peaking.

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I understand that but seems like his next post will be my beer taste like SHI*. And depending on if he can leave it sit on tap for a few months for it to get to be where it needs he will never know how great that beer could have been.

beerman0001 said:

I understand that but seems like his next post will be my beer taste like SHI*. And depending on if he can leave it sit on tap for a few months for it to get to be where it needs he will never know how great that beer could have been.

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If your stouts take eight weeks to be good, you are not brewing them properly. I'm sure his beer will taste great, but BM makes the correct point that you just won't be able to carb the beer at room temp.

Might as well cold crash in your bucket before kegging, and then the beer will be cold when you go to force carb it.