aging a beer- to carb or not to carb

I took a final gravity on my first all grain 'Lefse' and though the number seems OK (O.G. 1.052 , F.G.1.010) I tasted a bit of a sour note when sampling the wort. I don't think it's going to help, but some folks have had these off flavors improve as the beer ages so I plan to put it aside for a while and hopefully let it "sleep it off'.
...so I have a couple questions

first, should I rack to a secondary? I was going to condition it in a corny keg, but can use the keg as a secondary indefinitely.

second, if i rack to a corny keg would I be better off (less chance for oxidation) if I carbonate the beer?

lastly, if there truly is a problem with the brew should I assume the yeast is compromised and just throw it into the compost pile?

#1) No Secondary

#2) Pass

#3) What even makes you think there is a problem ?

Chill...

I agree with SKMO. Green beer is hard to judge. At least for me it is. Keg, bottle, whatever and let it set for a few weeks to condition. Whichever route you choose, the key is to make sure the beer is not exposed to air, i.e. covered with CO2. Setting in a carboy with an airlock accomplishes this just as readily as setting in a pressurized keg.

How long has it been in the primary? Did you take more than one FG reading? If not wait a day and take another just to be sure it has done it's thing.

Don't secondary.

Purge the keg with co2. When you syphon, make sure that the hose is at the bottom so the beer will flow up from the bottom. When done filling, secure the lid in it's place by hitting it again with co2 at 10 psi

Are you planning on drinking this soon? If so, set it and forget it for a few weeks.

BoxofRain said:

Purge the keg with co2. When you syphon, make sure that the hose is at the bottom so the beer will flow up from the bottom. When done filling, secure the lid in it's place by hitting it again with co2 at 10 psi

Click to expand...

I agree with everything here too. Another quick tip when you rack to the keg is to put a connector and ball lock on the other end of the siphon hose and connect it to the liquid side of the keg. This way your beer never contacts the air. Just remember to bleed all of the co2 out first and leave the relief valve open.

thanks for the suggestions and encouragement.
I like to ferment in a glass carboy and only have a couple so when i come up to a third brewday I may rack it to a corny, but for now i will let it rest in the primary.
I pulled the FG sample by inserting a tube through the carboy stoppper and pressurizing the carboy by blowing back by mouth through the three ft blowoff tube - hopefully I haven't disturbed the co2 in the carboy.
i've done a few 'partial mash' brews with specialty grains and extract and have had some success. I've also tried fermenting hard cider with fabulous failures. for me, a sample of the wort at FG was a pretty good predictor of what was to come... not subtle or complex but quite promising with the successes and pretty bad with the failures.
I'll be trying again soon with a similar recipe and looking to be more correct with a few areas where i may have miscalculated- particularily the volume of water needed for the initial dough in- 1.25G per pound didn't get near to a half volume on the initial run. Also I think my mashout water temp was to low- I used water at the mashout temp instead of water hot enough to raise the grainbed to mashout temp. i don't want to believe that it could be a sanitation problem, but I suppose that is possible also if the off flavors persist after resting a few weeks in ther primary.
This is my first all grain and if it doesn't turn out well i can live with it, but would really like to get consistent good results with one style (belgian please) before I start brewing all grain in different styles.
I am pretty familiar with leffe blonde as it is the house beer in my home and i've had a few in the past few years. I'd be surprised if this carboy mellows to a drinkable state, and amazed if it a leffe clone but I'm willing to give it a chance.
thanks again for the good advice and encouragement.

Definitely keg it to age. I wish I had kegs....

My Belgians usually taste sorta bland and sourish when not carbed up and conditioned for awhile. They seem to suffer from yeast bite a little more than other yeast strains.

If you keg it to condition, can you put c02 on it, purge, hit a little more c02, then just leave it sitting at room temp? How long can you let it sit there if so?

Side question to go along with his, will it condition the same cold or warm or do the yeast need to be active to condition also?

TheSlash said:

If you keg it to condition, can you put c02 on it, purge, hit a little more c02, then just leave it sitting at room temp? How long can you let it sit there if so?

Side question to go along with his, will it condition the same cold or warm or do the yeast need to be active to condition also?

Click to expand...

I like it to absorb all of the co2 it can before I let it sit for any length of time. This way your airtight seal is kept in tact. If you do this warm, set your regulator to around 25-28 psi until you are closed to fully absorbed and then test it daily with a psi guage (you can make an inexpensive one from the auto parts store) until the keg pressure does not drop anymore. You can leave it this way for 6 months or longer and the beer will age. Darker beers tend to get better with age. I hear many lighter beers do not and should be drank sooner.

About the yeast, from what I understand, it will condition whether it's warm or cold and the yeast should be done their job before kegging. Some people go to a secondary to have as much yeast drop out as possible, others (like me) wait a week longer in primary and go right to the keg.

Also, I think it will age whether cold or warm, but you want to avoid changing the temperature constantly. Once you go cold, I'd drink it.

tknice said:

Another quick tip when you rack to the keg is to put a connector and ball lock on the other end of the siphon hose and connect it to the liquid side of the keg...

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OMG, this info just made my day! I'm relatively new to kegging & was having a frigging hard time dealing with siphon hose into the keg.
thanks!

midfielder5 said:

OMG, this info just made my day! I'm relatively new to kegging & was having a frigging hard time dealing with siphon hose into the keg.
thanks!

Click to expand...

Glad I could help! Yeah, a friend of mine figured that out and it makes it sooooo easy.

Don't forget to set the release valve to be locked open.