Kegging a bigger beer?

So I have a belgian strong dark ale that I let sit in primary for 2 weeks and it hit FG so I transferred to secondary. It has then since been two weeks. I have a party this weekend, is it ok to keg and serve? My thought is yes, but I value the experience of the board.

It depends on how big of a beer it is. I would say it's ok to drink but it probably needs to age far longer (say a couple of months at least)

If it tastes ok, you can drink it. Ultimately, it's that simple. It may not be at it's best though.

It's your call. It could be good now. If you drink it now though, you won't get to experience what will likely be a better beer later. Strong darks should age well, and will only get better with time.

My rule of thumb for big beers is 6 weeks plus a month for each percent above 5%.

I dont think I could wait that long. So I have a IPA in secondary 6.55% ABV, you think I should wait 3 months for it to be ready? Or am I confusing the word "BIG", high alcohol right?

My rule is anything 7% and up will sit for 6 months to a year depending on how high over the 7%.

yeah the beer is 9%. I know I should age it longer, but I have a party this weekend and want to be able to serve a beer. I guess this will be a trial and error deal, thanks for the words of wisdom!

sounds like the OP is confusing 'carbonating' with 'aging'.

sure you could keg and carb it and drink it this weekend...but I doubt it's at peak flavor, probably still pretty green.

force carbing doesn't remove the possible need to age to 'ripeness'.

I would not serve that to my friends. It will be safe to drink and will have bubbles in time. However......

1) That beer should age for the better part of a year before you drink it. Seriously, it will be a disservice to the beer to drink it earlier than that.

2) the carbonic acid from carbonation will not be dissolved in time for this weekend and it will give the beer a shape off flavor. Some people don't mind this, but it is there none the less.

In the end, I recommend waiting and serving it much much later. You will be glad you did.

Think of it this way. If you can wait till Christmas to serve, the greenness should be gone, but it will still not be fully rounded. Wait till St. Patty's Day and It'll be nice and servable. Wait till July 4th... and you'll blow people away, but even then I'd set aside a 6er for consumption 18 months after birth... just depends on what you're looking for.

Personally I have some kegs and a fridge in preparation for kegging. BUT I will bottle my "big" biers for the reason that I don't want to have that keg staring at me for months on end... I can hide the bottles in a dark corner of a closet!

Schlante,
Phillip

Buy a keg of craft beer from a nearby brewery and explain that your beer is not ready to enjoy just yet.

WBC said:

Buy a keg of craft beer from a nearby brewery and explain that your beer is not ready to enjoy just yet.

Click to expand...

+1..

I gave a way to young 9% brew to a friend once. He drank it and never said it was bad. A week later I had one and my god I can't believe he drank that. It was so hot and nasty. Oh and that beer was about 6 months old. 6 months later and that beer was great.

All you are going to do is make people think that homebrew is not good beer.
If you were a fine dinning chef you would not serve the meal half cooked would you? Not if you want to work again the next day.

I have a ~6% IPA or so that I want to keg and serve 3 weeks after brewing it. I plan on doing so. Thoughts?

I've seen it go both ways, btw. I had an IIPA that was harsh and undrinkable after only 3 weeks, but was fine after 9 weeks. No hop aroma and little hop flavor at that point, though. It tasted more like an imperial ESB (which isn't a real style, I know).

However, I just made a clone of Stone's 07.07.07 Vertical Epic, and it started to get worse in the bottle after only 8 weeks. It was wonderful at four weeks--by far and away the best of my 15 batches. It was almost 9% as well. This just goes to show that "big beers" don't always stand up to age.

polamalu43 said:

I have a ~6% IPA or so that I want to keg and serve 3 weeks after brewing it. I plan on doing so. Thoughts?

I've seen it go both ways, btw. I had an IIPA that was harsh and undrinkable after only 3 weeks, but was fine after 9 weeks. No hop aroma and little hop flavor at that point, though. It tasted more like an imperial ESB (which isn't a real style, I know).

However, I just made a clone of Stone's 07.07.07 Vertical Epic, and it started to get worse in the bottle after only 8 weeks. It was wonderful at four weeks--by far and away the best of my 15 batches. It was almost 9% as well. This just goes to show that "big beers" don't always stand up to age.

Click to expand...

If the 9% beer was going south after only 8 weeks in the bottle I don't think it was the aging that made it do so.
But I did once have a Tripple that was good at 3 weeks then started to go south for about 8 months and then started getting better. I finished the last two bottles of it a month or so ago and it was great at a year and a half. I think maybe the young beer covered up a lot of what needed aging.

greenleaf said:

yeah the beer is 9%. I know I should age it longer, but I have a party this weekend and want to be able to serve a beer.

Click to expand...

You're going to burn a lot of throats if you serve a 1 month old Belgian Dark the same way you would serve a blonde ale.

Belgian strong darks are big enough that they need months and months of conditioning.

If you want people to experience your homebrew, serve them some small sipping samples and explain to them what they're tasting (the good and the bad). Give them a lesson on aging specialty craft beers. Explain why they are tasting a hot alcohol flavor.

PS - I'd never serve a 9% beer to guests in more than a sipping glass. If you have people refilling mugs with a 9% beer, you'd better be collecting car keys when they come over.

ok. So I am a pretty impulsive guy. I did keg and serve small samples with a lecture regarding the alcohol flavor and remarkable sweetness. Without a doubt I will be waiting a year on my next beer of this size. Half the keg is gone and I did have to collect car keys :cross: However, I did get some great reviews...without me asking by the way. I am still drinking the beer and it tastes as it should given its age.

So what have I learned from all this
1) dont keg big beers
2) have enough beers of smaller gravities to keg and serve at parties
3) drink less homebrew so I actually have beer to serve and am not rushing to put younger beers on tap

Thank you all for your words of wisdom

you can keg the big beers. they just need time.

i served a 9% dubbel at NCHF last weekend. people were loving it. it was only in the keg for 2 days and force carbed.

it was aged for over a month in primary and almost 3 months in secondary, tho