Keg conditioning

[Scriv]

I'm currently fermenting a milk stout, it'll be done with primary in a week and a half. It's currently occupying my mini fridge, which I need free for my next batch. I'm planning to rack it to a keg, but I'm not sure what to do after that. I have a few choices:

1. Seal the keg up and condition it in the garage for a few weeks at ambient temps (65-85 this time of year).

2. Seal the keg and condition it in a closet at ambient temps (75).

3. Seal the keg and condition it in the kegerator at 38 degrees.

This is my first time kegging so I'm not sure how to proceed.

 

[pvpeacock]

I had a coffee stout that I keg conditioned for 1 year at room temp. Came out great. Aging really mellowed the coffee.

 

[day_trippr]

I'd go with Option 2. A fully fermented stout can handle 75°F pretty near indefinitely, imo, at least compared with pretty much every other style.

If you're looking for mellowing/melding/"aging", you won't get a lot of that at 38°F. And at the other end, constant, significant temperature changes are rarely great for anything organic...

Cheers!

 

[ol-hazza]

When you say condition do you mean to carbonate, to age or to clear (drop out yeast etc)

If you are priming and carbonating i would go with the cupboard at 75.
if you are just aging then I would go for the cupboard as well, it will happen faster at higher temps and day tripper is spot on with fluctuating temps
If you are trying to clear the beer then colder is better.

If you are not conditioning to carbonate then make sure your purge the headspace with co2.

 

[antony]

2. I wouldn't think temperature swings would be beneficial & not much will happen at 38 degrees. I regularly leave kegs at 65 degrees in my fermentation chamber...75 isn't too far off. best of luck.

 

[Scriv]

I should have mentioned I'm going for mellowing/melding/aging during this time, after a couple months I'll carb it up with co2.

 

[ol-hazza]

Then 2 is your option. Do purge the headspace with some co2 though, oxygen is the enemy. 5 times at 30 psi I saw earlier and sounds about right to me (Im not that specific when i do it myself)

 

[Gavin C]

Carb it right away. Otherwise the beer will absorb any CO2 in the headspace and you'll lose pressure and seal potentially putting the beer at risk to oxygenation.

Equilibrium pressure will always be reached in the headspace. Insure that equilibrium pressure of CO2 is high owing to having optimally carbonated beer in the keg.

Carb it up at ~38F to your desired volumes by burst caring or set and forget.

Now you've got a 5 gallon stainless steel vessel (giant beer bottle) of correctly carbed beer. Impervious to light and oxygen.

Put it wherever you want to condition. Cellaring temps or room temps.

Don't wait to carb it. No sense there. the beer can condition just fine while carbonated. it will be much more stable that way in an oxygen poor environment.

This is what I do.

• Fill keg with starsan
  
• Push starsan out with CO2.
  
• Rack beer to keg
  
• Purge headspace.
  
• Force carbonate (I just set and forget)
  
• Cold condition/lager at 35F

The only change you need to make is adding the following step

• Remove keg from fridge after it is fully carbed to condition at warmer temperature for desired time.

 

[Scriv]

Carb it right away. Otherwise the beer will absorb any CO2 in the headspace and you'll lose pressure and seal potentially putting the beer at risk to oxygenation.

Equilibrium pressure will always be reached in the headspace. Insure that equilibrium pressure of CO2 is high owing to having optimally carbonated beer in the keg.

Carb it up at ~38F to your desired volumes by burst caring or set and forget.

Now you've got a 5 gallon stainless steel vessel (giant beer bottle) of correctly carbed beer. Impervious to light and oxygen.

Put it wherever you want to condition. Cellaring temps or room temps.

Don't wait to carb it. No sense there. the beer can condition just fine while carbonated. it will be much more stable that way in an oxygen poor environment.

This is what I do.

• Fill keg with starsan
  
• Push starsan out with CO2.
  
• Rack beer to keg
  
• Purge headspace.
  
• Force carbonate (I just set and forget)
  
• Cold condition/lager at 35F

The only change you need to make is adding the following step

• Remove keg from fridge after it is fully carbed to condition at warmer temperature for desired time.

Sounds good, I'll give this a try. Thanks!

 

[MollyHatchet]

I condition my beers in kegs, and have found a lot of them are much better after they condition in the keg for 10-12 weeks.

Some the larger beers, the longer the better. The only problem, is getting ahead of the consumption and getting the pipe line filled. I currently have 10 kegs on standby, (filled with beer) My problem now is there are beers I want to do but don't have the keg space available. (Only two empty, four on tap)

 

[chickypad]

Carb it right away. Otherwise the beer will absorb any CO2 in the headspace and you'll lose pressure and seal potentially putting the beer at risk to oxygenation.

I do think this is a risk, however in practice I have not had it happen. I seal the keg with keg lube on the lid O-ring and a burst of high pressure. I've aged a lot of kegs this way for 4-6 months and found that there is always a tiny burst of pressure left when I go to hook it up for carbing - seems like the equilibrium is always at least a few psi (at 65-75* aging temps). YRMV as not all kegs seal the same.

 

[Gavin C]

I do think this is a risk, however in practice I have not had it happen. I seal the keg with keg lube on the lid O-ring and a burst of high pressure. I've aged a lot of kegs this way for 4-6 months and found that there is always a tiny burst of pressure left when I go to hook it up for carbing - seems like the equilibrium is always at least a few psi (at 65-75* aging temps). YRMV as not all kegs seal the same.

I suppose. I just don't see any compelling argument not to carbonate it completely prior to aging. 1-2 days is all that's needed to achieve this at correct temps and pressures.

 

[chickypad]

Laziness! May seem silly, but rather than bothering to chill it and juggle space and lines around in the keezer it's easier to hit it with my little portable CO2 tank and stick it in the corner.