kegging question

I'm very new to home brewing, and I also keg my beer in corney kegs. My question is once its done fermenting (bubbling), and I've siphoned it into the kegs, how long do I need to wait to drink it? I know I'm not suppose to use the priming sugar that was included in the kit, but the kit assumes I'm going to bottle the beer. The kit says to wait 3-4 weeks to drink it if bottling and keep the filled bottles at room temp while i wait.

I also know I'm suppose to "burb" the beer, but do I need to refrigerate it after I have burbed it?

thanks!!

I leave my beer in the fermenter about 2-3 weeks, then keg. If it's a "regular" beer and it tastes good, I put it in the kegerator and drink it. It does get better with a little time, but it's good as soon as it's carbed up. For "bigger" beers, I will keg them and keep them at room temperature a couple of weeks, or even longer if the beer needs the time. "Green" beer tastes kind of cidery, and isn't clear and the flavors haven't melded yet. With practice, you can sort of guestimate the time it needs at room temperature. Beer ages faster at warmer temperatures, and cold conditioning will slow down the aging process tremendously. So, put only beer that's ready to drink into the kegerator.

I don't know what you mean about burping the keg. I wouldn't do that. If you have some co2 in there, that's great. That's what carbonates the beer, and protects it from oxidation. In fact, I keg my beer and then give it a big shot of co2 to seal the lid and purge the oxygen out of. I give it a shot of co2, then pull the pressure relief. I do this about three times, then leave it with the co2 in it.

I made a pale ale the Tuesday before x-mas, kegged the following Wed (12/30), force carbed Thursday morning (12/31) and served for new years. It was, and still is very good. So you don't really have to wait at all once the beer is cold and carbonated. However, as with all beer, it will only get better with some cold conditioning. I find that beers usually get to their "best" in about two weeks but I rarely wait that long to start drinking

You can use the priming sugar. You just have to make certain the lid is sealed.

There are a lot of discussions in the bottling and kegging forum about various methods. As has been said, you can use priming sugar just the same as when bottling. Personally, I like to avoid as much sediment in the keg as possible. If you want to forego the priming sugar, there are generally two schools of thought. There is "set it and forget it" which is hooking up the keg at your serving pressure (generally 12 PSI) and letting it sit for two weeks. There is the fast/force-carb method where one sets the pressure higher (30 PSI?) and shakes/rolls the keg to get the CO2 into the beer. While the fast-carb method can get you carbonated beer in short order, if your beer is still green, you won't get the benefit of another two weeks of aging. I usually do a hybrid of the two: two days at 25-30 PSI, then set it to serving pressure. This gives me decently carbed beer in about a week.

When you say "burping" the keg, I believe the term you're looking for is "purging" the keg. Folks can be a little particular about nomenclature. Yooper gave you the info on purging a keg. Once a keg is filled and purged, there is no problem storing it at room temperature just like bottles, though I'd try to find a relatively cool place.

Thanks for the advice! I researched many websites prior to using this forum when I read the phrase "burbing the keg".

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