What’s the best practice to start drinking from a keg after it’s carbonated?

I’ve just started kegging (only kegged 2 IPAs so far) and it seems like my beer takes several weeks up to a month after kegging to get better. Both were kegged after around 10 days, but everyone says IPAs should be better fresh. I know that beers can get better with age, but specially for lighter pale ales and IPAs, shouldn’t that happen faster than the 4-6 weeks that I’m seeing?

What I’ve done for the 2 beers I’ve kegs is the set and forget method. After about a week, I will pull off the slug of star san in the lines and a little beer, discard that and then taste a small sample (~2 oz), which both times hasn’t been great. Then I’ll wait a few days, pull off a couple ounces to clear the lines (and drink it for learning purposes) and then pour another small sample (2-4 oz) and it will usually be getting better, but still not great. I’ve been repeating this every 3-7 days and it does seem like it keeps getting better so I was assuming they needed to condition longer. But should I just be pulling off 1 or 2 pints in the beginning and then drinking the rest? Will the beer be better then? Just curious what everyone else does.

anything hoppy is better drank young as they age you will lose more and more of you hoppy flavor

most ales for me are in the keg in about 10 to 12 days and on gas for 3 days then drinking

all the best

S_M

I find myself pulling and drinking full pints after about 2 or 3 days of refrigeration/carbonation. Usually I have to dump the first pint or two as it's basically a glass of yeast with a little beer mixed in. After that it's very drinkable, but not great. It does take a couple of weeks before most brews start to hit their stride, though. As far as any general rules of thumb, I don't know. I think it depends on the beer.

I personally find all beer takes a little time. I can put a beer on in a week and as long as my brewing practices were sound, it's usually a decent beer. Although, they usually still hit their prime at about a month.

I think the big key to pushing a beer out quick, is really solid fermentation practices, temp control, sufficient yeast and good oxygen level for them to start with. This will produce a cleaner beer that needs less time to "Clean up."

Either way, I found I'm happiest just letting the beer sit in primary for 3 weeks, then keg. If it's an IPA, then I usually let it go 3 and then dry hop for a week right before kegging. I've built up my pipeline to accommodate this and it seems to really work nice for me.

Also I think one of the big keys is getting the yeast to settle out. A lot of yeast in suspension will definitely affect the character of the beer. If you are still going with the 10 day schedule, try cold crashing for a day or 2 after that and then kegging. You might just be tasting more yeast than you like in your beer.

Having 1 keg under my belt...so to speak... and no other expertise, the sweet stout I did was great after 8 days. It did have a slight metallic taste at 3 & 5, guessing it was the CO2. It carbonated at 35*, 14psi and today is day 8. Pulled the CO2 off today because, IMHO...it's perfect. Of course others will be stopping by to offer their opinions

Thanks guys.

Clonefan94 said:

I personally find all beer takes a little time. I can put a beer on in a week and as long as my brewing practices were sound, it's usually a decent beer. Although, they usually still hit their prime at about a month.

I think the big key to pushing a beer out quick, is really solid fermentation practices, temp control, sufficient yeast and good oxygen level for them to start with. This will produce a cleaner beer that needs less time to "Clean up."

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I do all those things. I do only use agitation to oxygenate, but that should have been good enough for these beers.

Clonefan94 said:

Either way, I found I'm happiest just letting the beer sit in primary for 3 weeks, then keg. If it's an IPA, then I usually let it go 3 and then dry hop for a week right before kegging. I've built up my pipeline to accommodate this and it seems to really work nice for me.

Also I think one of the big keys is getting the yeast to settle out. A lot of yeast in suspension will definitely affect the character of the beer. If you are still going with the 10 day schedule, try cold crashing for a day or 2 after that and then kegging. You might just be tasting more yeast than you like in your beer.

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Thanks. Unfortunately no method for cold crashing.

Anyone else have any tips or tricks for starting to drink for a keg?

mtnagel said:

Thanks guys. I do all those things. I do only use agitation to oxygenate, but that should have been good enough for these beers.

Thanks. Unfortunately no method for cold crashing.

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Try this if you can, not perfect, but you can dramatically decrease the temp this way.

Get a big towel and two frozen milk gallon jugs of ice. Put those right next to the fermentor (after fermentation is complete) and wrap that big towel around the whole thing. This is what I do usually about 2 days before kegging. It won't get you down to 30s, but it will help to drop the temp enough to drop more out of suspension than just letting it sit at room temp.

I know the 2 gallon jugs of ice aren't easy either, but I have a large chest freezer we use for food. So, it's pretty easy for me to have ice on hand.

