Kegged my first IPA tonight...

[cyclonebrew]

I racked my first IPA Extract beer to the keg tonight. Everything went smooth. I am using the keg as my secondary fermenter. I believe I will let it sit for a week and then move to the clarifying keg for another week. At this point move to a serving keg and carbonate for a week.

Does anyone do this that way? Or have any suggestions? Everyone has been a great help. Thanks again.

 

[Orfy]

I would think about it if corny kegs over here weren't around $60 a piece.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

I racked my first IPA Extract beer to the keg tonight. Everything went smooth. I am using the keg as my secondary fermenter. I believe I will let it sit for a week and then move to the clarifying keg for another week. At this point move to a serving keg and carbonate for a week.

Does anyone do this that way? Or have any suggestions? Everyone has been a great help. Thanks again.

You can simplify things a great deal if you want to. What I do is leave the beer in the primary fermentor for an extended period - say 2-3 weeks (or more for big beers,) and then just go straight to the keg, where I'll usually let it sit refrigerated, for about another week, then start drinking it. The first pint is usually a little cloudy, but the rest of the beer is clear and delicious. Since I started using longer primary times, the quality of my beer has improved a great deal. I'm getting really clean tasting brews now. That's for ales, for lagers, I still go through a single racking before kegging - though I have omitted the diactyl rest for longer, uninterrupted primary fermentation.

 

[cyclonebrew]

I ferment in an ale bucket, can you leave the beer in bucket for that long? I am going to be doing a brewers best scotish ale next weekend. So will try that process and see what happends. Thanks!

 

[gnef]

yup, definitely. HDPE is oxygen permeable, but not too bad, and the beer is constantly off gassing co2.

yeast autolysis varies depending on temperature, yeast strain, beer you're making, etc. but the range i've heard of people being ok, was somewhere around a month, to over 6 months without having issues of autolysis (i think the 6+ months was with a carboy though). you should be fine as far as autolysis goes for just a few weeks.

those are the only issues i can think of now, and giving a longer primary shouldn't be an issue as far as they go for just a few weeks. as always though, make sure you have good sanitation routines.

the longest i have gone in a primary is about two weeks, and that's mostly due to my impatience or needing the fermenter for my next beer. i also do a two week primary then to kegs.