leaving in the keg.

hi there. after gassing. how long should you leave it in the keg before drinking??

rohan said:

hi there. after gassing. how long should you leave it in the keg before drinking??

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Using the one-step set-it-and-forget-it method, anywhere from five to seven days should do.

Of course you could crank up the pressure to around 30 psi and shake the heck out of it for a few minutes, then release the pressure and dial the regulator down to serving pressure. I strongly advise against that, but others seem to like it.

Yeah, it sucks waiting for it to carbonate...but I dont like the shake method. I use the "set it and forget it" method myself. 10lbs for 5 days is about the minimum time to carbonate without shaking. Ive found that after 7 days at 10 lbs, its all ready to go. So far it has always worked well for me.

its my 1st ever keg. so i couldnt help but try it straight away.. doen the taste improve with age in the keg...?? it just didnt seem to have a very good mouth feel to it.

Most ales will improve as they age in the keg, although mouth feel doesn't seem to change much. I put 15 psi into my aging kegs in bursts, I attach them about once a week. Generally, I'll tap a keg after a month. The exception is the annual wet/fresh hops IPA. That I start on immediately because the special fresh hop flavors start changing almost as you pour.

The amount of PSI you set it to before forgetting it also depends on the style of beer it is, and how you like it. There's a chart somewhere that shows the PSI to set it to at the appropriate temp of your fridge to dissolve the correct amount for the style.

For my first, I had a Pale Ale and set it to the amount as set out in the chart for the Pale Ale and waited a week, but I thought it seemed a little low, so I upped it a PSI or two and liked the result a few days later.

As far as aging goes, I haven't noticed any in keg aging with mine, but I filter so any remaining yeast are gone from my beer and thus aging would have to be attributable to something else and would probably be more muted.

ok thanks guys...

Heres what I do. After 2ndary fermentation is complete, place fermenter in refrigerator for atleast 2 days. This will clarify the beer and also bring down the temperarture to allow the carbon dioxide to be more easily absorbed into the beer. Purge empty keg with co2 to avoid oxidation of the beer during transfer. Rack beer into keg and put back in the fridge. Set psi to 40. Leave alone for atleast 2 days. On day 2, turn psi down from 5-10 to dispense. Check carbonation level. If it is good, leave it alone, if not, crank the pressure back up to 40 and check it daily until desired carbonation level has been reached.