How does kegging speed up conditioning?

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flounder709

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Hope this question doesn't sound stupid, but I've done a few batches with bottles and have been thinking about kegging. I've been using the 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottle conditioning rule. I've been reading about kegging and a few posts mention only needing 1 week to condition it. Does the forced carbonation make the beer mellow out faster as well? It just seems weird we're so concerned about green beer in the bottles but most threads I've read don't seem to address this at all. Maybe I'm just missing something. Thanks for any help.
 
You only need one week for it to carbonate. It still needs the same time to condition.
 
Nothing will make green beer not be green beer except time. There is no short cut to conditioning. The main benefit of force carbonation, besides being faster than priming, is consistency of results.
 
Brewsmith said:
You only need one week for it to carbonate. It still needs the same time to condition.
Click to expand...
You can actually carbonate in less than 15 minutes if the keg is cold. Ramp the pressure up to 30-40 psi, and shake the hell out of the keg.

If the beer was green before, you now have carbonated green beer.
 
That's one process that I had to learn the hard way. You have to give it time, trust me. If you drink green beer, it will stir you away from homebrewing. You got to wait, no other simpler way to do it. I have found that 2 weeks in the primary, 3 weeks to age at room temperature in the keg, and then one week carbonating in the kegerator really works the best. If you read into other posts, you will find that about 6 weeks is a good rule of thumb for ale's. Lagers and barleywines are a whole different beast altogether.
 
Ol' Grog said:
That's one process that I had to learn the hard way. You have to give it time, trust me. If you drink green beer, it will stir you away from homebrewing. You got to wait, no other simpler way to do it. I have found that 2 weeks in the primary, 3 weeks to age at room temperature in the keg, and then one week carbonating in the kegerator really works the best. If you read into other posts, you will find that about 6 weeks is a good rule of thumb for ale's. Lagers and barleywines are a whole different beast altogether.
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Grog, whats your process for the 3 weeks of condition? do you prime it?
 
There is a difference between conditioning and aging. Aging is what you do when you leave the beer in secondary, conditioning requires the presence of CO2.

I have been bulk aging in my secondary for extra time since I started kegging. I typically leave it 7-10 days in primary, then 3-4 weeks in seconday (longer for big beers). Once I transfer it to my keg I set it to serving pressure and let it sit for a week to carb and condition before I start sampling (my favorite thing about kegging, don't waste a whole 12oz if it's not ready).

I have found it's typically ready after that first week; which is the same 6 weeks from brew day as following the 1-2-3 rule.
 
My pearls of wisdom:

Just keep in mind that fermentation is a natural process. :D

Natural process can not be altered without consequences. :mad:

If you allow your beer the time it needs to ferment, condition and age as it should the rewards will be greater in the end. :D

As a brewer we all get a little impatient about our beers progress. For this reason alone we need to be better at pre-planning our batches and brew more often. :D
 
So I could use the keg as a secondary for aging right? as long as it its sealed well and purge the oxygen?
 
Yep! I have 8 kegs in the conditioning cabinet (I do all of the household aging necessary)
 
So just so I have this right...

If I rack from primary to keg instead of secondary and store at room and/or basement temps, I am aging the beer just like seconday.

Then, as soon as I stick it in the fridge and add pressure to it I'm conditioning it?
 
No, in this case when you place it in the secondary (corny) you are aging it.

Putting it on gas is not really conditioning it...that's carbonating it.

Conditioning would be if you racked it from a secondary into the keg, added 1/2 the priming sugar then placed it in a warm room to make a natural carbination for a couple of weeks. ;)
 
Personally, I use the secondary to age and clear for four weeks after one week in the primary. In the last week I put it into the keg and only fully carb if I'm going to be drinking it in a week. Otherwise I purge the O2 with CO2 and then keep giving it another shot every time I'm in the brew room. I only have 2 carboys and three kegs so I have to make sure I have product on deck and ready to go when a keg is emptied.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
No, in this case when you place it in the secondary (corny) you are aging it.

Putting it on gas is not really conditioning it...that's carbonating it.

Conditioning would be if you racked it from a secondary into the keg, added 1/2 the priming sugar then placed it in a warm room to make a natural carbination for a couple of weeks. ;)
Click to expand...

Gotcha.

I feel like I'm asking the same question someone else did, but I'm feeling dense today.. So if I do not naturally carbonate and instead let it sit in the corney at 15 psi for a few weeks, will the beer still 'condition' taste wise like bottles? As in mellow out and get better over time? I guess I'm just wondering if it's that last bit of yeast activity that helps with the flavors over time, or will simply carbonating the beer and leaving it alone do the same thing?

Thanks again!
Greg
 
For some reason I thought that I could keg and start drinking the beer that week. But as stated, all I had was green carbonated beer. It is amazing what 3 weeks to a month of conditioning will do for a beer. :mug:
 
RichBrewer said:
For some reason I thought that I could keg and start drinking the beer that week. But as stated, all I had was green carbonated beer. It is amazing what 3 weeks to a month of conditioning will do for a beer. :mug:
Click to expand...

You can drink it that early; it just won't taste as good.

Now, let me be clear - beer needs age and conditioning. There is no substitute for conditioning a beer with a good amount of time whether in the bottle or the keg. That being said, I feel that kegging does decrease this amount of time. Here is why -

I think that you can condition a beer off of CO2 all you want, but when the CO2 enters solution, it needs an additional amount of time for the beer to condition with CO2 and lose that CO2 bite. (Note, I have no scientific proof to back this up ;) :p ).
In other words, since you can force carb relatively quickly, the beer conditions on CO2 earlier in the conditioning process. I find that if I condition a long time in the secondary, the beer tasted amazing when I rack into the keg. So, i throw some CO2 on it and wait a 3-4 days to carb up - but it never tasted good at that time. After i wait another two weeks, it is good again.

I think that beer needs some conditioned prior to carbonation and some conditioning after carbonation. The only reason kegging speeds this up is because carbonation happens so quickly in a keg.

Just . . . IMO
 
sonvolt said:
You can drink it that early; it just won't taste as good.

Now, let me be clear - beer needs age and conditioning. There is no substitute for conditioning a beer with a good amount of time whether in the bottle or the keg. That being said, I feel that kegging does decrease this amount of time. Here is why -

I think that you can condition a beer off of CO2 all you want, but when the CO2 enters solution, it needs an additional amount of time for the beer to condition with CO2 and lose that CO2 bite. (Note, I have no scientific proof to back this up ;) :p ).
In other words, since you can force carb relatively quickly, the beer conditions on CO2 earlier in the conditioning process. I find that if I condition a long time in the secondary, the beer tasted amazing when I rack into the keg. So, i throw some CO2 on it and wait a 3-4 days to carb up - but it never tasted good at that time. After i wait another two weeks, it is good again.

I think that beer needs some conditioned prior to carbonation and some conditioning after carbonation. The only reason kegging speeds this up is because carbonation happens so quickly in a keg.

Just . . . IMO
Click to expand...

that's pretty much it. Whether you force carb or use sugar you need an additional 3 or so weeks after it's carbed for conditioning. It needs the time to develop carbonic acid, is what I'm told. All I know is that it does make a difference.

It really seems to help my IPA's lose that earthy taste the young hops give them.
 

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