Is CO2 necessary to condition beer properly?

[WalkingStickMan]

I've heard a few people say that, in order for a beer to be able to condition properly, CO2 must be present.

When you all keg your beer, after fermentation and any additional time that the beer is left in the primary, do you carbonate and then let age if additional conditioning is necessary? Or do you purge your keg, then let age for whatever additional time, uncarbed?

Also, are you usually cold-aging your beers in the fridge, or leaving them out at room temperature to continue conditioning after racking from primary? I've read that the conditioning process is sped up at room temperature vs. colder temps, however it seems as if a longer cold-aging period helps to smooth out a beers flavor as well, maybe due to proteins, yeast, etc. dropping out of solution.

Just wondering about everyone's process, and specifically whether the claim that CO2 needs to be in solution for a beer to age properly is on point or not.

Thanks for any help!

 

[beaksnbeer]

The co2 that you put into the keg serves 2 purposes 1 removes oxygen 2 it carbs the beer unless you prime. But with exception of hoppy and heffes with DO NOT do well with longer chilling times. But kegging and let set on 12psi for 2-3 weeks at 40* clears and carbs for perfect beer............my .02