Keg Aging

[runningweird]

Force carbing just mean hooking it up to co2 instead of using sugar. Crash carbing is the shake method. Just setg at12 psi and forget for a week.

 

[billtzk]

Is it necessary to force carb before aging (30psi, shake, purge, 30psi, age) or just hit it at 30psi, disconnect co2 and then let age?

No, you don't have to force carb it before aging, but you do want to keep it from oxidizing.

I am not an expert, so if the experts want to chime in and explain any errors in my reasoning, I'd welcome that.

That 30psi you put on it will quickly get absorbed and go into solution while it's sitting at room temp. Then the pressure in the head space will drop, and if the ambient temp where you store the keg drops, you could develop a slight vacuum in the head space, which could result in air getting sucked in. Even if your seals are all good, they are designed to hold pressure inside the keg, not a vacuum.

I've taken to adding sugar and naturally carbing any keg that I don't have room for in my keezer. But if you don't want to do that and you don't have a way to carb it up completely before aging at room temp, then get a pressure gauge and check your pressure every couple of days, and hit it with more CO2 to bring the pressure back up. Do that until it stabilizes.

I could be wrong, as I said, but the reason I think it's possible for a keg with marginal seals to suck in air when it's kept in an environment subject to temperature swings is that I've seen a similar thing happen with air-locked carboys.