Conditioning time in keg?

I'm very new to kegging and i have a question to start.

I've read/skimmed over the links in the sticky forum, but i still don't know what to do....

When bottling you move from secondary (through bottling bucket) into bottles and let those bottles condition for a few weeks.

Do you do that with a keg?

From what I gathered you go from secondary to keg, hook up the co2 get the co2 dissolved through it for a day or so and BAM you serve it!?!?

I'd like to know because i have some beers in secondary ready to transfer and two kegs just came in the mail, but the co2 kit/kegorator kit is a christmas present, so if they need conditioning, i'd like to put them in the kegs now and do the co2 on christmas day, but if that's not the case, i'm going to let them go in secondary till the 25th!

Kegging doesn't absolve you of the need to properly age your beers. One week is too short for bottles as well, that barely gives them time to carbonate. Leave your bottles (or kegs) alone for at least 3 weeks before you start ripping into them.

+1 for Brad, aging is all important and all my ales are 1 month old or longer before tapping them. Yes you can taste them and see how it progresses once the CO2 is hooked up. It takes 7 days to carbonate a beer or ale at the serving pressure of around 10 LBS. You can go up or down depending on the serving temperature. There are charts online that will tell you the proper pressure for every temperature.

One upside to transferring to the keg is they are easier to transport.

I like to take my kegs outside this time of year where they can cold condition and clear.

My beer fridge is full of serving kegs so that's not an option.

Plus, you'd free up your secondary for your next batch.

That is my problem too.. My kegerator is filled with my four serving tanks. How can I properly condition these kegs and still have 4 on tap. Will they condition at room temp?

Just to be clear, my beers have had 2 to 3 weeks in primary, and are on their 4th and 3rd week in secondary.

I know time is important, but i wasnt sure for keg vs. bottle time since the idea of bottle time is disolving the sugar and producing co2.

So if my stout has had 2 weeks in primary and now 4 weeks in secondary, and will be in secondary 6 1/2 at christmas, i could put it in the keg christmas day, carbonate it with co2 and serve it that saturday the 29th?

or should i keg this weekend and leave it in the keg till christmas, carbonate then, and serve on the 29th?

If you're doing your aging outside the keg then it doesn't matter too much, just that you ARE aging is the important part. I would give it at least a week to carbonate (to make sure you don't get any of that carbonic acid bite) so really at this point you could keg it whenever you like. Waiting until Christmas would just mean slightly less yeast still in suspension instead of falling out in the keg over the same period.

gonzoflick said:

That is my problem too.. My kegerator is filled with my four serving tanks. How can I properly condition these kegs and still have 4 on tap. Will they condition at room temp?

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I carbonate my kegs naturally by priming at room temperature (just like bottles). If you want to force carbonate at room temperature you'll need to have your CO2 at a much higher pressure (I think at 73F if you want 2.5 volumes you need about 30PSI but don't quote me on that).

I find its easier to just force carb at your serving pressure & temperature. It'll take up to 14 days to evenly carb.

it'll be drinkable, and some beers, like Kolsch, would be just about in their prime at that point.
other beers would benefit from storage, like a porter or stout, or any other 'complexly' flavored beer.

bradsul said:

...I carbonate my kegs naturally by priming at room temperature (just like bottles)...

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That is what I do also. So I'd recommend adding priming sugar and keg now. By Christmas, it will be almost two weeks of natrually carbing. It probably won't be fully carbed, but when you hook up the C02, it also wont take two more weeks to finish.

With natural carbing, the first couple of pints will be cloudy-just like bottles the spent yeast is on the bottom and you draw that first from the keg. After that, you'll have clear beer.

kinison_fan said:

That is what I do also. So I'd recommend adding priming sugar and keg now. By Christmas, it will be almost two weeks of natrually carbing. It probably won't be fully carbed, but when you hook up the C02, it also wont take two more weeks to finish.

With natural carbing, the first couple of pints will be cloudy-just like bottles the spent yeast is on the bottom and you draw that first from the keg. After that, you'll have clear beer.

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You can do both?!?

So priming sugar and beer goes into the keg, seal it, then after two weeks at room temp conditioning, you hook up the co2 cylander without unlocking the keg and infuse that way in the kegorator and after a week its ready to serve?

OblivionsGate said:

You can do both?!?

So priming sugar and beer goes into the keg, seal it, then after two weeks at room temp conditioning, you hook up the co2 cylander without unlocking the keg and infuse that way in the kegorator and after a week its ready to serve?

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After two weeks of natural carbing, it should be close to "serving" carbonation.
Think of the keg like a large 5 gallon bottle. The priming sugar only carbs until you "open" or tap the keg.

You need the CO2 from the cylinder to push/serve the beer, but also to maintain the pressure in the keg-otherwise the beer will go flat over time.

As you serve your beer, the head/empty space in the keg increases. Without replacing the co2 pressure in the head space, the c02 from the beer will come out of solution. Ever notice that a poured glass of beer or soda bubbles from the bottom or sides of the glass? They are being realeased from the beer because there is no pressure from the open top holding them in solution.

In your example, lets say you prime the keg and wait two weeks before hooking it up to your regulator set at 12 psi. If the keg only has 8 psi when you hook it up, about 4 psi will flow into the headspace. Inside the keg, the beer is still about 8 psi, but the head space is 12 psi. The liquid and headspace psi will naturally balance over time (more co2 will absorb into the beer). As that happens, the headspace psi will become less than 12 psi, and your regulator's diaphram lets more co2 into the keg. And when you you serve beer, the headspace psi drops and is replaced with co2 from the tank.

If the keg has 12 or more psi when you hook it up, the regulator won't add more c02.

I love this place...if you are patient,someone asks the question you were about to ask and it gets answered quickly with good info....I was just about to ask the same thing. I'm on my second keg, the first I force carbonated, this one I added the priming sugar and will wait two weeks before hooking it to the co2.

If you are 4-5 weeks post-fermentation, you can keg and force carbonate. Your stout sounds ready.

Room temperature conditioning is better than cold conditioning.

If you prime in the keg, always release pressure before hooking up to the CO2. Beer in the regulator is a pain. Alternatively, you can draw off the first few pints before hooking up. I have a pressure gage mounted on a gas connector for that purpose.