Fermenter?

Happy Easter!

In an effort to get beer out of my fermenter as soon a possible (and trying to avoid a secondary).

Assuming the beer is finished It seems sort of a waste to let the beer age in the fermenter. Being that I am racking to kegs it seems as if the beer would bulk age in the keg.

What do you guys think? Maybe a crash cool before racking? What do you think adding carbonation would do?


Cheers!!!
Chris

Well, a short primary is ok but there are a couple of things I'd do if it was me. The first thing is to leave it in primary at least 3-4 days after primary is finished so that the yeast can clean up the diacetyl and other things after the fermentation is over. Then I'd rack to a keg and keep it at room temperature at least a week. That will allow some aging and conditioning. Then I'd crash cool it to clear it and go ahead and force carb.

If you take it from a short primary and crash cool it then, I don't think you'd really get the benefit from the yeast "cleaning up after themselves" and it would delay the conditioning process, in my opinion.

What's the rush? Fermentation is a natural process and there's not a dang thing you can do to hurry it along.

Unfortunately, if you try to "bypass" time there are consequences. Your brew will not be done and what you do consume will taste young.

The main purpose of a secondary is for clearing. If you rack from your primary into a keg all that yeast will (eventually) fall out, but it'll be in your keg. If you tap it your first couple of glasses will be cloudy. If you attempt to move that keg at any time you will drudge up the yeast sediment and make some of the beer cloudy again.

I know there are brewers here that secondary in the keg, but I don't think they move them afterwards so I can only assume they tap in place.

My chest keezer is in the garage. I use it for lagering and keeping kegs sealed/primed w/gas. Prior to tapping them I have to lift them over the high wall, place them on the ground, close the lid and carry them to the basement to the kegerator. Any sediment I have inside is disturbed.

One way to counter this is to allow it to age and clear in the secondary which permits me to rack (nearly) clear beer. I said "nearly" because it'll never be really clear unless I filter it.

No rush at all, I just want to get my fermenter open as soon as possible. So I can put more beer in it I thought the kegs would be good vessles for ageing. Being that I have more of them.

Good points about the yeast sediment & crash cooling.

I like to do a 3 week primary then cold crash then transfer to keg. Easy fix get your self a second bucket or carboy to do another primary in. Life is to short not to have more equipment, or at least thats my story to the wife.

I can see that I need to explain myself better. First the fermenter is a conical so there is no need for a secondary. I can drain the yeast out rather than racking the beer off. (I couldn't afford this one so another is out of the question now).

I can see from the few posts above. Using the keg as secondary is probably not a good idea. Who wants cloudy beer?

I do want say that typically I don't rack my beers to the keg until about 5 weeks. I was looking to shorten that time to 2-3 weeks and age in the keg. I get yoopers point about cold crashing. Maybe the option would be to carb. naturally at room temp.

I think moving it to a keg to age would OK. I have done it 2-3 times now after a 3 week fermentaion and my beers are clear. I don't move the kegs though once they are in the fridge. Try it and see.