Conditioning Timing Question

[mlager]

So for the past year I've been kegging my beers, I usually throw em in the fridge at 10 PSI and let them sit about 7 days and I get a nicely carbonated beer. I notice, however, that the beer gets better and better as I make my way through the keg, clearing up, getting crisper, mellows out in a good way, etc...

So my question is, what do you guys do? I feel like I ruin half of my keg because I drink it to fast? Should I let it condition in the keg for 3 weeks before drinking it?

Any advice would be great.

 

[Dougan]

Have more kegs filled!

 

[aiptasia]

^ This, brew bigger batches.

I like to taste my beers at kegging day, then at 1 week to see how they are progressing. Bigger gravity beers will generally take a little longer to condition and mature, so I might let them set a little longer. For example, my wildflower honey black ale usually requires three weeks to settle down to something drinkable.

My IPA's and Belgians I tend to drink pretty young. They might go one or two weeks before tapping into them. Worse comes to worse, you could just bottle up a six pack and set it aside in a dark closet on a shelf for a while, then sample one beer a week for six weeks while writing down some tasting notes. From that, you should be able to gauge how the beer is maturing.