Keg Conditioning Question

Hey now,
Well my oatmeal stout has been in the primary for 16 days and is done. I now have a refrigerator to store my kegs in. My question is should I keg the beer and leave at room temp for a week or two to condition, or should I keg and put it straight in the fridge and start carbing. Thanks Again. BigAl

There are 2 schools of thought here.

1. Natural carbonation - Using additional sugars (or DME) to prime the yeast. I have never done it this way. (I don't know off the top of my head how much to use, maybe consult How to Brew or the Wiki).

2. Force carbonation - Using CO2 to carbonate.

Personally I use the force carbonation method. What works for me is to apply 30# of CO2 pressure for 30 hours. Bleed off the CO2 and add serving pressure. It should be ready to go right then bet better after a few days. I think Biermuncher came up with this technique, it works for me and many of us use it.

Remember, just because the FG has been reached doesn't mean the beer is "done." I always find that my stouts taste much better after a month or so of conditioning.

YMMV.

I force carbonate in keg so I don't need to worry about any more sediment from the natural carbonation dropping out into the keg. I just hook up at serving pressure and let it equalize over a week or two, then serve. By that time I'm drinking 6 - 8 week old beer and it has usually conditioned enough to be very drinkable. But the last pint is still always the best. I'm moving to a 10G batch for the next Oatmeal Stout to make some to age for a while.

so I guess my question is .... do I let my beer condition at 40-42 degrees in the fridge or at 60 in the garage for the next two weeks? thanks.

Personally, I leave on yeast in the primary for at least 4 weeks, rack to a keg and cold condition as I force carb at serving pressure for two weeks.

Very drinkable after 6 weeks and comes into it's own around 8 - 9 weeks.

This is with an Oatmeal Stout of 1.061 OG and 30 IBUs.

Phunhog said:

so I guess my question is .... do I let my beer condition at 40-42 degrees in the fridge or at 60 in the garage for the next two weeks? thanks.

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If you want the best tasting beer, age it for 2-3 weeks at fermentation temperature (60-70F). Be sure to purge the oxygen from the keg, and pressuize the keg which will also seal it. At the end of this time, hook it up to the CO2 and force carbonate at 30psi for 2-4 days depending on your desired carbonation level. I've found this to produde a beer more similar to bottled versions of the same beer, as opposed to force carbing for 3 days then drinking.