Conditioning in keg, no secondary

I have a batch that has been in the primary for over 2 weeks now and I am still getting bubbles, not very fast but still there. I have not taken a gravity reading yet, I need to get a old fashion turkey baster still.

Anyways, I am hoping to rack the beer late this week and am just wondering the process regarding when to put gas on it.

In the past, I have waited until there is like 3-4 minutes between bubbles, I am at about 75 seconds right now. Also in the past I was told to just stick the gas on right away after getting the keg sealed, but now I am thinking I should leave it sealed with no CO2 on it for a while to let it ferment out a bit more and condition.

Is this a good approach? I have been reading this forum a lot as well as "How to Brew" by John Palmer, but there is no clear answer that I could find. I guess I should go get that turkey baster and take some gravity readings. This is a big beer and I am thinking I may need to give it more time than I think in the primary.

i'd give it at least another week in the primary. i know it's not what you want to hear, but bubbles mean nothing. you want two (or better three) days of constant hydrometer readings before the beer's ready to rack. check out the sticky on when to transfer to secondary at the top of the page.

even after the gravity stops dropping, the yeast cake is still doing some work so most of us leave the beer in primary for a couple weeks after that. this allows the yeast to metabolize some bad-tasting byproducts and lets proteins and yeast fall out of suspension. the clearer the beer going into the keg, the clearer it'll be coming out.

john from dc said:

i'd give it at least another week in the primary. i know it's not what you want to hear, but bubbles mean nothing. you want two (or better three) days of constant hydrometer readings before the beer's ready to rack. check out the sticky on when to transfer to secondary at the top of the page.

even after the gravity stops dropping, the yeast cake is still doing some work so most of us leave the beer in primary for a couple weeks after that. this allows the yeast to metabolize some bad-tasting byproducts and lets proteins and yeast fall out of suspension. the clearer the beer going into the keg, the clearer it'll be coming out.

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Thanks, so I will be patient on pulling it out of the fermentor, but my main question is how long do I let it set in the keg before putting gas on it? Or do I even wait at all?

I guess going by the 1-2-3 rule, I will have done 3 in the primary, so 3 more in the keg. Man that is a long time to wait when I have nothing on tap.

well, once it's in the keg you can carb it on your schedule. carbing shouldn't interfere with conditioning and keeping it cold should actually help (as long as it sat in primary long enough).

as far as the wait, it's a somewhat debated topic on here. some people say they can have good beer in under a month, and i believe them. my rule of thumb is six weeks, although i've broken it before without any dire consequences.

for me it depends on a lot of factors but basically if it tastes good and its not worth it to you to wait a week and see if it gets better then have at it. if it tastes bad or just ok, there's a decent chance that some cold conditioning will improve it.

if you're curious to see how it tastes after some more time you can always bottle some (search "we no need no stinking beer gun" for a very cheap and easy method).

Well the air is still flowing at the same rate and I know I am not suppose to be watching this so I will take my first gravity reading tonight. But is still want to move the beer to the keg this weekend no matter what.

Can I consider the keg a secondary if I just seal it up and do not put any gas on it? Maybe pull on the air release once a day to release any CO2 buildup from any fermentation that is still happening.

Why the hurry to transfer it?

rh348877 said:

Why the hurry to transfer it?

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Well to be honest, I really want to drink it and 3 weeks seems like enough time, but I don't think I have ever brewed a beer with this high of a OG. I never did readings before, but I seem to remember there wasn't really any activity in my previous batches after 2 weeks.

I guess I can relax, but I can't have a homebrew because it is in the fermentor This will all be better when I have some on hand while more is fermenting.

I am also trying to reduce my store bought stock at my house as I have a bad habit of collecting beers with the excuse that I want to save them for a special day only to find out that beers do really expire and I don't want to go over that year mark or really 6 months expect in some cases, I had a Baltika #4 that was printed that it should be drank by 8/05 and tasted just as good as the first one in the big bactch I got 2 years ago. Gotta love grocery outlet for that, they were 2 for $1 and they were the 1 pint, 6 oz size too.

Was it Ed's Robust Porter that you are talking about kegging right now?

rh348877 said:

Was it Ed's Robust Porter that you are talking about kegging right now?

