Do people simply keg their beer after the primary fermentation?

I am wondering if people normally keg their beer after the 2 week period when the beer has reached its FG?

The reason why I am asking is simple: I carb in the bottle and age there too. How does kegged beer get the carbing and aging?

Thanks.

I generally primary for a month then transfer to a keg. I'll let that condition for another few weeks after that. I then hook it up to CO2 For a day or so at 30 PSI, cool the keg, purge, and hook it up to CO2 at serving pressure. In about 1 week it's ready.

Keg and force carb with a bottle of CO2. No need for a bottling bucket and no need for bottling sugar.

There's a bunch of ways to do it.

Many folks on here go longer than 2 weeks in primary, and then straight to the keg. Hook up the gas at the appropriate pressure for the appropriate temperature, let it reach equilibrium, and you're good to go.

Some friends of mine transfer to a secondary THEN keg, just to keep sediment out of the keg.

And you can also naturally carbonate in a keg. Just add priming sugar like you do with bottling.

Qhrumphf said:

And you can also naturally carbonate in a keg. Just add priming sugar like you do with bottling.

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That's what I do. Three week primary, transfer to keg and add sugar. Start drinking it a month later.

I do 1 week in primary then keg most ales. It's not unusual for me to start drinking them in under two weeks grain to glass. But all beers are not the same. Dry hopping adds some time. Some yeast stains are slower or wont drop out in that time line. Sometimes I'll crash the primary or add finnings to the keg. If it's at FG and tastes good keg it. It's the safest place for it.

I cold crash a few days and then just racked right into the keg. Let it go in there for a few weeks to age/carb.

And just a note of habit that ive picked up after reading some tales on here... Once i rack I will pressurize with CO2 and vent a few times just to purge all the air out of it. Less worry of oxidation while moving and get rid of any bacteria or bad things the off chance that they got inside while racking.

Since I mostly brew lagers, Once fermentation is done, which is about a week, I'll rack to a keg. Then lager. I never use a secondary.

Malticulous said:

I do 1 week in primary then keg most ales. It's not unusual for me to start drinking them in under two weeks grain to glass. But all beers are not the same. Dry hopping adds some time. Some yeast stains are slower or wont drop out in that time line. Sometimes I'll crash the primary or add finnings to the keg. If it's at FG and tastes good keg it. It's the safest place for it.

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Yes, me too. I normally go 7-10 days or so in the fermenter, then keg and drink. If I dryhop, I tend to add the hops right to the fermenter for 5 days, and keg on about day 12-15.

If the beer is done, and clear (or clearing), it's not going to get any "doner" sitting in the fermenter.

Malticulous said:

I do 1 week in primary then keg most ales. It's not unusual for me to start drinking them in under two weeks grain to glass. But all beers are not the same. Dry hopping adds some time. Some yeast stains are slower or wont drop out in that time line. Sometimes I'll crash the primary or add finnings to the keg. If it's at FG and tastes good keg it. It's the safest place for it.

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Same here for the most part. Primary for 5-10 days, into a keg in fridge under 20psi for a couple days, dial back to 8psi for a couple days, and drink it up in the weeks that follow. Eleven days is about as quick as I've had G2G, and sixteen is more typical. The problem them becomes finding an empty keg when a fermentation is finished ; usually ends up being a sloppy weekend every few weeks

Edit: I should point out that some beers have definitely conditioned well and when I'm clearing the keg I notice it's getting good - these tend to be more complex grainbills with less late addition hops. Also, I've conditioned a robust porter in the keg with priming sugar for 4 months before and it was great (aside from a few changes I'd make to the recipe for next time).

stpug said:

Same here for the most part. Primary for 5-10 days, into a keg in fridge under 20psi for a couple days, dial back to 8psi for a couple days, and drink it up in the weeks that follow. Eleven days is about as quick as I've had G2G, and sixteen is more typical. The problem them becomes finding an empty keg when a fermentation is finished ; usually ends up being a sloppy weekend every few weeks

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There was one American brown ale I made that I didn't pay much attention to the timeline too. I had it carbed at 10 days. It didn't last 20 days. I haven't been able to repeat that.

If I'm doing an ale, I'll primary for 2 weeks. Then, I will transfer to my keg and suspend a couple of large tea balls filled with hop pellets for about 5 days. Next, I remove the tea balls and drop into my keezer at about 10-12 psi. In 2 weeks, I'm drinking it, but I could start after 1 week. I stopped secondary fermentations years ago as there is less transferring, so less oxidation and less chance for infection.

Yep. Primary for about 2-3 weeks, then into the keg it goes. It'll likely sit in the keg for a month or more before a tap opens up, so that's where any conditioning takes place, though it's not totally unheard of to go right to the tap as soon as it's kegged, but for me that is pretty rare. I try to keep my pipeline filled as much as possible so that some bulk conditioning in the keg can take place before it hits the tap.

I primary for 2-3 weeks, depending on my pipeline. Then straight to keg. If I have a spot in the keezer it goes in on gas for 2 weeks before its ready.

