Pipeline Question: Leave in fermentor or keg it?

[Seven]

I have a beer that's finished fermenting and is ready for kegging. However, I do not plan to serve this beer anytime soon and it's really just more inventory for the pipeline.

Should I leave it in the primary fermentor or should I keg it? It has already been in the primary fermentor for a total of 1-month and it has reached terminal gravity.

I'm wondering what would be best for the beer while it waits for us to tap it. It may be another month or two before we tap it.

Thanks for any tips.

 

[FenderSteve]

I would want to get it off the yeast so you don't get any off flavors. If you leave it too long on the primary yeast trub, you could get autolysis. I'd rack it to the keg, put the lid on, purge the air with CO2, and set it aside. It should be fine.

 

[Ace_Club]

I've left beers in the primary on the yeast for 3+ months with no off-flavors.

Don't worry about leaving it in the primary for longer, you won't get any off-flavors. However, you should look ahead to see if you will need the fermenter soon. Racking it to the keg and priming it with sugar would allow for further conditioning of the beer and free up a fermenter if you were itching to make another batch.

 

[Revvy]

A lot of newbie brewers who keg don't even realize they are drinking green beer, and how much better their beer is with some coniditioning time in the keg. Carbonation is not the same thing as conditioning. Ace is right, the prevailing wisdom these days is to opt for long primaries- the whole "off flavors from the yeast" idea is about 30 years out of date- modern yeast these days don't die and give off off flavors, in fact prolonged yeast contact, clears up off flavors, that are the byproducts of fermentation.

But just like beer benefit from bottle condidtioning, they will benefit from Keg conditioning as well. Leave it for a month, than keg it and leave it til you can drink it. Most experienced brewers who keg, have a pipeline and they have beers waiting to get into rotation, and they are conditioning while they are sitting there.....

 

[Seven]

I'll leave it on the yeast for another week or two then keg it. Giving it some keg conditioning time makes sense.

Thanks for the help!