Kegged, and rubbing it in...

A "new-brewer" friend and I brewed batches at my house two weeks ago - him a Belgian Wit and myself an English Mild.

Anyway, he's really thinking about a kegging system. So while he bottled yesterday and can enjoy the fruits of his labor sometime in late March, I forced the issue a bit just to get a reaction.

I racked to the keg - finishing about 11:00am, cranked the pressure up to 30psi and frequently agitated the keg, reached my target pressure at 3:00pm, and cranked the pressure down to 11psi for serving. I then drew a glass, perfect head but just a tad warm, gave him a call, took a long drink of fresh homebrew, told him how well this batch turned out, and ask him to stop by real soon for a cold one.

I think "Junior" will be investing in a keg system in the very near future...


Hopsnort

Yes, but in the long run when your wise, patient, and prudent friend has long acended into beer heaven, you will still be serving time in purgatory as a humble but hasty kegging kockroach...at least that's the legend.

Better kegged than dregged!

I'd like to be the devil's advocate on this one and say that I do have a keg system but I do not have patience to go with it. I got the system because I do not have patience (yet), but I find that bottled beer gets a lot more time to age/condition and thus ends up being better beer. This is no fault other than my own, but I am seriously thinking about bottling up a batch and kegging a batch of "pig swill" to keep me occupied while the good stuff ages. What a beautiful mess I'm in, right?

Pig Swill? PIG SWILL!?!?!?


I usually do an extended secondary for "conditioning", but this was a recipe that could be rushed as it always seems to mature quickly.

AND I was showing off, of course.

An extract/steeped grains Brown Ale/English Mild bastardization with an ABV of around 2.7% (don't laugh..). Everyone expects it to be a thin brew, but with the addition of 1/2# of malto dextrin and some Munich Malt, it has the body of a bigger beer.

A great brew to have around when you just want a couple of pints without the "Bobbing And Weaving Floor Show". There is a certain challenge in making a low-alcohol beer with decent body and taste.

Besides, I'm too old for 7% - 8% beer as part of my recommended daily allowance. I long ago graduated from the "Dude, you can get wrecked on TWO of these!" phase of homebrewing.


Hopsnort

I still like to leave mine in the keg for 12-14 days before drinking(sometimes less ).I have 20 pints of IPA that have been sat in the bottle for 3 weeks,but as i kegged the other 20 pints(and have drank it ),i think they can stay in my garage for a month or so!!The beer was still a bit green .

Hopsnort said:

Besides, I'm too old for 7% - 8% beer as part of my recommended daily allowance. I long ago graduated from the "Dude, you can get wrecked on TWO of these!" phase of homebrewing.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember those brews... Back in the day i used to bottle a powerful brew in 40oz Old English bottles. A friend was once quoted saying "Man! What's in this stuff?! I think I'm seeing things!"