Depending on what kind of day i have had, best practice might include a funnel

Clonefan94 said:

Try this if you can, not perfect, but you can dramatically decrease the temp this way.

Get a big towel and two frozen milk gallon jugs of ice. Put those right next to the fermentor (after fermentation is complete) and wrap that big towel around the whole thing. This is what I do usually about 2 days before kegging. It won't get you down to 30s, but it will help to drop the temp enough to drop more out of suspension than just letting it sit at room temp.

I know the 2 gallon jugs of ice aren't easy either, but I have a large chest freezer we use for food. So, it's pretty easy for me to have ice on hand.

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I do always use a water bath for temp control and I have a spare fridge/freezer (beer fridge), so I could easily get some ice. Curious though, is this any different then just kegging, letting the yeast crash out for a few days and then pulling off the first pint or so? Seems they would accomplish similar things.

soccerdad said:

Depending on what kind of day i have had, best practice might include a funnel

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LOL

Best method I have found is to open mouth, pour in beer

bajaedition said:

Best method I have found is to open mouth, pour in beer

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that appears to be a time tested method

It always gets better after a few weeks. Some people claim that they can do it in less time, but you have to take their word that it was good. With perfect conditions, maybe?

Last year's IPA won't be as hoppy, but the difference between 2 and 4 weeks might not be as noticeable.

mtnagel said:

I do always use a water bath for temp control and I have a spare fridge/freezer (beer fridge), so I could easily get some ice. Curious though, is this any different then just kegging, letting the yeast crash out for a few days and then pulling off the first pint or so? Seems they would accomplish similar things.



LOL

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Honestly, not much and myself, I usually don't bother with it because at 3 weeks in a cool basement my beer is pretty clear anyways. At a week to 10 days though, that would be a lot of yeast on the bottom of the keg. I just prefer to get as little suspended yeast in my keg as possible.

Back to the original point though. I'm not saying you can't get good beer at 10 days, but just like you can get good beer with under pitched yeast, you can get good beer in 10 days. But, I always feel like things are best when conditions are optimal and it seems for most of my beer, 4 weeks is when they just start to hit their stride. So it's not that beer is bad at 10 days I just think it could be better.



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Fill, Drink until empty. Repeat until death.

Seriously, Once the beer is carbed up and cold, I usually find its a pint or two of the yeast stuff, then good beer. I've said it on this forum before and I'll say it again, I think using gelatin to fine in the keg vastly decrease "keg conditioning time" from a week or two, to 2 or 3 days. It just grabs on to all the stuff that would take 2 weeks to settle out and pulls it to the bottom in a day or two. The first time you use it, give it 24-48 hrs to work its magic, and look at the crud that comes out in the first pint or two.

Hahah, I'm glad someone already suggested, pouring, opening mouth, tipping glass, and repeating. Now that it's out of my system.... Here's a real answer:

I've found that my APA and IPA's are completely drinkable almost immediately after they are carbed, but improve steadily until about day 14. At that point, I've usually noticed that they have become crystal clear (which is a huge mental hang up of mine) and the hop (Dry, namely) sharpness has tapered just to the point where they begin to taste like a production brew.

Usually they hang like this for about 4-5 weeks, and then I start to notice that the hop aromas and really nice fruity flavors begin rapidly subsiding.

With that being said, these are simply my observations kegging over the last 6 or so 5g cornys of various IPAs. YMMV.

Could be the beer. My APA was force carbonated and it was my first keg ever. I drank that puppy right up and didn't feel as though it wasn't great at the first pour.

My second beer was just a poor beer anyway, swill. I drank it until I could not and dumped it. My next one, the same as the first but I let it carb naturally since I was out of keg space in the fridge. I set it up, gave it a couple of days to cool in my new keezer and then drank. I did a brown, set and forget. It's an okay beer with coffee added. I don't think it's going to get better. I am just not thrilled about it but it was sitting in a carboy for 2 months before I put it in a keg.

mtnagel said:

Thanks. Unfortunately no method for cold crashing.

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Can't you cold crash in the keezer/refrigerator/kegerator that you are using?

Clonefan94 said:

I think the big key to pushing a beer out quick, is really solid fermentation practices, temp control, sufficient yeast and good oxygen level for them to start with. This will produce a cleaner beer that needs less time to "Clean up."

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Agreed- I think the common thought that beer needs time to "Clean up" is a misconception. My opinion is that if you can get the yeast to clear, all the cleaning up is pretty much finished.

My Ordinary Bitter is ready for drinking after 6 days in the carboy and 2 days in the keg- crystal clear.

My IPA with Chico strain really needs a few weeks, which sucks because during that time the hops are dropping out, and the falling yeast is pulling hop aroma out.