New to Brewing, When can I keg?

[Fastsc92]

Hey all,

Totally new to brewing and I had a few questions. Most of my questions I was able to find answers to by doing searches, but one in particular i wasn't able to find a definite answer to.

A little background...

I've always been into beer gizmos and I've expanded my draft beer equipment most recently this year. I finally said to myself, "Heck, why don't I just try to brew my own...?"

After a few days of research, I was at my local distributor buying all my supplies. I decided to go with a 6.5gal primary bucket, standard odds and ends, and I got myself a Corny keg, just because I have all the other equipment to dispense it. I decided to skip all the bottling equipment.

I started out with a True-Brew Amber kit. The kit was extremely simple and I'll be sure to step it up next time, but I figured this would give me a good basis to get the process down.

The brewing process was a snap and after cleaning and sanitizing my equipment, the wort was in the primary and it was extremely active within 9 hours of pitching. Most of the airlock activity stopped around 36 hours after pitching. My starting SG read about 1.045-1.046.

Here is my question:

I plan to crack open the primary in a few days (total time in primary will be exactly one week), and measure where the SG is. It should be around the 1.010-1.012 mark. I've been reading that even though the instructions say I can bottle after a week, I should leave it in there for longer.

With that being said, I plan to leave it in the primary for an additional week. After a total of two weeks have gone by, is it then OK to transfer it directly to my keg and artifically carbonate it and begin drinking it?

I mostly read about a 2-3 week period in the primary and then an additonal 3 weeks in bottles to condition.

Am I losing anything by putting it in the keg and artifically carbonating it? Since 99% of the topics here deal with the question of 'When can I bottle?", my question is, "When can I keg?" (and more importantly drink?). I feel like a lot of the bottle questions are considering the fact that you are still conditioning the beer for an aditional 3 weeks, mostly to carbonate, but in my case, I'm going straight from the primary to the keg, to my frosty mug.

To sum it all up, my questions are:

1.) Should I transfer to my keg after 1 week and enjoy?

2.) Should I let my mixture sit an additional 1 week (two weeks total), then keg?

3.) Should I let it sit in my keg for an additional period after the two week mark?

I appreciate all the help!

 

[meddin]

If it was me, I would let it sit for 2-3 weeks in the primary. Then, assuming fermentation is complete, I would keg & force carb.

See this thread for force carbing tips: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/

 

[meddin]

ps. Welcome to HBT!

 

[CanyonBlue]

I would say you could keg anytime you feel that fermentation has completed. Exactly as you have said, check a SG and go from there. Some people leave it longer to help the yeast settle out more. Along the same line, some people will go into an additional container to clear it further. Some use filters. It's kinda each to his own.

I'm not an expert on this, but it sounds to me that your on the right path and line of thinking. Good luck.

CB

 

[remilard]

I'd just get it clear before you go to the keg. Depending on the yeast, the beer may be clear at the end of fermentation or it may take some time and/or cold. With some yeast it will take filtering or fining, but that is just a few strains. The yeast vendor will provide information on flocculation, more flocculation means it will clear easier (however if you can use cold or finings or filtering, there are advantages to less flocculant strains).

It will clear in the keg, but I like to get less microbiological mass in there if I can help it.

 

[Fastsc92]

Update to this...

I pulled off the cover to my primary after the 7 days in order to take a peek, as well as get another SG measurement.

The starting SG measured in at 1.046, with a correction factor of 1. The final SG measured 1.018 with a correction factor of 1. Therefore:

Starting= 1.047
Final= 1.019

The instructions say it should be in the 1.010-1.012 ending range. That works out to be roughly 3.6 % Alc. by volume. According to the measurements, it seems like it needs more time, but any activity has been dormant for the last 4 days.

Other observations:

There was a lot of sediment floating on top, as well as still suspended in the beer itself. It does have an nice amber color, but it's clarity is comparible to a hefeweizen. My sample wasn't very clear at all.

As far as taste is concerned, it tastes like beer, but it has a very bitter taste to it. Perhaps this is an indication that it needs more time, or it could be just the character of this beer. Bitting units are rated at 13.0; how that compares to something else...I'm not quite sure. It also could just be that I tasted it at higher than room temps, completely flat, and it's throwing off my judgments.

Comments?

 

[IceFisherChris]

Instructions are crap. They say to ferment for 4 days, to use the airlock to measure when your fermentation is done, to boil your grains, or to bottle for 5 days. I don't know who makes them, but they don't agree with the general consensus of experienced home brewers.

I would let it sit in the fermentor for 2 weeks at the minimum, before you bottle. 3+ weeks if you have the mental strength to wait. One of my last batches was bottled after 6 days in the fermentor (I was experimenting) and it was not impressive. It's been about 7 weeks in the bottle now and they are starting to taste much better.

And yeah I think beer tastes more bitter when it's warm than cold. Don't be worried about the taste, it changes dramatically once its ready to be served.

 

[Fastsc92]

I plan to keep it in the primary for another week at least, and see where it's at next weekend. I guess what I'm confused about is that I'm kegging it, rather than bottling it. Therefore, I'm losing that 2-3 week aging time while it's undergoing self-carbonation. I'm afraid that I might never get out of the "green" phase before the keg is empty.

 

[COLObrewer]

Yeast are still working at 7 days, If the "activity" you speak of is refering to airlock activity, then you would be best served by ignoring it. Airlock is simply a means to allow co2 to escape during fermentation and to keep contaminates from entering.

