"Cellaring" kegged beer - carbed or not carbed?

[StewMakesBrew]

Hi All:

I've been brewing for decades but only kegging for a few months, and therefore have always known the value of cellaring a bottled beer for long periods - they get mellower, easier to drink, etc. provided they are stored correctly (darkness, moderate temps neither too hot or cold, vertically, oxygen barrier caps, etc.). Up to this point, I haven't cellared any of my kegged beer, now I'm seeming to be in front of the demand curve (previously, we seemed to be drinking it as fast as I was making it) and now I can make ahead.

Obviously a keg is an ideal environment for storing beer long term - it is impermeable to light, you flush it with CO2 prior to storage, etc. But, should I be carbonating these prior to storage or is it better to let it cellar uncarbonated (but with light C02 pressure in the keg that results from the CO2 flush), and then either force or slow carb it later, which of course is easy to do.

Your thoughts, good brewing pals? What's your experience here?

 

[BNolt17]

Not speaking from direct experience but I will give you my thoughts. I think you could do it either way with no significant difference. Carbing the beer before aging I would think you would be less likely to oxegenate. Purging with CO2 should in theory leave no chance to oxegenate, but more CO2 I would assume would make it even less likely. Personally, if I were bulk aging in a keg (which I plan to do soon with an Imperial Stout since I finally got a third keg) is transfer to the keg with bottling sugar just like I would be bottling and let it carb naturally and sit for however long I plan to age. As long as the keg is sealed I think any of the 3 options would work though.

 

[jwelch1103]

I carbonate all kegs immediately upon kegging the beer even those I plan on cellaring. I'm not saying this is better than not carbonating the beer immediately as I've never done a controlled experiment on this concept. It works well for me. For instance I made a quad in December of 2015, kegged it late January of 2016 and tapped it this past December and it is pretty good.

 

[Yooper]

Carbonation doesn't affect aging, just like when you bottle. You can age a carbonated beer a long time in your cellar, just as you can with a keg.

 

[bleme]

I'll add my vote for natural carbonation. The yeast will consume some of the O2 not flushed by the purge and it adds a whole different character to the beer. It doesn't make sense, as CO2 should be CO2, but the bubbles are different when you carb naturally.

 

[shoengine]

The way I look at it is why would you want to wait to drink it after already waiting to drink it?

 

[StewMakesBrew]

I'll be honest, hadn't thought about natural conditioning. Presume you use the same amount of corn sugar (2/3 cup per 5 gallon batch) as you would for bottling? May have to give that a bash.

 

[deepbluegroove]

I'll be honest, hadn't thought about natural conditioning. Presume you use the same amount of corn sugar (2/3 cup per 5 gallon batch) as you would for bottling? May have to give that a bash.

I have heard the calculation is different; less sugar. Look it up

 

[BGHSmt7]

The calculation is different. If using beersmith, you can choose the keg with priming sugar option which should give you the correct amounts.

View attachment 1493406103241.jpg

 

[brewcat]

It is my understanding that you want to reach carbonation equilibrium to keep the seal on the keg. So even carbing naturally it would seem you would want to keep enough CO2 on it to keep the keg sealed.

 

[bleme]

I've never had a problem with it loosing its seal. I throw my sugar in the keg, rack on top of it, and purge 4 times at 30 PSI.