Keg - aging with or without priming sugar?

[drummer4gc]

i just kegged a beer for the first time. it is an ipa. it has been force carbonating for about 5 days and has a little carbonation (got restless and drank some early) but needs a little more time to be right. however, it tastes a little off. from my experience with previous beers that i have bottled, i can tell that it definitely needs some time to sit and age, as it went straight from the secondary into the kegerator and put under pressure.

i guess i really have two questions:

1. does beer need priming sugar to age? i have heard people talk about this sugar sort of reawakening the yeast, allowing them to do the clean-up that mellows out the flavor of beer. does beer age similarly if it is not primed with sugar? this is something i want to know for future beers.

2. as for aging this particular batch, i will probably just leave it kegerated, under pressure, for as long as i can stand, to let it mellow and age. would it be significantly faster to let it carb up for a few more days and then age it at room temperature? what would/do you do?


thanks for the advice. i have more beer brewing to go into kegs soon and plan on doing some trial and error, but figured it would be nice to have some opinions up front.

 

[MalFet]

Aging shouldn't be done with priming sugar. Except in a few cases (particularly soured styles), aging is a chemical rather than metabolic process. Your yeast should be very dormant by the time you get to proper aging.

In general, though, IPAs should be drunk young. You might want to look into your recipe if you've got some harsh edges.