You should stay with your original plan and check it again in a week, most fermentations are different than the last in some way or another as it is very hard to duplicate exactly every condition every time.

If it's still not clear enough, wait another week, at that point racking to secondary might help, kinda depends on your yeast, maybe try some gelatin finings also.

As far as kegging goes I find it takes the same amount of time to condition in the keg as it does in the bottle, notice I say "condition" not "carbonate". I like to naturally carb the beer in the keg.

Welcome to brewing my friend

 

[NHBeerDude]

I recently made the switch from bottling to kegging. Here's what I would do: once you've transferred your beer to your keg, refer to a carbing chart. http://powersbrewery.home.comcast.net/~powersbrewery/carbonationchart.html Different styles of beer require different amounts of carbing. Once you've figured this out, set your psi and let it sit for 2 weeks. Before you drink your beer make sure you turn down your psi, otherwise you'll get all foam. Under 8 psi is usually good for serving, but you will probably need to make some adjustments based on how long the hose is.

 

[jturie]

Remember the bottling side of homebrewing? After fermentation is complete (at least 2 weeks), you bottle and let it sit for at least 2 more weeks. Why should kegging be any different? After 2 weeks in primary, I rack to the keg, stick 10-15 psi (depends on style and temp) and let it sit for at least one week, with 2 being better.

Don't rush it.

 

[bigjoe]

Let it sit longer and like COLObrewer said the airlock isn't an indicator of a finished fermentation. 50% of my beers never move the airlock. Your only doing yourself a favor to wait.

One thing you can do to ease your curiosity is take a sample of about a 1/2 pint and force carb it in a soda bottle. You'll know what it tastes like at that point. I use a cap from a plastic soda bottle with a 1/2" hole drilled in it. I put a stainless schrader valve for a tubeless tire in the hole I drilled in the cap. I put a "T" in my CO2 supply line, and bought an air chuck for my CO2 tank. Put the sample in the bottle and cap it. Then hit is with CO2 from the air chuck. Within an hour or 2 you'll have a carbed sample of green beer. Something like this. Scroll down to "The Bulkhead Cap" section. I leave a huge head space usually and just pump about 20 PSI into the soda bottle via the schrader valve. I don't leave it hooked up to gas the whole time.

 

[Fastsc92]

After all the great replies so far, I think I'll let it sit in the keg for an additional 2 weeks (if I can last that long).

I know the priming sugar is used in order to carbonate the beer once in the bottle, but am I losing any flavoring by not using sugar? Heck, if I have to wait two weeks in the keg, why not just let it naturally carb right?

I guess the whole time I was under the impression that kegging the beer, vs. bottling it would allow me to drink the beer a few weeks sooner. The #1 reason for me however was that I would only have to clean one container vs. 40+ bottles. Since I already have multiple beers on tap in my system, it only seemed like a natural choice to start by kegging it.

 

[3bals]

Here's one that I did. I brewed a pilsner on 8/31/09, after several weeks in the primary and several more weeks in the secondary with gelatin, I kegged and force carbed on 12/22/09. I tapped it and had a couple pints for the first time on 3/12/10 and it was good. :rockin:

 

[david_42]

The total time is the same, bottles or kegs. There are a few beers you can force carbonate and drink sooner, but 6 weeks start to finish is good for most. 8 weeks is better.

 

[Hang Glider]

Since you're force-carbing, no need to use the priming sugar - doesn't add any flavor, it's only there for the yeast to eat to carbonate bottles.

Having kegged for the past 5-6 years, I'd go with 2-3 weeks under pressure, just like bottles. While you can crank up the pressure and force the carbonation, the bubbles seem smaller and smoother when allowed to carbonate over time. PLUS - you're allowing the beer to condition in the keg, blending flavors. Initial tastes of bitterness and alcohol 'hotness' will smooth out with a little time.
Welcome to the hobby! it's not only about beer, it's also about patience. This is a craft. nothing to rush. I have one in the fermenter 5 weeks now - and I'm just now thinking about kegging it for guests coming in mid April. They will get to experience good hombrew at it's peak, instead of 'green.' (it's an amber)

 

[Fastsc92]

Another update...

I took a SG reading the last few days. Final reading was 1.012 with a .001 correction factor. Therefore: (1.047-1.013) X 131.25= 4.5% ABV; right where it should be.

With that in mind, I kegged it, in an attempt to get some more clarity to it and to free up the fermenter for another brew. It appears a lot clearer than it did last week, but it's still fairly cloudy. I'm hoping that the addition of pressure and a cold environment will help kill and settled any of the suspended yeast still in the solution.

As for the taste, it still seems really bitter to me, which may go away with age. It almost has no flavor to the beer itself, but finishes bitter. It may just be a characteristic of the beer itself. Can someone give me a comparison of how a beer with bittering units of 13 stacks up to a commerical beer?

Anyhow, it's sitting in the keg with 12psi at 37deg and I plan to leave it there for a week before I crack into it. Keeping my fingers crossed with this one.

 

[Shepherd5]

I noticed that the bitterness subsided during the first month in the keg, and the lack of flavor is something that concerned me with my first two batches. But they ended up tasting quite good! One strange thing I noticed was that my beer sometimes tasted very different day to day, week to week. I guess that was due to my own body chemistry relative to my taste buds. I think you will be pleased with yours.