Questions about kegging homebrew

[Vrtigo1]

Hello All,

First time poster here. I have a decent knowledge of beer but am very new to homebrew.

I received a homebrew kit from my wife for Christmas and currently have my first batch fermenting. I did a Brewer's Best Double IPA kit and it is currently on day 3 of fermenting.

The instructions that came with the kit assume you're bottling, but I already have a kegerator for commercial beer and purchased a corny keg so I can dispense with the hassle of bottling my homebrew.

I read this thread and it seems the consensus is that I should leave my beer in the primary for 2-3 weeks - no problem. After that I assume I can siphon it from the primary to the keg and start carbonating. I read this article about force carbonation and that is the current plan after kegging the beer unless someone here tells me that's a bad idea.

Assuming I'm OK up to here, would I be correct in further assuming that after I keg and force carbonate the beer it's basically ready to serve immediately?

Sorry if I'm asking newb questions but I'm new to this and haven't had a chance to read everything yet.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Yes to everything. Sounds like you are on the right track.

 

[bcmeyer]

Obviously don't forget to sanitize your keg. And it depends on how you force carb it to how fast you can drink it. You can force carb it by setting it and forgetting it (that takes about 2-3 weeks to carb up) or you can set it at the right psi and shake the crap out of it. It only takes a couple days doing that.

 

[Life]

BC is right in that you could say, set your PSI to 30 for 48 hours, give it a few good shakes every now and then, drop it down to 10-16 PSI and have decently carbed beer in 3-4 days. You need to be careful with this method though, as it's extremely easy to overcarbonate. Also, the beer will most likely taste a bit green at first, as it hasn't had proper time to age and meld flavors.

 

[Life]

Also, this is essentially a better version of the morebeer chart, WITH COLORS! I usually refer to this as different beers respond better to different PSI.

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

 

[bobby4]

Every batch I have done has improved after kegging. I think you are better to keg and give it a couple of weeks (especially if in the primary for only 3 weeks), but let the taste guide you

 

[BigFloyd]

Other than good cleaning/sanitization (StarSan is your friend), the only things I'd suggest are:

1) Set and forget carbing is a bit less tricky than burst carbing. Chill it to 38-40, set it on gas at 10-12psi and leave it alone for 10-14 days.

2) If you have the space in the fridge, after fermentation is done, put the primary fermenter in the cold for 5-7 days before racking to the keg. It will help to give you more clear beer.

 

[BansheeRider]

You don't need to shake the keg at all while force carbonating. Set the psi to 30 and leave it for 2 days if you start carbing at room temp. If the beer is already cold 30psi for 24 hours is good. Then set to serving pressure and enjoy in 3-5 days. My beer is perfectly carbed in 3 days using this method.

 

[Vrtigo1]

Thanks All for the advice. I had read that putting the beer in the fridge for a few days while still in the primary might be a good idea so I think I'll do that. Fortunately I have a beer fridge so space isn't an issue.

After I received my brewing kit I found out my brother in law is also a homebrewer and has been doing it since college 15-20 years ago. He recommended that I transfer from the primary to a secondary after about a week and then let it sit in the secondary until kegging it. His logic was that this would result in more of the particulates falling out of suspension and thus a clearer beer. He said that I could also add a clarifier when transferring from primary to secondary to further clear the beer.

I don't mind "stuff" in my beer as long as it's supposed to be there and had assumed clarifiers were mostly for folks that don't like to see anything in their beer. By not using a secondary or a clarifier, should I expect a very hazy beer?

 

[LLBeanJ]

A secondary (actually what we're talking about here is a brite tank since there isn't a secondary fermentation taking plate) makes little to no difference in clarity. What does make a difference is time. As time goes on, the solids settle. The longer you let it go, the more will settle. 2 weeks primary + 2 weeks secondary will result in the same clarity as 4 weeks in primary. Now, if you do a primary only and then go sloshing the beer around in the fermentor as you prepare to transfer to the keg or bottling bucket, you will have a lot more trub in the bottom that can get stirred back up than if you were to secondary first, but don't go sloshing it around and you won't have that issue. The main reason the old school of thought required a transfer to secondary (brite tank) was to avoid yeast autolysis, and it's a valid concern with commercial batch sizes, but on the home brew level, it's not something we need to worry about too much.

I do not secondary my beer except on very rare occasions, I don't use clarifiers, with the exception of Whirlfloc in the boil, I primary my brews for about 2 weeks then keg, and I get crystal clear beer within about 2 weeks of tapping a keg. I honestly don't see any good reason to secondary a typical brew and my belief is that if I'm going to transfer to secondary, there had better be a darn good reason for doing so.

 

[GASoline71]

You don't need to shake the keg at all while force carbonating. Set the psi to 30 and leave it for 2 days if you start carbing at room temp. If the beer is already cold 30psi for 24 hours is good. Then set to serving pressure and enjoy in 3-5 days. My beer is perfectly carbed in 3 days using this method.

I do the exact same thing. Works just fine without "shaking" or "rolling" the keg.

One thing about force carbing though... the beer is still not fully conditioned. The beers you drink at 5 days in the keg will not be near as yummy as the beers you drink after 14 days in the keg.

Gary

 

[BigFloyd]

I do the exact same thing. Works just fine without "shaking" or "rolling" the keg.

One thing about force carbing though... the beer is still not fully conditioned. The beers you drink at 5 days in the keg will not be near as yummy as the beers you drink after 14 days in the keg.

Gary

Good point Gary. I've also noticed that with freshly-kegged brews. A good brew 2-3 weeks down the road is even better. Unless I've got something special going on where I need that batch carbed right away, it gets carbed at service pressure two weeks.

I tried the shaking method once, just once.

 

[BansheeRider]

I do the exact same thing. Works just fine without "shaking" or "rolling" the keg.

One thing about force carbing though... the beer is still not fully conditioned. The beers you drink at 5 days in the keg will not be near as yummy as the beers you drink after 14 days in the keg.

Gary

I agree..

 

[bobby4]

Agreed. I over-carbed a beer once (unexpected trip leaving it at 30 psi for a week). Getting it back to normal was not as easy as some suggest. Now I just pop it in at 12 psi and wait a couple of weeks.

 

[BigFloyd]

Thanks All for the advice. I had read that putting the beer in the fridge for a few days while still in the primary might be a good idea so I think I'll do that. Fortunately I have a beer fridge so space isn't an issue.

After I received my brewing kit I found out my brother in law is also a homebrewer and has been doing it since college 15-20 years ago. He recommended that I transfer from the primary to a secondary after about a week and then let it sit in the secondary until kegging it. His logic was that this would result in more of the particulates falling out of suspension and thus a clearer beer. He said that I could also add a clarifier when transferring from primary to secondary to further clear the beer.

I don't mind "stuff" in my beer as long as it's supposed to be there and had assumed clarifiers were mostly for folks that don't like to see anything in their beer. By not using a secondary or a clarifier, should I expect a very hazy beer?

If you cold crash at 35-40*F for 5-7 days, your beer will clear up just fine and the yeast cake will firm up some too.

Racking every beer to a secondary is a legit commercial practice that apparently made its way into homebrewing (hey, the pros are doing it so it must be good, right?) years ago. In the big stainless conical fermenters used commercially, due to the weight of all that beer pressing down on the yeast being compacted in the small cone, something called autolysis is a real concern if the beer is left on the yeast too long. Since we're only doing 5 gallons in a bucket or carboy, it's preferable to leave the beer "on the cake" for 3-4 weeks (or even more) and go straight to bottling. Secondaries are useful for long-term aging/lagering or adding fruit, but for other beers it simply presents an increased risk of oxidation.