Keg or carboy for aging

[kkimmes]

So I recently took the step and have a keezer. I absolutely love it and would highly recommend it to anyone.

I currently have one 6.5 gallon plastic bucket for my primary fermenter and a 6 gallon glass carboy for my secondary fermenter. I also have two kegs that I use for my beer on tap.

My beers are starting to back up a bit and I think I need another secondary fermenter for aging. My question is should I buy another keg for a secondary or another glass carboy? My keezer has enough room for another 2-4 kegs so space isn't an issue.

 

[osagedr]

I have found that the optimal system contains about a dozen each of 23 litre and 19 litre carboys plus 15 kegs and three 20# CO2 tanks. At least that's what works for me.

Don't pick just another corney or another keg. You need more everything.

Especially cowbell.

 

[AmandaK]

If space is an issue and you don't mind being blind to the beer, kegs are the way to go.

That being said, I have tons of Better Bottles for aging/souring.

 

[nickmv]

Vote for kegs here. You can store it in lighted areas without fear of long-term effects. Plus, it's just SOOO much easier to toss that keg into the keezer when it's time to drink.

Who wants to cold crash their beer and rack it into the keg when it could already be in the keg? I usually let my primary ferm finish up, then cold crash and into the keg (purge afterwards and put some gas on it), where I let it warm up and sit in the corner of my closet. Also, dry hopping and spicing/etc in the keg is easier. Just grab you some flavorless floss and a hop bag, and suspend it in the beer from the keg lid. Purge/vent when finished and remove.


Now, that being said, I can see instances where you would NOT want to do that. For example, a barleywine or a BIG beer. You want those to sit in primary and really mellow out before racking them off the yeast. There's a lot of cleanup that the yeasties have to do in those kinds of beers.