I have tried every method of "force carbonating", but I have never been happy until at least 2 weeks on gas. Usually I find that 3-4 weeks after going into the kegerator on gas the beer is really good.

Yooper said:

Yes, me too. I normally go 7-10 days or so in the fermenter, then keg and drink. If I dryhop, I tend to add the hops right to the fermenter for 5 days, and keg on about day 12-15.

If the beer is done, and clear (or clearing), it's not going to get any "doner" sitting in the fermenter.

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This, and x100 to the last line. Only difference is that I dry hop in the keg, so that doesn't add any time for me. I do tend to let darker beers condition for a bit if they're above 5% ABV--an arbitrary number, admittedly, but it works for me.

I primary for 10-14 days, rack into keg, add gelatin and stick in the keezer on twice serving pressure. After 3 days I turn the gas down to serving pressure and leave it for a week. If I dry hop I do it for the last 5-7 days in primary.

Typically ferment in primary 7-10 days, then 3-4 day cold crash, then in the keg. Start drinking as soon as it's carbonated (usually I "set and forget", so it's drinkable in a week and fully carb'd in 2 weeks).

I think it would be good to note for a potential noob reading this thread that the people that go grain to glass in a short amount of time are probably pitching the correct amount of yeast and controlling fermentation temperatures to within strict limits, which results in a very clean fermentation and would not require extended conditioning.

dlaramie08 said:

I think it would be good to note for a potential noob reading this thread that the people that go grain to glass in a short amount of time are probably pitching the correct amount of yeast and controlling fermentation temperatures to within strict limits, which results in a very clean fermentation and would not require extended conditioning.

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I think this to be generally true for the most part, and more importantly that the beer is not kegged until FG has been reached. That may take 4 days or it may take 21 days, but I won't keg a beer until FG is reached.

After primary I dry hop (as necessary) cold crash and then transfer to the keg (at which point I'll probably do a second dry hop, as necessary).

I primary for 2-3 weeks (mainly because my pipeline is backed up), transfer to a secondary and dry hop if called for, or just straight cold crash for 3 days. Then rack to keg and add CO2.

So when you people keg after 7-10 days and start drinking approx. a week later, how is the clarity of these beers? Is the beer serving temperature in your fridge sufficient to drop the bulk of the extra yeast out of suspension? I have only been able to gain "clear" beer by lettting it sit in the primary for 21 days or more...but up until now, I've not had a fridge to chill my beer in.

If I can be DRINKING my beers in 14-ish days, I'll be in heaven!!

Whippy said:

So when you people keg after 7-10 days and start drinking approx. a week later, how is the clarity of these beers? Is the beer serving temperature in your fridge sufficient to drop the bulk of the extra yeast out of suspension? I have only been able to gain "clear" beer by lettting it sit in the primary for 21 days or more...but up until now, I've not had a fridge to chill my beer in.

If I can be DRINKING my beers in 14-ish days, I'll be in heaven!!

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I've posted lots of pictures of my beer. Here's one, that was dryhopped 5 days before kegging, on about day 14 (can't remember exactly).
I use whirlfloc in the kettle, and I have a HERMS so the wort is clear going into the fermenter. I tend to use fairly flocculant yeast, so that it clears well. Chilling does help with clarity, that's for sure, but the beer is clear when I keg it as well.

Whippy said:

So when you people keg after 7-10 days and start drinking approx. a week later, how is the clarity of these beers? Is the beer serving temperature in your fridge sufficient to drop the bulk of the extra yeast out of suspension? I have only been able to gain "clear" beer by lettting it sit in the primary for 21 days or more...but up until now, I've not had a fridge to chill my beer in.

If I can be DRINKING my beers in 14-ish days, I'll be in heaven!!

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For me, the clarity is lightly cloudy after 14-ish days but I don't cold crash so the first time the beer see cold temps is when it's kegged for drinking. The first several pints are lightly cloudy; not quite like a wit beer but plenty hazy. Over the next week the clarity gets much better for me; still a little hazy but I can see through it. I recently tried gelatin on a cream ale that went ~10 days G2G, and it took an extra 7-10 days but that sucker went near-crystal clear.

I will frequently get a chill haze to my beers. I'm still trying to work this out in my process, so if I had perfectly clear beer in a fermenter after 3 weeks and then I kegged, I would still get that chill haze and have hazy pours. I've found that the best solution for my chill haze (at the present time) is to get my beer cold - the longer it's cold the sooner the haze will form and settle.

Aside from all of this, I can't taste the haziness so it doesn't bother me - still tastes like good ol' beer!

I use Irish Moss in the kettle & a few drops of BioClear in each keg (for styles where clarity is important). My beers end up just like Yoopers. The only exception is when I dry hop in the keg--in that case they're a bit hazy (like the Hop Sesh beer I'm pouring on Thursday).

You can do it!

dlaramie08 said:

I think it would be good to note for a potential noob reading this thread that the people that go grain to glass in a short amount of time are probably pitching the correct amount of yeast and controlling fermentation temperatures to within strict limits, which results in a very clean fermentation and would not require extended conditioning.

