Kegging - when is it ready to serve?

My current process involves bottling and then chilling and tasting a bottle periodically to see if it is ready. Not just to check carbonation, but all aspects of readiness. I will start kegging pretty soon, and the way I understand it, this does not translate very well because once you chill, the maturation process slows way down. I have had no problem thinking of a few different ways to solve this, but I would like to hear how you all do it. Please share.

Force carb. No priming sugar, just hook up to the gas and keep it at 30psi for 24 hours. Shake the keg a few times in that 24 hours.

When time's up, turn off gas and bleed off all the pressure. Connect the gas again at 8-10 psi, and you're ready to serve.

So.... 24 hours and 5 minutes!

If I have a beer i need to age in the keg, I will hit it with 30PSI to make sure the keg is sealed, and put in the cellar next to my fermenters for a month or two.

for my Heffewizens, i can have them ready to drink less than 2 weeks after brewday.

DubbelDach said:

Force carb. No priming sugar, just hook up to the gas and keep it at 30psi for 24 hours. Shake the keg a few times in that 24 hours.

When time's up, turn off gas and bleed off all the pressure. Connect the gas again at 8-10 psi, and you're ready to serve.

So.... 24 hours and 5 minutes!

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What I mean is how do I know when it is ready to carb? I'd hate to chill and carb a whole batch and then find out it is still green.

taylornate said:

What I mean is how do I know when it is ready to carb? I'd hate to chill and carb a whole batch and then find out it is still green.

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I guess it's the same as bottling the beer. I don't keg the beer until it's ready, or at least a couple of weeks away from ready. If it needs more time, I'll keep it at room temperature until it's time to chill it.

YooperBrew said:

I guess it's the same as bottling the beer. I don't keg the beer until it's ready, or at least a couple of weeks away from ready. If it needs more time, I'll keep it at room temperature until it's time to chill it.

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What I am trying to get at is how do you know if it needs more time? The difference I perceive with bottling is that I can chill a single bottle to see how it tastes without chilling the entire batch. With kegging once I chill the keg the maturation process is slowed.

Have you all gotten to the point where you can taste it warm and flat and know if it is ready? What did you do before you reached that point? Would you advocate buying a carbonator cap and using it to carb and chill a sample or do you think it is unnecessary?

taylornate said:

What I am trying to get at is how do you know if it needs more time? The difference I perceive with bottling is that I can chill a single bottle to see how it tastes without chilling the entire batch. With kegging once I chill the keg the maturation process is slowed.

Have you all gotten to the point where you can taste it warm and flat and know if it is ready? What did you do before you reached that point? Would you advocate buying a carbonator cap and using it to carb and chill a sample or do you think it is unnecessary?

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Well, I generally wouldn't bottle before it was ready, either. I guess I just go by time. Most of my "regular" beers are ready in 5-6 weeks. I just keg it after the time in the primary and secondary, instead of bottling it.

You don't need to pull out a sample and chill it and carb it to see if it's green. You can taste it warm and flat and judge if it's still green. If it's yeasty tasting, or with hints of green apple, or it's harsh, it needs more time.

I recently started kegging myself - my thinking is that if I keg my beer on the same time line as I would have bottled it and then let it condition in the keg for 3 weeks at room temp before chilling down, it should be aged similarly to my bottled product (I start drinking most of my regular beers 7 weeks from brewday). I'm also priming the kegs because if it's going to sit for 3 weeks it might as well be getting some carbonation during that time.

Another option would be to bottle a sixer and then keg the rest - it would be a pain priming just those 6 bottles, but then you'd have some to pop in the fridge and taste test before chiling the entire keg.

If it's done fermenting (FG hit, not based on airlock activity) then I keg it and drink it.

Maybe I'm impatient, but if my bottling guideline should be 1-2-3 but I normally did 1-1-3 and it worked, then... 1-1-keg/drink works for me.

I let all my beers sit in primary, and if I do a secondary for a total of 2 weeks before checking FG....Once 2 weeks is up from the time I pitched, I look at my target FG. I then let it sit another week. So after a total of 3 weeks I check gravity again, if it is the same as my first FG reading - I keg.

Once in the keg, I hit it with the appropriate amount of gas (tastybrew.com), then I let it sit a few hours, shake, let it sit overnight, shake in the morning, and then bring gas down to serving at 8-10 psi. Then I let the keg sit for 2-3 days before I start drinking. If it taste green, then I let it sit a few more days before I drink again.

Just get the keg setup, you'll never look back. And it really is easier then it sounds, you'll figure out what techniques work best for you after 1 or 2 brews.

DubbelDach said:

If it's done fermenting (FG hit, not based on airlock activity) then I keg it and drink it.

Maybe I'm impatient, but if my bottling guideline should be 1-2-3 but I normally did 1-1-3 and it worked, then... 1-1-keg/drink works for me.

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this just doesn't hold water all the time.
its fine for smaller beers but if you brew up a big stout or a porter, its not going to be 'mature' in 3 weeks. might take 3 months.

or a barley wine...might take a year to hit peak flavor (or longer!)

it boils down to experience. you'll see many guys here will brew the same beer all the time...same recipe...that they've perfected over the months/years.

some generalizations can be made though:

higher gravity beers need to age longer
darker beers typically need to age longer

and conversely

light/delicate beers should be consumed fairly young
spiced beers , like a wit, will lose their spice over time, so you don't want to 'over age' them

if the original poster wants to taste the beer cold before kegging, just take a hydrometer reading, then chill the sample in a cold glass. you will start to get the knack for knowing your beer's "readiness" when warm once you start kegging. as far as keg aging, the best way is to just plan on waiting a week or two if you a Big beer like a scottish or stout or anything with a lot of body and high original gravity. you will get a feel for it with time.

maybe I'm wrong, but I think you could be over-worried about this.

IMHO you can't really keg 'too early' provided that the fermentation is fully completed. Let's say you had a barley wine that hit it's FG after 2 weeks - even if you force carb it immediately it's not going to be 'ready to drink', obviously. But, you can just put it somewhere moderately cool for 6 months and no worries it will age fine.

If you are really asking "how do I know when it's ready to serve?" That's even easier. Carb it fully. Taste. And evaluate. If it tastes good, it's ready. It not, it's not.

I agree that you should also taste it warm, you can still tell if it's ready. You shouldn't need to chill it. Even if you do chill, yeh the maturation might take a little longer, but not much.

I let most of my beers sit for 2 weeks. That's good for anything below 1.060 i find. My ales go straight to keg unless they're above the desired FG, my lagers go into the lagering fridge unless they are above FG too.

Once in a keg, I force carb. Most beers are palatable in a few days and the first pint or two is usually a little cloudy, unless I cold crashed the keg. But then after 2 weeks almost everything I've ever made is wonderfully clear (i use whirlfoc too) and the flavours settle quite well. Exceptions would be really big or complex beers.

blackwaterbrewer said:

if the original poster wants to taste the beer cold before kegging, just take a hydrometer reading, then chill the sample in a cold glass. you will start to get the knack for knowing your beer's "readiness" when warm once you start kegging. as far as keg aging, the best way is to just plan on waiting a week or two if you a Big beer like a scottish or stout or anything with a lot of body and high original gravity. you will get a feel for it with time.

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also makes sense!