Does beer change after kegging?

My setup usually goes primary till fermentation is done. Secondary for about a month. Then I keg, cool the beer, then slow carb the kegged beer. Once the beer is carbed, does the beer continue to change or mellow? I have read about people keg conditioning their beer, ie racking from secondary to keg, sealing the keg and letting it sit. Does this buy them anything that my system does not? Is there something I'm doing that I could/should be doing better?

 

It all depends on the beer, fermentation temp, ingredients used, everything like that. In general, though, green beer is green beer. If it tastes green out of the keg, then you'll probably want to age it. If it tastes good, it's ready to drink.

 

Roger that, I am just wondering if the green beer taste will mellow even in a carbed keg, ie ready to serve, situation. Seem like you are saying that it will.

In addtion, how is it that a lager, that has basically take ~3 months to get the to "ready to serve" step is still green? All that time lagering and it can still be green? I don't understand it.

 

Beer conditions, regardless of the vessel.

 

I have a very strong Weissenbock that has been in the keg for a while. Every time I taste it, it has changed. For the better.

:rockin:

 

YES...beer changes in the keg. The conditioning process can be a huge difference in flavor and mouthfeel, or very subtle, depending on the style. Generally, high gravity beer likes to condition longer. Imperial Stouts, Barleywines, Tripels and such tend to need long periods of conditioning for all of the flavors to "get to know each other". Barleywine can often have a very sharp flavor when first entering the keg and then mellow out very nicely within a year or so.

Most beers start out with a bit of a "green" flavor and begin to taste nice in a few days. The average pale ale, IPA or brown ale will usually be at it's optimum in ten days to a few weeks. Hefeweizens I like right when they are kegged or maybe a day or two later (others my differ, that's just my opinion).

Most of my beers are half way gone by the time they condition. It seems like the next to the last beer out of the keg always tastes the best!!

The first thing to slide into the background as a beer conditions is the hop flavor/aroma. The longer a beer sits in a keg, likely the less hop flavor it will have (unless it's dry hopped in the keg). I had one beer a few years back that was undrinkable upon kegging. It simply had too much hops and too much of a grassy flavor. It took over a year of tasting every few months but finally became one of my favorites. Don't ever "off" anything until it's been given a long time to condition. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about bacterial infections here, just slightly off-flavors.

Hope this helps.

-Kev

 

Part of the learning curve for me has been to sample and notice the changes in flavors from the hydrometer samples, to the keg, then continuing to sample as the keg ages.

Some of the nasty sharp flavors recede, and the complex flavors of the true beer profile move forward.

My theory on conditioning beer is to have enough in the pipeline to allow your homebrews to properly condition before you're banging on the keg. My son makes five gallons batches, and then drinks that batch before making another. He's always drinking beer that's pretty green. But that's his process.

Good Luck.