Bottle Conditioning vs Kegging

[mrgrimm101]

Excuse my noobish question, but I was curious about something. I've no experience with kegging and am currently bottling everything. I understand that the beer has to sit in bottles for a couple weeks in order to obtain the appropriate about of carbonation, and also to "condition", which I assume is to mellow out any harsh flavors and give the beer more time to become more drinkable.

My question is, when a homebrewer kegs and forces carbonation in their beer instead of bottling it, what is the state of the beer? How would it differ from "bottle conditioned" beer? I assume it's fresher, as it can be drank sooner, but does it taste much different? Does the keg have to sit and "condition"? Are there any pros/cons to bottle conditioning as opposed to kegging?

Thanks in advance.

 

[RmikeVT]

What a question. Part of the reason bottle conditioned beer needs to condition is because it requires some time to actually carbonate the beer. Also, when you add priming sugar and bottle the beer, on a much smaller level, the yeast go back through the fermentation cycle. They acclimate, reproduce, ferment, flocculate, etc. During this process the yeast are producing esters, phenols and fermentation by-products just as they did when you initially fermented. The yeast need a little time to clean up their waste, for lack of better words.

Folks take different approaches to kegging. For me, I keg when the beer is ready for consumption (or when Im ready to consume!) so it has already spent the needed time to condition, that is not to say that it does not benefit from cold conditioning. When you bottle you can kind of blur the lines, bottle when the beer has reached final gravity and sufficient yeast has dropped out of suspension and you are both conditioning and carbonating at the same time, if that makes sense.

As an example: I have a beer that I know takes 6 weeks to full condition, I will leave in primary/secondary for 5.5 weeks and keg, serving the beer 3 days after kegging as that is how long it takes me to cool the beer down and force carbonate. If I were bottling the beer, I would leave in primary/secondary for 4 weeks and bottle and let bottle carb for 2 weeks. Both way I'm drinking the beer at 6 weeks, I just package at different times.

As far as taste, I'm not sure. I have read on this forum that there can be a slight difference due to the re-fermentation process that occurs in each bottle. But I don't think there is a quality difference.

My personal preference is to let most beers sit in primary for 4+ weeks and then keg. The beer goes into the fermenter and I don't touch it again until I'm ready to keg it, mitigating exposure to oxygen and microbes.

 

[mrgrimm101]

That makes sense. Thank you.

 

[Smellyglove]

I find my kegged beers to have a slightly crisper feel to them, which I like. They feel fresher and more consistent from pour to pour too, although I don't know if this is because they feel crisper, or some other reason.

I carbonate as usual, and then keg & carbonate. But the beer tastes better if I allow it to sit in the keg to mature for some time.

 

[mrgrimm101]

So basically it's pretty much the same. Either way, you're waiting for the beer condition itself in primary. And either way, the beer gets a little better after it sits for a some extra time.

 

[pvpeacock]

Another alternative is to add priming sugar to the keg and let it naturally carbonate in the keg just like a bottle. I generally let it sit in the primary ferementer for 2-3 weeks until it reaches FG. Then I add a half cup of water with sugar into the keg and rack from the primary fermenter into the keg. Seal the keg, purge the headspace with CO2 and let it sit for another 2-3 weeks. Then pop in the kegerator for a few days on gas at serving pressure and voila. The only downside that I have discovered is that the first few pours have the sediment (yeast that has settled out) in them and I have to pour those out. After that, its clear, carbonated and great.