1st kegging question....

This is my first go at kegging and I cant find anywhere on this (to which I am new to) or any other forum how to go about conditioning my beer in the keg. It was in the primary for 2 weeks and I plan for it to secondary for 2 weeks as well. Heres my question should I keg, seal, purge and then let it sit at room temp for an additional 2 weeks to condition and let flavors comingle or can I keg, seal and carb at 15psi for a week at room temp then put in the keezer at 10psi for a week? Thanks for the advice in advance!

chgambler99 said:

This is my first go at kegging and I cant find anywhere on this (to which I am new to) or any other forum how to go about conditioning my beer in the keg. It was in the primary for 2 weeks and I plan for it to secondary for 2 weeks as well. Heres my question should I keg, seal, purge and then let it sit at room temp for an additional 2 weeks to condition and let flavors comingle or can I keg, seal and carb at 15psi for a week at room temp then put in the keezer at 10psi for a week? Thanks for the advice in advance!

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Leave it in primary for three weeks. No need to sec. it. Transfer it to the keg. put some CO2 in it, bleed out the oxygen. Now..

Force carb it while it ages (10 to 15 psi for a week). You have to leave the CO2 line ON because it will absorb the CO2.

or you can add a litle bit of priming liquid into it and let it carb naturally. Someone will tell you the amount soon.

Edit, I have notice a better tasting beer when I primed it rather then force carb. Could be my imagination.

Purge & seal then stick in the keezer for a day. Then hook up gas line, set serving pressure and leave for as long as you want to condition. When ready, hook up serving line and enjoy!

The amount of CO2 that will dissolve into your beer is dependent on two factors - temperature and pressure. You want to get your beer cold so it will absorb CO2 faster. When I fill a keg, I purge the air, set the CO2 PSI to 25 and put it in the kegerator. By morning its down to about 36 degrees. After 4 days I release some pressure and set it to 12 PSI. By the end of the week it's ready.

Here is a chart that shows the temperature versus CO2 PSI for carbing: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

You can carb the keg warm or cold. Depends on what your process is. Remember that a keg is a just one large bottle and should be treated as such. If you normally condition your beers for an additional time period, then by all means do it with the keg. If you have the capability to hook the keg up to CO2 while this conditioning is happening, that is great. But, because the beer is warm, 15psi isn't going to cut it. There are plenty of charts on line, but for example.... to use the 'set it and forget it' method to carb at 65F, you'll need to set the regulator at roughly 25psi for 3 weeks. My pipeline is full enough that I can do just this. I keg my beers, purge and then carbonate them warm while they condition in my basement. This way when I blow a keg, I have a carbed one ready to go. Remember, it isn't a race to get from grain/extract to glass. Patience will not only make your beer better, but you a happy brewer.