Conditioning in keg?

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Gustavo

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Ok, I have two brews that will be ready to keg. A witbier and a specked hefer. The instructions call for two weeks in bottles for conditioning. How will this work for keg. Also would priming sugar be stay the same.
 
Should I condition or keep in fermenter longer? Or am I way off
 
It depends on the beer. If it's already conditioned and ready to drink, it can be kegged and it's ready to drink when it's carbed up.

If it needs some conditioning, beer conditions faster at room temperature. If you want to prime the keg, and not force carb it, use 1/2 of the priming sugar you would use for bottling, usually 2.5 ounces by weight per 5 gallons. Then keep it at room temperature for at least two-three weeks.

Even if you're priming the keg, I'd suggest giving it a shot of co2, purging, and giving it another shot. This will eliminate any oxygen in the headspace, plus ensure that the lid is sealed. I spray the top lid and posts with some star-san mixture and check for leaks before calling it good.
 
Thanx for advice. Think ima give force carb a try, but would I condition in keg? Pre carb or post force carb. Also would I leave it the same amount of time 2weeks?
 
What Yooper said.
Also you don't need as much sugar to carbonate a keg as you would use bulk priming a bucket to bottle with.
Something along the line of if you need 3/4 a cup to bottle prime then 1/2 a cup is good for a keg. But it all depends on the level of carbonation you want/need for a specific brew.
 
My opinion differs from the above advice && to be honest I am not sure who is the most correct.
Firstly I know that the better commercial breweries condition with no carbonation at reduced temperatures of about 4 Deg C (40Deg F). Time period varies but I think 3 weeks isa typical minimum.
I have seen conditioning halls with over 1,000,000 litres of brew in conditioning-storage so this is quite an investment & is not done without good reason.

Second I have always thought that as a general rule we want to minimise yeast in our kegs, so we often go through a process, post primary, of allowing settling,- with or without a settling agent. Usually about 3 to 7 days depending on the type of yeast.
Many home brew yeasts have been developed to settle & form a cake which is not so easily disturbed so personally using these yeasts I do not use a seperate settling period; I just allow an extra 3 to 5 days in the fermenter. I then carefully syphon direct to keg & accept that maybe the first few glasses may not be perfectly clear.
I then allow 3 weeks at a minimum pressure of about 5- 10psi after bleeding of the entrapped air in the keg airspace.
You can keep track of the taste at this low keg pressure & ramp up to full carbonation when you believe you have achieved conditioning.
Any process whereby you force CO2 into your beer is "forced", the question is at what rate you force. Try not to over-carbonate because then you have to slowly reduce the pressure to achieve the correct level & this might take several days & waste a little CO2 gas.
So in my view forget sugar.
 
If you want to prime the keg, and not force carb it, use 1/2 of the priming sugar you would use for bottling, usually 2.5 ounces by weight per 5 gallons. Then keep it at room temperature for at least two-three weeks.

Even if you're priming the keg, I'd suggest giving it a shot of co2, purging, and giving it another shot. This will eliminate any oxygen in the headspace, plus ensure that the lid is sealed. I spray the top lid and posts with some star-san mixture and check for leaks before calling it good.
This is exactly how I do it and it works great. Helps to have several kegs but I let gets prime and condition in the keg for at least 3 weeks, then when they are 'on deck' for the kegerator I throw them in my chest fridge where they sit for about a month and then they go in to the kegerator when a keg kicks.

Bit of a luxury to have a chest freezer converted to a fridge and a kegerator but it is really nice. When a keg kicks in my kegerator I just grab a keg from the chest fridge, replace the empty and the tap is running again. Also nice to not have to screw around with or wait for force carbing. The beers seem to benefit from the conditioning time both at room temp then the month or so at 40 degrees. The month at 40 really helps my beers clear, at least in my case it always seemed it took a couple weeks for beers being in the kegerator before they cleared up. Now that I can condition for a month at 40 before they go in the kegerator they are clear after I drain off the first half glass.
 
I just cold crash the fermentor for 3-4 days. If you don't have fridge space other than time I'm not too sure what else can be done. Maybe gelatin but most seem to say that it works far better when combine with cold crashing.
 
Thanx, yes I have a large stand up fridge just for brewing. Is there a particular range for temperature
 
Thanx, yes I have a large stand up fridge just for brewing. Is there a particular range for temperature

If you mean for cold-crashing, the closer you can get to 32°F the faster and more completely you'll drop the yeast. I go to 34°F for four days, usually two 5 gallon batches at a time, and it really clears up the brew. When a keg kicks there's rarely more than a couple of tablespoons of yeast/trub at the bottom...

Cheers!
 
I do it the same, fermentors spend 2-4 days in the fridge before I keg (though my fridge is set to 38 degrees since I also keep some bottled beer in there). Also makes it pretty easy to transfer a dry hopped beer as all the hops will drop out of the beer.
 
My only issue with that is if I (crash) the fermenter. And I have to condition it at room temperature, would the temp change effect the beer.? Or how would I adjust to condition keg?
 
My only issue with that is if I (crash) the fermenter. And I have to condition it at room temperature, would the temp change effect the beer.? Or how would I adjust to condition keg?
That is how I do it. After transferring I just let the beer warm back up to room temp and condition. I don't think that one temp cycle hurts anything.
 
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