Kegging questions

[bikeandbrew84]

Hi everyone, new to brewing and I have a few keg questions.

I have read the thread on using kegs as a secondary but I am still a little confused in a couple of things:

1) Are you adding just enough carbonation to seal the keg or are you carbonating it to it's ideal carbonation for the style?

2) if you do carbonate a keg, can it still age?

3) what temperature do you need to hold the keg at while aging (I know it can vary with style but is there a general)?

4) finally when you tap a keg, is it then on a clock to be drank? The reason I ask is I have a blichman beer gun and was hoping to bottle half my keg but then to rest the other half till it is ready for draft service.

Sure am having a blast. This is a great hobbie!

 

[divrguy]

As long as you are completely done with fermentation, transfer to the keg and carbonate it to the volume of C02 appropriate for your style or your taste in the fridge. Let it sit(condition) for a couple weeks and have at it! To me, that's the easiest way.

 

[TallahasseeBrew]

Hi everyone, new to brewing and I have a few keg questions.

I have read the thread on using kegs as a secondary but I am still a little confused in a couple of things:

1) Are you adding just enough carbonation to seal the keg or are you carbonating it to it's ideal carbonation for the style?

2) if you do carbonate a keg, can it still age?

3) what temperature do you need to hold the keg at while aging (I know it can vary with style but is there a general)?

4) finally when you tap a keg, is it then on a clock to be drank? The reason I ask is I have a blichman beer gun and was hoping to bottle half my keg but then to rest the other half till it is ready for draft service.

Sure am having a blast. This is a great hobbie!

1. Depends on the style, if its a style that should be drank young, like an IPA, I condition while it's carbing. If its an aged style, like a braggot i'm aging, it's in the keg with just enough pressure to seal the lid.

2. yes, to my knowledge and experience, carbonation does not seem to affect the aging process.

3. Chilling slows the aging process, I age braggots, stouts and the like at room temp or slightly lower, usually put the keg in the fermentation chamber.

4. no. Assuming you're pressurizing with CO2 and not air, the keg should last for an extremely long time without really affecting the beer, besides natural aging. I mean, an IPA will lose hop flavor over time, but that's not the fault of being kegged and tapped.

 

[bikeandbrew84]

I appreciate it guys.

Talla- you mentioned aging your ipa while carbonating. How long do you carbonate for? Seems to be a lot of different schools of thought on this one

 

[Transamguy77]

1. I carbonate at 30 psi for a few days than back the pressure off to serving pressure. If I'm dry hopping I do it right in the keg and I leave it in till the keg kicks.

2. I've had a few kegs with beer in them for over a year, I made a rice lager that was aged and was fantastic at about 18 months.

3. Aging temp depends on my garage temp, now it's 50 degrees and in the summer it's 75+. No taste issues.

4. When using CO2 there is no time limit that I know of.

And yes this is a great addiction! (Hobbie!)

 

[brewprint]

Hi everyone, new to brewing and I have a few keg questions.

I have read the thread on using kegs as a secondary but I am still a little confused in a couple of things:

1) Are you adding just enough carbonation to seal the keg or are you carbonating it to it's ideal carbonation for the style?

If I were going to age in a keg; I would just put enough pressure to seal the lid and leave it at the aging temp. If you did carbonate first, it really needs to be somewhat cold to absorb co2. You could age it cold but my understanding is that it will drop the yeast out of suspension and would be a different type of aging.

2) if you do carbonate a keg, can it still age?

You could get it cold and carbonate it and then bring it back to a fermenting temp without affecting the quality. People age in bottles and this is essentially the same thing.

3) what temperature do you need to hold the keg at while aging (I know it can vary with style but is there a general)?

As I stated above; that would depend on how you want to age it. For an ale somewhere between 60-70 and I don't know about a lager.

4) finally when you tap a keg, is it then on a clock to be drank? The reason I ask is I have a blichman beer gun and was hoping to bottle half my keg but then to rest the other half till it is ready for draft service.

My beer is always on the clock to get drank because I seem to brew a lot. You could do what you're saying and bottle beer right out of the keg and then age those. That would work well if you want to move kegs. I don't like to bottle out of the keg or otherwise so usually it just get drank out of the keg. If I had more motivation I would bottle more out of the keg.

Sure am having a blast. This is a great hobbie!

See the above in blue.

 

[TallahasseeBrew]

I appreciate it guys.

Talla- you mentioned aging your ipa while carbonating. How long do you carbonate for? Seems to be a lot of different schools of thought on this one

I usually just set and forget carbonate, put the keg on at serving pressure and wait till it's ready, usually a week and a half or so.

sometimes I get impatient and jack the pressure to 30 PSI and shake the hell out of the keg, carbonating it in a matter of minutes.

 

[bikeandbrew84]

Thanks guys, all good feedback!