Rack to secondary?

[Craw3773]

Ok, this is not your standard "rack to secondary" debate.

I have a Russian Imperial stout in a primary, and I plan to rack it this weekend. That will make roughly 3 weeks in primary.

I have a kegging system, and the original plan was to force carb it, and start drinking it. After a while, I was thinking about using some priming sugar, and keg conditioning it.

I am now wondering what would happen if I just racked it into a keg, used a small amount of CO2 to close it up, and left it sit without any additional sugar.

What are the benefits of each of these? Basically, the 3rd option is just a secondary without a blowoff tube. This would allow the beer to condition quicker than it would in my fridge, and when my fridge space opoens up, I could just force carb it.

What are your thoughts?

 

[flars]

Having a RIS in a secondary is definitely not unheard of. Conditioning in a keg with the air replaced with CO2 is better than racking to a second carboy for aging. I would go with the keg idea and let it age for a few months before drinking.

 

[Beer-lord]

I've let kegs filled with C02 and they've set for about a month before I had room in my kegerator. They've been fine.
But I just did a vanilla stout and did add some sugar to the keg as I want it to age a bit longer than normal before I chill it down and enjoy. I really can't see a problem with either of your suggestions.

 

[pvault98]

Definitely no harm in doing what you suggested, normally when I am in the situation I will rack to a keg under CO2 but also add priming sugar and condition at room temp. I figure I might as well take advantage of the keg sitting there and get it carbonated and such a big beer does fine with some additional time.

 

[Sippin37]

Yeah agree, rack to a keg with some priming sugar and let it condition for some time at room temp. Then when you're ready to drink just put in the fridge for a day then serve.