Keg Conditioning

I am hoping today to keg up a batch of holiday ale that i brewed up about 6 weeks ago and will be serving at christmas. I was wondering which method of carbing you would all recommend. I have both methods available, force carbing and using sugar, but want to do the one that will be optimal for drinking at Christmas time. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated as this will be the first batch I will be serving at a family event and I want to make sure it is perfect.

You have plenty of time for either method. If you think the beer can benefit from more aging, you could leave it at room temperature and then force carb.

Whichever method you choose, I'd suggest putting it in the kegerator at least a week before serving. That way, it has time to settle. You can just pull off a couple of yeasty pints, and then have clear beer on tap. Moving the keg disturbs the sediment, so I wouldn't move it once it was in place.

The bigger the beer, the more I might be inclined to naturally carb. The extra yeast will help to clear up any overpowering flavors that haven't mellowed. The only time I would go against this is if you dry hopped, or added a lot of aroma hops. It is not conclusive yet, but my own testing suggests that hop aroma (In an IPA, my test subject) lasts longer when force carbed. If you plan to drink it up in less than a month I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd stick it in the kegerator and put it on 10 PSI. It will be perfectly carbed and ready to drink in a week or 2.

YooperBrew said:

You have plenty of time for either method. If you think the beer can benefit from more aging, you could leave it at room temperature and then force carb.

Whichever method you choose, I'd suggest putting it in the kegerator at least a week before serving. That way, it has time to settle. You can just pull off a couple of yeasty pints, and then have clear beer on tap. Moving the keg disturbs the sediment, so I wouldn't move it once it was in place.

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+1. You have time to do either.