A begginer Kegging problem

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strangecarr

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Hi there,

This is my first - I have recently discovered the joys of homebrewing, even though I haven't done my first brew yet!

I have a question;

I siphoned my brew from my fermenting bin into a pressurised keg (King Keg top tap). The brew didn't fill the keg to the top, I thought it should have because it was five gallons; although there was a bit left at the bottom of the bin and I wasted some by taking hydrometer readings.

I tasted the brew from the keg after it had been conditioning for about a week and it didn't taste like the same beer that I have purchased directly form the brewery. It looked good, smelt ok, but didn't taste that good. I'm thinking that the oxygen left at the top of the king keg may have interfered with the conditioning.

Am I being paranoid, do you think the beer will taste better if I leave it for longer? I thought the conditioning was just about getting some CO2 into the beer and letting th sediment settle.

Any thought?
 
CO2 comes out of solution when you rack, so oxygen isn't a problem. Give it another 3-4 weeks.
 
you have the keg hooked up to CO2 now right? (i'm not familiar with King Keg)
 
I don't have any CO2 hooked up to it, only what is being produced from the fermentation of the priming sugar. I'm just worried about the gap at the top...and any oxygen that might have been there that could have caused some oxidation to cause a strange taste.

Does conditioning actually improve the flavour significantly, or is it just about the clarity?

Cheers,
 
Conditioning does improve the taste. Don't worry to much about the head space as the CO2 will form a protective layer. Just don't shake it up and you should be OK.
 
Conditioning is all about flavor. If you're looking for a cleaner, less yeasty flavor, you might consider using tank co2 for carbonation instead of priming sugar in the future.
 
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