Question About "Green" Beer

So I have been brewing in the one week primary strait to carbonation. Will the beer not age further while its carbonated? Am I missing out greatly by not racking into a secondary? Lastly Can I just secondary ferment into the keg without co2?

 

I'd say you are missing out by not letting it age in the fermentor for 2 or 3 weeks, but that is me, and I've done no taste testing to compare. There is no reason to secondary, you just let it primary for longer. Actually moving to a secondary can be contra indicated unless you are doing something like adding more sugars (fruit, honey, malt, etc) or other flavorings like dry hopping. Some people here (self included) have not found a difference going just in the primary for most beers, but we leave them there longer.

There are roughly 3 overlaping stages of yeast in the fermentor depending... first the lag, where the pick up nuetrients to grow, then the ferment where they convert most everything and then the clean up. You 1 week and bottle is cutting short the clean up phase where they scavange up some of the molecules that are less pleasent to taste. I usually go for 3 weeks in the fermentor and skip the secondary going straight to a bottling bucket.

I don't keg so I'm not sure how to answer that.

 

The answer isn't so cut and dried. Once you move the keg to cold, the yeast will mostly go dormant and won't do anything to clean up any esters or off-flavors created during fermentation. Flavors can still mellow in the malt and hops profile whether kegged or not, though possibly slower at colder temperatures. If you keg but DONT chill right away, the yeast can still do this job, but if you're priming the keg for carbonation or force-carbing, know that yeast is sensitive to dissolved CO2 and will go dormant again if too much is present.

Generally accepted answer is that one week is simply not enough time to accomplish everything the yeast is supposed to do. Two weeks might be enough for certain styles and it only goes up from there.

 

OK great to know! Can you secondary ferment in the kegs that are uncarbed

 

I'm inferring that you want to free up your primary fermenter for another batch. Am I right? You don't really need to move to a secondary at all unless you're adding adjuncts or dry hops. Your best bet is to get another primary vessel or space out your brew sessions to two weeks apart.

Yes, you CAN move your beer to a corny and condition it there, but you're asking for a couple things - contamination from the move while it sits there. Moving it off the yeast cake too soon and stalling anything that's happening and leaving a ton of sediment in your keg, which could clog up your line or give you gunky beer. None of these are that likely, but certainly possible. If you decide to do this, purge your keg with CO2 before racking off to it. Then each day or so, release any pressure in the keg from the release valve.

 

These simple steps work for me, and most of my beers are around 1.055 or below starting gravity.

1. primary about 14 days, sometimes a couple days more

2. Cold crash in primary for 2-3 days. this drops the yeast out of suspension

3. siphon to the Corney(s). Use a piece of nylon stocking zip tied over the discharge hose to catch yeast and trub

4. chill at 38-40 dg for about 30 days

beers ready to be carbed and drink. I used to filter my beers, but now i dont bother I find that after dumping the first pint and then the beer comes out crystal clear, and I dont use geletan, but i do use irish moss in the boil

I time my brew schedule about every 3-4 weeks to keep up my supply. I go through about 10 gallons every 6 weeks

 

My SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is to secondary/condition in a keg. It's a nice sanitary environment where I can eliminate oxygen by doing a co2/vent/co2/vent/co2 cycle. Make sure you have enough co2 to ensure a seal, and let it sit. (I usually give it 12 psi or so.) Rack from the primary into a sanitized (e.g. StarSan, Iodophor prepared keg.) If you want, you can filter or use a sanitized net to make sure you don't transfer crap from the primary to the keg. (I usually don't, just be careful not to take the yeast from the bottom or the primary.)

After sitting for a while, you can chill the keg (cold crash) or start carbing it. After a few days at cold crash temperatures, I usually draw a pint or two to get the yeast out that's fallen to the bottom of the keg. An alternative is to shorten (or bend) the beverage out tube...then the remaining yeast and crud fall to below the draw level.

The least I let it sit in the primary is about 1 week. More if I don't brew. One week if I need the primary for another batch.

Having multiple kegs for conditioning makes this easy to do and almost foolproof.