Difference between bottle/keg-conditioning and secondary fermentation?

[bernerbrau]

OK so I'm seriously considering getting into kegging (may splurge on a rig for my 28th birthday which is coming up). I would probably get the keg setup without a fridge for now, keep them in an inconspicuous location, and dispense into growlers/bottles for cold-crashing in my kitchen fridge as needed.

But I gotta ask about my current batch. It's a stout and it's been in secondary 2 weeks, after 2 weeks in primary. I'm considering waiting until I get my kegging setup to bring the beer out of secondary, then force carb and start serving. My question is, is there a significant difference between leaving it in secondary for 6 weeks and kegging it to serve immediately, and letting it condition once bottled/kegged? I don't see any reason for this to be the case, but I thought I'd get some advice.

 

[bulletproof4age]

No matter what method I use for carbing, I always prefer my beer on tap for at least a week. And no, it's not because the beer is green. It just tastes better when the carbonation is just perfect and IMHO, regardless of what method you use to carb, it always takes a week.

 

[Yooper]

It shouldn't matter, but I don't know how happy you'll be with the system you're planning.

Sure, you can force carb the beer warm, without any problem. To me, the problem may be getting it to stay carbed while dispensing and chilling. Warm beer just seems to foam as the co2 comes out of suspension. Then, it would have to reabsorb the co2 while chilling. It may work, though, but I think it'd be better to dig up an old fridge off of craigslist.

 

[bernerbrau]

Thing is if I can get 2 kegs, a tank, and all the connectors, regulators, hoses and taps I need for under or near $200 I can probably justify the purchase. If I have to throw a fridge on top of that it would probably push it to $300.

In any case I have "refrigerator" in google alerts for Craigslist and so far not a whole lot of bites.

 

[SmilinJoe]

Have you tried looking for a chest freezer on craiglist? That's what I ended up doing. Got a 5.0 cu ft for $40. I found that posting a wanted ad worked the best, the sellers come to you.

 

[malkore]

I prefer to give the beer 2 weeks in secondary just to drop more yeast out of suspension. Then I keg.

REmember secondary is NOT 'fermentation'...its for clearing. primary fermentation, secondary clearing, then bottle/keg.
Aging DOES begin once fermentation ends in primary.

 

[bernerbrau]

REmember secondary is NOT 'fermentation'...its for clearing.

I know, but everyone calls it that.

Aging DOES begin once fermentation ends in primary.

And I was wondering if I could age it indefinitely before transferring to bottles/kegs or if the bottle/keg time would have any appreciable difference (aside from carbonation of course).

 

[Budzu]

Just keep in mind if you get a chest freezer, you will need temp control, adding about 50-100$. A fridge will not require that to get you up and running. That said, a chest freezer is a better choice if you can manage it with the controller.
I would not personally recommend moving to kegs until you have some sort of chilling ability.
Good luck!

 

[GAbrewer]

+1 to having either a very good fridge or a chest freezer w/temp controller before you start kegging. I have a sorry a** fridge that won't cool much below 55-60 degrees, which I really think isn't ideal for trying to force carb. In any case trying to get the beer to carb right has been a constant struggle for me at those temperatures. I've essentially given up on kegging until I can get a better one. Bottling may be a pain, but when it tastes better and carbs better than my kegging efforts, the choice is clear. The fridge isn't a total loss; at 60 degrees it makes a pretty decent fermentation chamber if I leave the door open part of the time or unplug it at night.

 

[bendavanza]

+1 to fridge. They can be found cheaply or free at garage sales and craigslist, greensheet, etc. Expand your craigslist search to words like fridge. I picked up a counter high front door freezer for $25 last weekend. When I kegged before refrigeration, I was always battling flat to foamy beer. Now that it's all contained in a nice cool place with proper length and ID beer line, pouring perfect beer takes no effort.
At room temp your beer will need a lot more Co2 pressure to get the right volume of co2. At those pressures, your beer will fly out of a normal faucet and lines. If you get a jockey box, then room temp kegs are fine but you're going to have to feed that baby ice whenever you want to dispense.
There is a lot of parameters involved in good beer dispensing and refrigeration / pressure / line resistance is key.