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Absolutely. People often talk about aging time needed to "clean up" off flavors. With good fermentation practices, you can skip that step by not generating them in the first place.

Piratwolf said:

I use Irish Moss in the kettle & a few drops of BioClear in each keg (for styles where clarity is important). My beers end up just like Yoopers. The only exception is when I dry hop in the keg--in that case they're a bit hazy (like the Hop Sesh beer I'm pouring on Thursday).

You can do it!

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Hop Sesh? Sounds good- save me some!

Thanks for all the feedback concerning the issue of clarity! I'm not really that concerned with chill haze, but have grown averse to the beers that leave the bottom of your pint glass coated with yeast, ya know?

I think I'll start off trying 14 days in primary and then 7 in the keg and see how that works out...then work my way down in increments It's nice that y'all have given me some goals to shoot for! Three week primary/two week conditioning usually give me crystal clear beer, so it's nice to also have a personal benchmark.

cheers

One does not simply keg their beer after the primary fermentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r21CMDyPuGo.








(someone had to do it!)

b-boy said:

I generally primary for a month then transfer to a keg. I'll let that condition for another few weeks after that. I then hook it up to CO2 For a day or so at 30 PSI, cool the keg, purge, and hook it up to CO2 at serving pressure. In about 1 week it's ready.

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This is my exact process.

I usually primary for 10-14 days...some beers take longer. Then I go straight to about 34F and crash cool for another 5-14 days. That just depends on my schedule and my available time. After it crash cools, I keg it. After another week of settling in the keezer my lighter ales are so clear, you would think they were filtered. Two BJCP judges actually used the word brilliant on my results sheet from a Blonde Ale I submitted. I do the same thing if I'm brewing something that requires a secondary. I just crash cool the secondary after I'm finished.

b-boy said:

I generally primary for a month then transfer to a keg. I'll let that condition for another few weeks after that. I then hook it up to CO2 For a day or so at 30 PSI, cool the keg, purge, and hook it up to CO2 at serving pressure. In about 1 week it's ready.

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As this gent... depending on the style it can stay 2 to 4 weeks in the Primary and then in to a keg.

Then for beers that need conditioning... this is where it happens.

I do find that my first "pull" from the keg can have some yeast in it so I use a pitcher but after that the beer is clear...

DPB

2-3 weeks primary, followed by a week of cold-crashing and gelatin, then into the keg for 2 weeks of carbing.

I used to primary 7-10 days, secondary 7-10 days, then bottle.

As of last night I kegged my first batch. Came out of the primary after 3 weeks, straight into keg, into keezer, and is now sitting at 8psi (Denver) at 42*.

My usual primary length depends on the beer, but generally...

under 1.050 - 10 days
1.050 - 1.065 - 15 days
over 1.065 - 20 days

Rack to Keg

30psi for 24-36 hours
Set to serving pressure - 10psi
Beer is slightly carbed and drinkable by day 5
Gets really good 15-20 days in keg
Usually gone by day 30

Best advice is dont connect a faucet until 2 weeks into carbonating, you'll be too tempted to 'check carbonation' that when the beer hits its stride, its almost gone...

I normally let my beers primary for 3 weeks. Rarely do I go under that, but I sometimes will let them sit a little longer. Mainly depends on how soon I need the fermentor and or if I have a keg open. After that time, I usually just put it in the keg, purge with CO2 and let it sit until it goes on tap. This can be anywhere from a week to a month, depending on where I'm at in the pipeline.

b-boy said:

I generally primary for a month then transfer to a keg. I'll let that condition for another few weeks after that. I then hook it up to CO2 For a day or so at 30 PSI, cool the keg, purge, and hook it up to CO2 at serving pressure. In about 1 week it's ready.

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What's the day of 30 psi at room temp all about? I'm assuming it's at room temp since you mentioned you cool the keg after the day at 30 psi. With CO2 being more soluble at colder temps than warmer, isn't that step kind of pointless? Perhaps there's some benefit that I'm not aware of. Seems you could skip that step, chill the beer to serving temps and go with the "set it and forget it" method and be fairly close in one week's time. Or maybe the beer is closer to being fully carbed with that extra day of 30 psi at the warmer temps. Just curious, that's all.

For the record, the fastest I have ever gone from grain to glass was 3 1/2 days.

I had promised to brew a beer for my brother's college graduation and completely spaced it. He called me Wednesday after work to ask what I had made him. I kind of freaked out for a minute, then realized I could probably bang out a decent Saison.

Brewed an all-grain Saison (1.060 OG with American hops) that night and let it ferment at ~80F. On that Thursday I cranked it up to 95F and let it rock for 24 hours. By Friday afternoon the yeast had dropped out and it was at 1.012. I kegged it and put it in my beer fridge. Saturday morning I put it at 30PSI for 10 minutes while rocking the keg. Then threw the keg in my car and drove the 3 hours to his graduation party. Drove back the next day with an empty keg. I would have liked it a little drier, but it went.

I primary in a conical fermenter for 14 days, run through a 1 micron filter to my keg, then carb as fast as possible. Grain to glass in about 16 days. It usually gets better after its been in the keg for a week or more.