Kegging: Can I condition and carb at the same time?

[dawho1]

I'm fairly new to kegging, I've had one brew on a picnic tap, and then I built up a 1st gen collar keezer that I've had one keg in. Both were force carbed.

I've got a couple beers getting ready to go, and had some questions about how I should handle them in particular, and also looking for some advice from other keggers about how to handle things in general.

First: I've got a stout sitting in primary, it's 13 days in, but probably only 11 days into fermentation. (nothing started for about 36hours so I repitched) 4 days ago I added some cacao nibs and vanilla bean that had been soaking in vodka for several days. I'm getting to the point where I'll either be transferring it into a carboy (I've been told I don't necessarily want to leave it sitting on the cacao and vanilla beans too long) or into a keg for some more conditioning. I'm assuming there is no problem with putting it into the keg, but my primary question revolves around should I condition it at more of a room temperature, or should I condition it in the keezer and let it force carb itself while doing so?

Second question is probably more of a personal preference, but I'm new, so I'm asking: what are the schools of thought vs force carbing compared to using priming sugar? Assuming I'm planning properly and can let the kegs sit a couple weeks to come up to carb levels, is there any downside to forcing? Will it affect the taste in a meaningful way? Does priming a keg and letting it sit introduce more sediment into the keg than would be there from force carbing?

Thanks for the help guys, it's about time I got around to registering and participating!

 

[Rockn_M]

Once you've reached FG or the gravity has remained constant for 3 days in a row you'll be good to move into whatever container you choose. You'll condition faster at room temperatures but if your hooking the keg up to a co2 tank you'll get better carbonation below 40 degrees. If your wanting to add priming sugar you'll need to keep the keg at room temperature and yes you will have additional sediment. After the first pint or two the sediment will be gone.

 

[dawho1]

Thanks Rockn.

Found this in another thread which may help answer my question. Looks like it would be best to condition at room temp with just enough CO2 to seal it up, then chill when ready to get it carbed (if forcing).

Please feel free to add anything else that may be handy to know!

I haven't read many success stories for carbing kegs with CO2 at room temperature. Liquid absorbs CO2 much more readily at colder (basically serving) temps.

All my kegs age now for at least 2 weeks at room temp...following a three week stay in the fermenter/secondary. Then it's into the chiller and onto the gas at 30PSI for 48 hours. Kill gas. Bleed. Drop PSI to 10 and serve. (I'll drop that to 36 hours if the keg is already cold when I hook it up.

The warmer conditioning time is also important for another reason (spoken from experience):
Rushing from the fermenter to the cold keg will suspend yeast activity...not kill it...just suspend it. The beer may taste perfect while it's on tap and this isn't an issue if you're going to kill the keg. But if you decide to BMBF some of your beer into bottles to save for a later date...storing those bottles at room temp will re-awaken the yeast and they will convert the small amounts of residual sugars into CO2.

I'm still pulling bottles off the shelf that were perfect in the keg...that are now over carbonated. If you have any inclination to bottle off some beers from your keg...either age that beer warmer...longer, or plan to refrigerate those bottles immediately.

 

[day_trippr]

I'll add a couple of caveats: first, if a keg actually needs gas pressure to hold a lid seal, know that the little itty bit of CO2 you pump in will be rapidly absorbed by the beer, such that the head pressure can easily drop to where it's no longer providing significant force on the lid seal. Second, many brews are best served young, and for those there is a disadvantage to "aging" before dispensing...

Cheers!

 

[dawho1]

Thanks day_trippr, good info.

 

[copyright1997]

The lazy man's way to great beer:

Unless I'm doing a beer that requires a secondary (e.g. a fruit beer), once fermentation is done I go from primary (carboy or bucket) to a sanitized corny keg. Sometimes I'm lazy and just leave it in a primary (especially if it is in a carboy) for an extra couple of weeks. Once in the keg, I put it under pressure whether it requires additional conditioning or not.

If there's room in the fridge for the keg, I will do the carbonation there. If not, I will just do the carbonation in my basement (currently about 63 degrees) and adjust the psi up to 30 or so. One caveat: I don't leave gas on, instead I just check every 12 hours for the first couple of days and add co2 as required (I have a pressure gauge).

I'm currently drinking a racer 5 IPA clone which is quite good, which I conditioned and mostly pressurized at "room" temperatures (again the basement)...because there was no room at the inn (keg refrigerator) due to 4 other kegs being in the way.

The nice thing about kegs: They provide a sanitary environment. You can easily adjust co2 levels as required. You can cold crash in the keg and get clear beer without filtering. You can bottle from the keg. You can keep the keg pressurized if you don't have space for it in your serving fridge. You can use them to keep star san. You can have them sanitized and ready for the next batch for a long period of time....and so on.

 

[NathPowe]

Just another perspective -

For any of my beers that are not particularly hop-focused, particularly stouts and porters, I carb them up naturally in the keg. Rack out of the primary and into the keg, dry hop for ~4 days if the recipe calls for it, and then add some priming sugar. 2 weeks for average gravity beers, longer for the big boys. In my experience, the amount of additional sediment is totally negligible.

In my opinion, these beers are conditioning as they're carbing up. However, the main reason I use this technique is pipeline maintenance. I have 2 taps and only enough room for 2 kegs. Having kegs carbed and ready to be chilled then served is key. I just balance out what I brew with things I prefer to be force-carbed/served uber-fresh (read IPA's) with things that won't be negatively affected by a bit of age. Kind of a two birds, one stone situation.

Disclaimer: This could be the seemingly never-ending keg of my Blind Pig clone talking.

 

[ig88]

I'm running into this issue as well.

So, I built a kegerator awhile ago and i'm running into the issue of adding my first home brew keg to it. It really doesn't fit 2 kegs. So I currently have a commerical sanke keg hooked up.

Can I put my home brew into my home brew keg, add 10-12psi to the keg and then let this keg sit at room temperature?

How long can it sit like that?

Does it need to have constant 10-12psi pressure or will it force carb with just a burst of 10-12psi and sitting at room temperature until i'm fiinished with my commerical keg and have the room for it in the kegerator?

Thanks!