Force Carbonating / Green Beer

evandam said:

I brewed the Northern Brewers Nut Brown Ale Extract kit. Spent about 9 days in primary and 2 weeks in secondary before going into the keg at 40deg and about 13psi. It has been that way for 4 or 5 days and it is not bad, but seems a bit bitter and not a sweet as I would like (certainly drinkable).

This is my 3rd batch and first in a keg and my other 2 where years ago.

My questions:
- At 40deg and under pressure in a keg will it get any better with time? (I'm thinking probably not since I don't think the yeast if there is any left will work at 40deg)

- My next batch (Cream Ale in primary right now) would I be better off going from secondary to the keg, flushing it with Co2 and putting 20lbs or so on it and giving it a few more weeks at room temp before moving it to the fridge?

- Or should I just leave it in secondary for 4 or 5 weeks rather than the 2.

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Blender said:

The kegged beer should get better with age. The ones that I put in my kegerator certainly were better at 6 weeks than at 4 weeks so be patient. I will say that I don't think it will sweeten up during this time but the flavors mellow just like a big bottle.

I am not a big secondary brewer at this time. I leave them in the primary for 3 weeks and carefully rack to the keg. I view the keg as a secondary and age them in this manner although I have rushed the first few batches. My view is that 6 weeks is the start of optimum taste and at 8 weeks they are generally pretty darn good.

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blacklab said:

I just racked to my first keg last night. from the primary. One thing I was wondering-do you get a big trub milkshake with your first couple pulls?

Seems like all that crap will settle out just like it does in a secondary.

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