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Yep, that is the one and I am guessing you are going to say, leave it alone or something similar, which I can do, I was just wondering if I could use the keg as a secondary/conditioning vessel?

Why not leave it. A porter should have 2 months in my book.
In the mean time do a mild and drink it in 10 days.

humann_brewing said:

Yep, that is the one and I am guessing you are going to say, leave it alone or something similar, which I can do, I was just wondering if I could use the keg as a secondary/conditioning vessel?

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Of course you can. It will still take time to condition, no matter what vessel it is in. Moving it before it's finished may stall the fermentation, so you might as well wait until it's finished and then rack to whatever vessel you're using for the clearing tank. Even though it's not being bottled, it takes just as long to clear and condition as it would if it was bottled. Kegging isn't a shortcut to drinkable beer- it just makes it easier to drink without bottling.

I was going to ask recipe as well, becasue OG..and recipe can have a big factor in how long to age..I have Browns and Hefe's that I can go 2 weeks in primary and force carb and drink in another week..It really only gets better with age.

As for fermentation? without a gravity reading you will never know..the fact the it's going into a keg aleviates worries...but I would wait another week.

I just kegged a nut brown after 2 weeks in primary..It was a clean fast fermentation and the sample tasted great. SO 1 week on gas and its time to drink

J

YooperBrew said:

Of course you can. It will still take time to condition, no matter what vessel it is in. Moving it before it's finished may stall the fermentation, so you might as well wait until it's finished and then rack to whatever vessel you're using for the clearing tank. Even though it's not being bottled, it takes just as long to clear and condition as it would if it was bottled. Kegging isn't a shortcut to drinkable beer- it just makes it easier to drink without bottling.

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That is what I wanted to hear, thanks! Kinda sad though, but what are you going to do.

Before being on these boards I was always told the opposite about kegging. "Oh yeah, just throw it in the keg, put the gas on, shake it for 10 minutes and you are ready to drink it". This can certainly be done, but not ideal by any standards from what I have learned.

discgolfin said:

I was going to ask recipe as well, becasue OG..and recipe can have a big factor in how long to age..I have Browns and Hefe's that I can go 2 weeks in primary and force carb and drink in another week..It really only gets better with age.

As for fermentation? without a gravity reading you will never know..the fact the it's going into a keg aleviates worries...but I would wait another week.

I just kegged a nut brown after 2 weeks in primary..It was a clean fast fermentation and the sample tasted great. SO 1 week on gas and its time to drink

J

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The recipe is the Robust Porter by EdWort: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/bee-cave-brewery-robust-porter-56768/

I under estimated by efficiency (was my first AG) and got a 1.078 OG reading.

As long as my order from yesterday arrives by the weekend, I will be brewing a APA so they may finish about the same time I guess.

humann_brewing said:

Before being on these boards I was always told the opposite about kegging. "Oh yeah, just throw it in the keg, put the gas on, shake it for 10 minutes and you are ready to drink it". This can certainly be done, but not ideal by any standards from what I have learned.

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Oh, but that is true, also! The thing is- it should be 4-6 weeks old when you "throw it in the keg, put the gas on, shake for 10 minutes and you are ready to drink it".

You can certainly quickly force carb beers. That's a plus- but it doesn't replace conditioning appropriately.

YooperBrew said:

Oh, but that is true, also! The thing is- it should be 4-6 weeks old when you "throw it in the keg, put the gas on, shake for 10 minutes and you are ready to drink it".

You can certainly quickly force carb beers. That's a plus- but it doesn't replace conditioning appropriately.

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Ok, so lesson learned I guess, the point is that it needs to go through all of it phases, fermentation and conditioning no matter where it is. I think I will just choose to keep it in the carboy, that way I have easier access to it.

I was thinking if I had enough leftover after filling the keg with this batch I might use a growler as a secondary with some coffee grounds to see how it turns out.

This would totally be a experiment, who knows if I will have enough left over to do this, but I hope because I would certainly like to try it out. I am guess I would only need about 1 oz of ground coffee since most suggest 8 for 5 gallons.

What do you think?