Keg conditioning

I brewed a 10 gallon batch of Maharaja, kegged half bottled half. I got two completely diff beers. The bottled beers have great aroma, clearer beer, amazing dry crisp IPA taste. The kegged one has no aroma taste sweet isn't as clear completely inferior almost undrinkable.

Bottles where conditioned at 65 degrees for 2 months after bottling and the keg went straight to force carb and 40 degrees.

So i think the keg is inferior because the yeast couldn't keep working at such a low temp.

So what the general guideline to condition a kegged beer? let it sit in the keg at 65 degrees? do i card before or not?

Thank you for your keg dissapointed with kegs for now

What was fermentation schedule for this beer prior to bottling/kegging?

I fermented for 2 weeks and 2 more weeks secondary. both at 65 degrees.

i have a few batches coming that will need to be kegged soon. What should I do keg then seal with co2 (just seal not forced carb) at 30 psi? then store at 65 degrees for a few weeks or month or 2 depending on the beer? then forced card and put in keggerator at 40 degrees?

Is this how everyone does it? should i do it any other way?

Thank you

You will probably get a bunch of different opinions on this. I think alot has to do with the style of beer in question. Generally, people prefer to drink IPA's relatively young before the hop aroma starts to fade.

There is no reason the beer you kegged should have been any different then the bottles. The only thing I can think of is sanitation of the keg. How did you clean/sanitize it?

How many pints have you pulled out of that keg?

cfonnes said:

How many pints have you pulled out of that keg?

Click to expand...

from the Maharaja Keg? i drank it all already

Did you condition the keg for two months as well?

hcastellon said:

i have a few batches coming that will need to be kegged soon. What should I do keg then seal with co2 (just seal not forced carb) at 30 psi? then store at 65 degrees for a few weeks or month or 2 depending on the beer? then forced card and put in keggerator at 40 degrees?

Is this how everyone does it? should i do it any other way?

Thank you

Click to expand...

Also wondering this.

You can do it either way. Carb and condition or condition then carb. Either way you want to purge the oxygen out with CO2. Hook up CO2 dispense a little into the keg. Release some air/oxygen until it stops hissing, then dispense a little more to fill the headspace with CO2. On;y purge out of the purge valve or CO2 valve. If you try to purge out of liquid out you will just waste beer.

Warm conditioned beer will be far superior to 40F beer after 2 months.

Like the word or not, flavor is "lagered" out of even an ale at 40F or lower.

That is why a FULL pipeline is so KEY to Kegging.

An on demand line chiller is the only way to really enjoy beer to the fullest.

Bottling has the advantage of chilling only a sixer at a time , while allowing the rest of the batch to go on conditioning.

cheezydemon3 said:

Warm conditioned beer will be far superior to 40F beer after 2 months.

Like the word or not, flavor is "lagered" out of even an ale at 40F or lower.

Click to expand...

Could you offer some support for this? I am unfamiliar with the flavor "lagering out" of my ales. What exactly is dropping out of the beer, and why?

From the lagering wiki.

# hop polyphenols will drop out leading to a milder hop bitterness

# yeast cells sediment which cleans up the beer and removes the yeasty smell and taste associated with young beer

# some of the alcohols, esters and acids in the beer react to create new flavor compounds.

# some yeast activity may be present which leads to further clean-up of the beer.

I get what lagering is. What I don't get is how it eliminates desirable flavors.

Support is merely my own observation.

My dad, upon reciept of a 12eer of my beer, would put it IMMEDIATELY in his basement fridge.

I put mine in my basement and cool a sixer at a time.

Most dramatic example of a difference was a nice Kolsch I brewed 18 months ago or so.

I drank the last one (5 months or so in the basement, 5 days in the fridge) one night and relished the beauty of that finely crafted beer, as I had the last 5 before it that week.

THE NEXT NIGHT I happened to be at my Dad's for a visit.

Upon looking in the basement fridge, I was overjoyed to find 4 of that Kolsch, only one I have ever brewed, no mistaking it. His 4 (4 weeks in the bottle warm, 5 or so months in the fridge) were utterly tasteless. Not miller lite, but so lacking in flavor, the difference was unmistakeable.

After that, I noticed the same thing from some other brews.

Remember the best thing about bottling? The last 6 would be THE BEST of the batch.

Does that happen with Kegging? No chance.

2 months in the cold fridge doesn't render beer flavorless, but it sure doesn't improve.

Fair enough - your beer is better after long-term storage in warm temps.

And yes, the last beer out of my keg is often the best.

I just started kegging a few months ago but I still plan to bottle some beers. For example, I plan on brewing a heavy stout (not sure exactly what yet) for the winter. That one will be getting bottled. Most of the everyday beers I drink (IPA's, APA's ect..) will get kegged as they are better fresh.

PROST dammit.

I now plan to prime and keg my stout, and bottle it from the keg warm. 3 psi or so will make bottling less of a PITA, and the stout will benefit from not being in my fridge.

If the last beer out of the keg is the best, it is either a lager, which has lagered a little longer in the keg, or you are just being sentimental. SORRY!

