Newbie keg question

[xmacro]

After fermentation when I keg and let the beer sit at room temp for a month to condition (don't wanna force carb green beer, after all):

- do I keep it connected to the gas the entire month, or do I just gas it once, disconnect, then let it sit for the month of conditioning?

- What PSI should I leave it at while conditioning?

- After the conditioning is done, is there any harm in force carbing, or should I let it sit at 12PSI for a month to slow carb it? Which is best for the beer?


Much appreciate any help

 

[Carlscan26]

After fermentation when I keg and let the beer sit at room temp for a month to condition:

- do I keep it on the gas or do I just gas it once, disconnect, then let it sit for the month of conditioning?

- What PSI should I leave it at while conditioning?

- After the conditioning is done, is there any harm in force carbing, or should I let it sit at 12PSI for a month to slow carb it? Which is best for the beer?

Much appreciate any help

You can do all of the above...with varying results.

If you're kegging you don't need to let it sit at room temps. Go ahead and chill it and start carbing it up - let it carb with the set it and forget it method and in two weeks your beer will have conditioned and carbed.

A one time shot will not be enough as CO2 dissolves into the gas over time so you need to keep the pressure on (so to speak) until an equilibrium is reached.

What pressure to put it at depends on what your fridge temp is and how you want your beer to be, per style of beer and preferences. There's a chart with recommended ratios here: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Of course you can also cold crash it and force carb over night, rock it etc. depends on if you're in a hurry how impatient you are and willing to risk over carbing and then dealing with that.

Good luck!

 

[ChandlerBang]

I prefer to leave it in my basement (slightly below room temp) on gas until I'm ready to put it in the kegerator. Use the chart Carl provided to decide the best psi for the temp you're at. If you cold crash it too early the yeasties won't get a chance to clean it up anymore.
Basically it's never too early to carb, so you can get the conditioning and carbing step done at the same time if you leave it on gas at roomish temp.

 

[ChandlerBang]

Also, once you do put it in the kegerator you need to leave it in there untapped for 24 hours. Then vent the keg completely and hook it up to gas and tap.

 

[beaksnbeer]

Also, once you do put it in the kegerator you need to leave it in there untapped for 24 hours. Then vent the keg completely and hook it up to gas and tap.

That is only true for burst carbing at a "set and forget" method after a couple of weeks you tap and drink.

 

[xmacro]

What I wanna do is essentially what bottles do - allow for mellowing, marrying, and controlling off-flavors so I'm not drinking a carbonated green beer. I want to

So can I just hit the keg once with a blast of gas and set it aside at room temp for a month, or should I leave it hooked up to the gas?

What PSI should I hit the keg with if I set it aside? What PSI if I need to leave it hooked up?

 

[beaksnbeer]

If your going to leave it at room temperature down here you may want to prime keg like a bottle, co2 take a higher pressure to be absorbed into beer the "Set and Forget" method is to set the seal at 30 psi vent keg thru the relief valve a couple of times. Disconnect the gas put keg in cold wait 24 hours hook gas up at 10-15psi (depending on style) leave for 2 weeks, tap beer may get a small amount of sediment in first few ounces but should clear up after that. At room temperature here in the south I would need to set my co2 at 45-50 psi to carb.

 

[Carlscan26]

What I wanna do is essentially what bottles do - allow for mellowing, marrying, and controlling off-flavors so I'm not drinking a carbonated green beer. I want to

So can I just hit the keg once with a blast of gas and set it aside at room temp for a month, or should I leave it hooked up to the gas?

What PSI should I hit the keg with if I set it aside? What PSI if I need to leave it hooked up?

You could carb it with sugar. But that's more work and one more opportunity for problems. Hook it up to the gas and set it at a pressure to match the style per the chart I linked to. That's the simplest way to go.

The main goal of bottle conditioning is to resuscitate the yeast to generate CO2. You can do this in the keg with the CO2 gas system. The secondary benefits are some additional cleanup and clearing of the beer as the yeast settles out. I've still seen my beer improve sitting for two weeks at 40 degrees. I don't know if it would improve more or faster at room temp.

There's a lot of ways to do this...

 

[Carlscan26]

Correction: set the Co2 per the style if beer and temp of the beer - when you fridge the beer you will then change the pressure setting.

Cold storage also protects your beer.