Distractions while kegging lead to a slight mishap; course of action?

So I decided that after 3 weeks in the fermenter, that today would be a good day to take my hydrometer reading and if it matched up, keg my brown ale. Now before I decided to do this, I thought a thorough cleaning of my kegs would be in order as well. I cleaned them inside and out, and now it was time to check the FG of the brown ale.

This is where the problem came. I had plenty of distractions in the form of interested onlookers (AKA my drunken father and one of his friends were visiting) that happened to be around during this operation. As a result, my father happened to be both drunk and with a friend of his, pretty much older my shoulder from the start, watching me. A little annoyed and distracted, I ended up kegging the beer without checking the FG, and in doing so after the fact, came out at 1.018 (supposed to be 1.011-1.012).

Now that what's done is done, my question is this; what do I do now? Can I use my keg in 70-75 degree F temperatures as a secondary of sorts, until the FG is about right, or should I attach the CO2 as if nothing ever happened?

I know hindsight is always 20/20, but lesson learned; make sure you're going to be alone all day on kegging/bottling day

I would hit it with a bit of CO2 to seal the lid and then leave it as you said. check in another couple of weeks for the FG, then proceed as normal. You will either: 1) Save a bit of CO2 from that used to get down that exta 6 points; or 2) Your beer is finished a bit hight than the expected FG.
If you do do this I would keep an eye on the pressure as I think the normal amount of priming sugar will raise the SG by about 2-3 points, either keep burping the keg to the correct pressure or build a PRV setup to do it for you.

After three weeks I think you're at your final gravity, high or not.

Well the temperature at which I left the fermenter would decide that, no? It was roughly 60ish, and I know that could slow down the process or even stunt it altogether depending on the yeast strain (which I looked up and 60 is on the low but still acceptable end).

+1. you are probably at final.You could leave it at room temp for a few days with just enough CO2 to seal and see if it falls a couple more points, but I'd bet not.

ebj5883 said:

Well the temperature at which I left the fermenter would decide that, no? It was roughly 60ish, and I know that could slow down the process or even stunt it altogether depending on the yeast strain (which I looked up and 60 is on the low but still acceptable end).

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It can have an effect but most of what determines FG is the level of unfermentables in your wort (i.e. how much extract you used or how high of a temperature you mashed) and the health of the yeast. A batch of Centennial Blonde is almost done with it's primary in my fermentation chamber which keeps the wort/beer at 60*F (not just the ambient temperature, as fermentation will always make your wort hotter than ambient temps) and it's finished at 1.008. But then again, I did mash at 150*F.

I'd leave it in the keg at room temp (sealed with a blanket of CO2 first of course) and see if gravity drops any after a week.

But as GameFace said, after three weeks you almost certainly on your FG

I have kegged a beer a little before it was done, and seal it, let it sit for an extra week or so, then begin the carbing process. I wouldn't open it after letting it sit that extra week. Or I should say I didn't open it after I let it sit. You will need to throw it out the first glass or two.

So it's in a 70-75 degrees F environment right now (maybe even 77ish due to today's hot weather) in the keg, depressurized it a bit this am, didn't seem to "gain" any pressure or anything, which I wasn't really expecting anyway. I'll let it sit another day or so, but if the LHBS agrees with my FG pretty much going to stay where it is, then I'll just set up to carb and just cold condition it at 35 degrees F (my keezer temperature, that is) for a while after it's done. This sound like a decent idea?

ebj5883 said:

and in doing so after the fact, came out at 1.018 (supposed to be 1.011-1.012).

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So you're off by .006-.007. Big deal. You have beer. Drink it. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Well from what I understand, bottling when it's too high can result in making "bombs" which was my original intention (bottling a 12 pack straight from the uncarbed keg using carbtabs) for a Jack and Jill raffle by request. Just rather not blow up anything and make the entire upstairs smell like stale beer, lol

ebj5883 said:

Well from what I understand, bottling when it's too high can result in making "bombs" which was my original intention (bottling a 12 pack straight from the uncarbed keg using carbtabs) for a Jack and Jill raffle by request. Just rather not blow up anything and make the entire upstairs smell like stale beer, lol

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Kegging it before it finished would result in overcarbed beer IF it was left to ferment out unchecked, but bottling that beer IF it was unfinished and 6 points high would result in bottle bombs especially if you still used the carb tabs. If it was for myself and I could keep an eye on it I would still be very cautious, but since you are talking about giving this away where you have no control over how they handle it (not matter how many times you tell them!) I would not be doing it.

Right, that's what I was getting at but either way, 5 gallons of brown ale to myself isn't anything I'm going to cry about. lol