keg aging

[homebrewfrank]

Just a quick question for anyone thats done this.....if im going to age a beer in a corny keg for 6months or more, is it best to keep it carbing the whole time? Or just purge the O2 out initially, then force carb the last couple of weeks? Should it stay in a kegerator the whole time or is the basement ok (usually between 63-70 all year round)? Or what?

Any help would be great! Thanks!

 

[helibrewer]

When I have lagered in the keg (I'm doing 2 right now) I use enough CO2 to make sure the keg is sealed and that's it. I don't think there is any harm to carbonating it, I just happened to be pretty low on CO2 when I sealed these up. They are in their second month so I plan to start carbing them this week.

You want to store as cool as possible, I would leave it in the kegerator until you need the room in there for something you can drink

 

[Brew-boy]

I have had beer aging for years in a keg. I hit with 30lbs and put it away in the temp control chest freezer until needed.

 

[Yooper]

The temperature would depend on why you're aging it. Beer ages faster at room temperature, so if you're aging it because it's "hot" or needs some aging time, keeping it in the 60s would be great. If you're hoping to condition it via "lagering" to drop polyphenols and clarify the beer, it should be done at near freezing temperatures.

So, I'd condition the beer at the temperatures needed for my purposes. It may be a good idea to keep it at room temperature for 12 weeks, and then lager it for 12 weeks, depending on the beer.

 

[lpdjshaw]

I often have kegs "waiting" for up to 6 months, and initially I carbed them with dextrose due to small CO2 tank used only for serving. Once I got a larger tank I started storing them purged with 20-30psi then force carbing when ready to serve. Now I'm back to dextrose priming just because I'm tired of waiting for the keg to carb once I get it in the fridge. Anyways, I don't really notice that one way seems better than the other. I don't even notice any extra sediment when "naturally" carbing like many complain about. JMTC

Just a quick question for anyone thats done this.....if im going to age a beer in a corny keg for 6months or more, is it best to keep it carbing the whole time? Or just purge the O2 out initially, then force carb the last couple of weeks? Should it stay in a kegerator the whole time or is the basement ok (usually between 63-70 all year round)? Or what?

Any help would be great! Thanks!

 

[homebrewfrank]

Thanks everybody, im brewing a stout and want it to be ready for drinking around xmas time, so im most likely going to just keg it with about 30psi on it and the a few weeks before hand, throw it in a keezer that hasnt been built just yet lol to fully carb before drinking. Ive never aged a beer in a keg and wasnt sure what the best method was......def some good pointers from all, thanks again

 

[OldWorld]

Make sure your keg is air tight...get the gas in solution and forget about it...I have tasted many kegged homebrew that was stale and oxidized because they insisted they had to let off pressure to pour a pint...

Keep the co2 well into solution and it will last a long time...CO2 is a wonderful thing.

 

[JeepDiver]

I second just adding your priming sugar and letting it carb up naturally. Just hit it with enough co2 to seal it up to begin with. Then when you are ready to drink, you just have to give it a day or two to chill down.

 

[badbrew]

I'd add 2 oz dex to the keg just because I'd be paranoid that the keg would absorb the 30 psi co2 and then drop to near 0 again. Maybe physics won't allow it, but it has me thinking.