I usually bottle my beer following the 1-2-3 aging guidelines. I just recently got into kegging, and have been reading a lot about cold crashing, and I am trying to decide which method to employ. Which seems better:
A. Leaving my beer in secondary for 5 weeks, to allow the yeast to "clean up" the off flavors and age the beer, then cold crashing the carboy for a week or so, then racking to keg and carbonating...
OR
B. Leaving beer for 2 weeks in secondary, racking to keg and aging for 3, then cold crashing, and serving off the sediment.
OR
C. Secondary for 2 weeks, cold crash, keg for three....
I want to go with plan A, since I feel that the more yeast present will help age it better, and then after cold crashing, I will leave behind the sediment and it will never enter my keg. Plan C seems ok too, but I fear that after the cold crash, I will reduce the ability for my beer to age well, or quickly. With plan A, I also am afraid of leaving it in secondary for 5 weeks, as I would hate to get off flavors of the yeast breaking down.
I just want clear, fresh, well-aged beer...
Any thoughts?
-Zythe84
A. Leaving my beer in secondary for 5 weeks, to allow the yeast to "clean up" the off flavors and age the beer, then cold crashing the carboy for a week or so, then racking to keg and carbonating...
OR
B. Leaving beer for 2 weeks in secondary, racking to keg and aging for 3, then cold crashing, and serving off the sediment.
OR
C. Secondary for 2 weeks, cold crash, keg for three....
I want to go with plan A, since I feel that the more yeast present will help age it better, and then after cold crashing, I will leave behind the sediment and it will never enter my keg. Plan C seems ok too, but I fear that after the cold crash, I will reduce the ability for my beer to age well, or quickly. With plan A, I also am afraid of leaving it in secondary for 5 weeks, as I would hate to get off flavors of the yeast breaking down.
I just want clear, fresh, well-aged beer...
Any thoughts?
-Zythe84