Dump or wait?

So I just finished a Belgian Red Ale. Fermented it in my carboy for two weeks and transferred it to my keg. It's been sitting on 20 psi for the last three days and dropped it to serving pressure of 12 psi. Tasted it yesterday and the flavor is a little off. It's drinkable, but just not what expected. Friend says its watery, I think it's acidic. Question: how long do you wait before it reaches peak conditioning? Does the flavor mature under warmer temperatures. Keg is sitting in my kegerator at 40 degrees. What am I doing wrong? Cheers!

 

I am under the understanding that generally packed beer matures properly between 40 and 50 degrees F. Too low of a temperature and there is little to no yeast activity and thus little to no maturation. When I make a Belgian Dubbel I try to store it in that temp range for 90 days before drinking it but that's just me...

 

It would be impossible to diagnose what went wrong without a detailed recipe, yeast type, and brew process. That being said it is still a young beer, and Belgian yeasts in particular can alter the flavor of the beer for a few weeks after brewing.

I did notice you used the word acidic. Now some belgian yeasts will throw phenolics that are acidic, or citrusy at certain temperatures, but you also ran it at a high psi for a few days. Running at a higher psi is hit and miss sometimes. I think we all do it once in a while to get a beer up to pressure when we are in a hurry, but the results aren't always perfect. You may have over carbonated the beer. An over carbed beer will often have a harsh acid bite from the carbonic acid. If the beer is tapping with a lot of carbonation, try turning the gas off and bleeding the co2 off the keg. Wait a day or so and put it back on at a normal level. You may have to repeat depending on how much beer is in the keg.

 

What I've wound up doing (for keg conditioning) is let fermentation finish out (2-3 weeks minimum), transfer to keg, pressurize to 15-20 PSI, disconnect the keg lines (still under pressure), and let it sit for another week or two before returning to the kegerator to chill down. Might seem a bit unorthodox, but it works for me.

 

Do you let it sit at room temperature? 70 degrees?

 

Yep. Depends on what the temp inside the house is, but usually 65-70-ish.

 

too cold, I have had green beer with that "acidic tang"

 

You're likely just drinking green beer. I'll usually have my beer in fermenters for 3 weeks, and in warm kegs pressurized for another 2-3 weeks before tapping. Even then, the flavors do still change and improve after chilling , just less quickly than warm. Usually my beer gets to around its peak a week or so after being chilled, which is normally about 2 months after the brew date. Granted some styles can be ready faster but yeah, unless something is really obviously wrong with your beer and you need the space for other brews, the answer is always wait, don't dump.