Keg conditioning/aging, carbed or uncarbed?

I just picked up a couple extra cornies. If I wanted to let something age or condition in a keg, or even a beer that is done but I'm not ready for, does it matter if it is carbed or uncarbed? Here is a couple scenarios;

1) Keg it with priming sugar then hit it with enough co2 to seal the lid and push out the o2.

2) Keg it and leave it hooked to a spare co2 tank and regulator at low psi.

3) Keg it, use co2 to seal it and remove o2, but then unhook.


All of these scenarios assume the beer has been in primary 3-5 weeks already.

I don't have any particular style in mind. Or a length of time really, I'm just staring at all these empty cornies thinking, damn i wanna get something in these. And it would be awesome to have a couple carbed, ready to go kegs in the basement.
Of course if I go natural carb then I'll leave it upstairs where it is warmer for 3 weeks before they go to the cellar.

I guess what I'm asking is this; does carbination help a beer keep longer, shorten it's shelf life, or not make a difference?

Thoughts?

Subscribed...Glad you asked this because I want to know also.

Would like to hear some input on this as I wonder about this too

Thirdeded, is that a word?

relax, have a home brew.

No scientific evidence, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't think carbonated or not would make much difference. At most dissolving CO2 might increase the acidity a little, but I don't that that would actually make any difference. I always hear people say that bulk-aging is better than bottle aging, which you could say is equivalent to non-carbonated vs. carbonated, but I thought that was more due to the volume.

When I age my kegs I use your method #3 and let them sit. Although, if you naturally primed you would build up a slightly larger yeast cake at the bottom of your keg, which might help to clean up some off-flavors? Plus, it would be ready to go when you kicked your other keg :cross:. Now that I think about it, I may try that with the next round I've got to age!

I tried and failed twice at naturally conditioning my corny kegs, even after pressurizing them. Just didn't get the seal. The Co2 has never been an issue for me because it's only going to become saturated to a certain point so as long as you don't over pressurize and you maintain a suitable temp theoretically you could age for months. I'm in the process of doing this with my winter warmer which is from christmas. It's a sipper 10.2% and by myself drinking 10 gal. of something like that is daunting. So I have it split between the keg I'm almost done with and the one that's been patiently waiting under pressure for almost two months.

I'd choose option number 1.

Just make sure to check for leaks before storing by spraying a light star-san / water solution on the top of the keg after sealing it up. If there are any bubbles then you know there's a leak.

Double_D said:

I tried and failed twice at naturally conditioning my corny kegs, even after pressurizing them. Just didn't get the seal.

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To this point while carbing naturally, has anyone tried hitting it with 30 psi to seal the lid, bleed it, hit a second or third time to purge the O2 then the last time leave 10 or 15 psi on it? I mean unhook the gas but don't purge it the last time. That way there is some pressure against the seals and such until the yeast get kicked off? I would think that tiny little bit of CO2 wouldn't make much of a difference in the end.

Also, what about a guage attached to a QD with a few inches of hose? Maybe a couple feet of hose so you can put the gauge on the liquid side and leave it. That way as it's carbing you could be sure it has the minimum amount of pressure that you left on it to start.

Yep, I think I may try that.

I condition in corrnies all the time. never had any problems. I did start a thread last week about carbing in the keg...here is the link.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/carbing-sugar-keg-226879/

I hit mine with gas to seal the lid and about every week I give it a little blast to keep it sealed. I release the gas, hit it, bleed it off and hit it again.

This thread looked somewhat related to a question I had, so I figured I'd ask it here rather than starting a new one. Would cwaite's option #3 work for temporary storage if I didn't have room in my keezer? I've been slacking and haven't finished the collar, and I have a brown ale that's ready to keg. I was considering just racking to the keg, using CO2 to purge the head space and seal, and just letting it set at room temperature until I had room. Does anyone see a problem with this? Thanks for the help!

FermentedTed, that's exactly what I do. I've only got two taps right now, so I like to have a third keg filled and ready to carb whenever I've got one that kicks, so I just hit it with 25-30 psi, purge it a few times, then let it sit at room temp until its ready to cool/carb.

cwaite37 said:

Also, what about a guage attached to a QD with a few inches of hose? Maybe a couple feet of hose so you can put the gauge on the liquid side and leave it. That way as it's carbing you could be sure it has the minimum amount of pressure that you left on it to start.

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I seem to remember this coming up before. Here's one link to a thread where they found a couple you can purchase. I seem to remember someone posting a parts list and instructions to make one in the DIY forum, but can't find it off hand. Heck, for the $20 one from Williams it might be worth the piece of mind.