To each their own, but as I take more and more pains to make good beer, I need to take equal pains to give it it's due conditioning.

but conditioning too warm around 75-80 normal temps here in miami causes the bottles to taste slightly sweeter than those conditioned at 65 degrees

ozzy1038 said:

Did you condition the keg for two months as well?

Click to expand...

yes but at 40 degrees not 65 i guess thats why the yeast wasnt working as well

40F or lower, no conditioning goes on unless it is done by lager yeast.

cheezydemon3 said:

40F or lower, no conditioning goes on unless it is done by lager yeast.

Click to expand...

If this is true, why do people on this board recommend leaving kegged beer alone for a few weeks once its chilled? I experienced this myself on my very first kegged batch. After 3 weeks the beer was much better. If it wasn't conditioning, what made it get better?

Don't take this the wrong way, I am asking because I honestly don't know the answer

cheezydemon3 said:

40F or lower, no conditioning goes on unless it is done by lager yeast.

Click to expand...

that was my conclusion i will transfer to keg and seal at 30 PSI then condition at 65 degrees to see if it improves in the next 4 batches coming. I will get back to everyone with my ressults in a month.

Thank you for all the help

Leave kegged beer alone? Probably to clarify and settle any sediment, because things fall out of suspension in the cold.

Keg some, bottle some.

I condition my kegs on the tap. It is fun to take a small sample every other day and see how the flavors come together. After 3 weeks (carbonation equilibrium) the flavors have melded like 2 day old spaghetti sauce.
Freshly kegged the flavors are all there but individually
After 3 weeks the flavors become harmonious and smooth

Bottles work out about the same for me 3 weeks carbing at 70, 3 weeks chilled to about 40 and both taste about the same. Bottled does have a finer bubble and thus the head is more creamy.

Just my observations with this wonderful hobby

There was a post about this some time ago:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/

I admit I haven't been kegging for long at at all, but I am finding 3 weeks to be the sweet spot. Yeah you can rock the keg around and drink it the next day, but something always tastes off to me when I do this. I'm trying to learn some discipline, why waste beer when you know it's not really ready yet?

Is there a difference between kegging, force or burst carbing, leaving for a month before drinking and just leaving it in the carboy for an extra month before carbing?

With my self-described "laid back" process, I am willing to believe that my beer may benefit from additional warm conditioning as minor OFF flavors are cleaned up.

The fact that 21 yr bushmills is noticeably smoother than the 11 or 15, leaves me believing that warm conditioning does have benefits, but on the short scale that beer ages, those benefits may be limited......BUT IT CAN'T HURT.

My beer will get 6 weeks warm regardless. If you can't wait, you need to brew more.

Hi all - quick question on this process. If I am going to keg condition at room temp for a little while before putting beer into fridge/kegorator, do i need to add sugar like when I bottle? Or just hit it with some CO2 and let it sit until time to replace one of the dead kegs?
Thanks
Jeff

manowarfan1 said:

Hi all - quick question on this process. If I am going to keg condition at room temp for a little while before putting beer into fridge/kegorator, do i need to add sugar like when I bottle? Or just hit it with some CO2 and let it sit until time to replace one of the dead kegs?
Thanks
Jeff

Click to expand...

Put it on CO2 at about 30+ PSI to seal it, then drop it down to serving level and let it sit for several days to several weeks, while keeping it on CO2.

Well part of the problem is I only have the ability to keep two kegs on the gas, and they are both in the fridge now. I was hoping to be able to maybe hit this with the co2, take it off (and put back on one of the serving kegs) and let it sit for a while at garage temps.
If that won't work, should I add sugar if I can't keep it on gas the whole conditioning time?
Thanks again
jeff

You can do it that way. I don't, but it's a perfectly acceptable way to do it. You'll tend to have more trub in your beer when you serve from the keg if you naturally carb it, from what I"ve read, which is why I don't do it that way.

You can just seal it up with 30 psi and let it sit. Though if the beer isn't carbonated yet, the 30 psi will slowly push into the beer to create equilibrium. As a result that 30 will slowly diminish, if you were to come by and re-add CO2 every day or so you could probably keep it under pressure, but might risk over-carbing in the long run. I would think if you're planning on letting it sit for a couple weeks and you can't keep it on the gas, it would be easier to just toss in some priming sugar, purge the headspace, and call it a day. Your first pint or two will be full of yeast nastiness, but after that there shouldn't be much difference.

I have a keg that has consistently tasted just horrible for the last few weeks. Finally, it's been tasting more and more acceptable. This has happened to me a few times now. I have come to realize that I need to let the kegs sit for a little while to allow the flavors to balance out to carbonation equilibrium, and conditioning them a little dosen't hurt.

I too am still a little confused about the difference between conditioning in a keg with co2 from a tank vs. allowing it to age in a carboy. But, meh! Result are results I hope!

If you're aging in the keg with no CO2 there's no difference.

The beer will take a while to carb up. That can take a couple weeks depending on your carb method and PSI. The carbonation will change the perception of the beer, so you need to give it time.