Wanna jump into the deep end from the start - could use advice

[MakoMadness]

First post on the forum. First off I wanna thank the people on here and the admins. I have been reading posts for weeks getting ready to start home brewing and all the information has really helped. That being said I'm a little lost and could use some basic guidance.

After reading all kinds of views and posts I think I'm gonna go with the following general system. Is it a good idea?

Primary (7 gallon bucket), secondary (5 gallon better bottle), keg, then poss bottle.

I would like to end with a personal beer but with a professional presentation - sediment free. I know different beers will require different fermenting/conditioning times but my hope is by purging my secondary,keg and bottles with co2 I can avoid oxygendation while moving around so much.

I know the forum is somewhat divided on secondaries but my thinking is the secondary will help clean the beer, as well as allow me at add flavor. But once fermenting is done, I would like to keg it to age/carb.

This is the main area where I get lost. My idea is to store the kegs in my basement at room temp say 60-70. I don't understand though for heavier beers that talk about months of conditioning, should I be adding just a little co2 to purge the oxygen then letting it sit. Or am I better off carbing over several weeks then disconnecting from the co2 and letting it sit for months.

Btw I want to age in the keg cause I don't want glass carboys for safety reasons and I'm also not a big fan of liquid sitting that long in a plastic container. My thinking was with a keg it's a dark no oxygen environment which should be perfect to age in.

I do plan on bottling some of the beer, tho once again am I better off carbing in keg then bottling then ageing or ageing in keg, carb then bottle?

My final question to this long post is serving from a keg. Am I better off leaving the keg out at room/outside temp and using one of those systems that cools through steel/copper tubing ( I believe that's how bars do it right?) or do I build/use a kegorator keeping the beer cold till gone. Would keeping the beer warm mean that if I only finish half the keg I can disconnect it put on a different flavor and save the half keg for another time maybe months away?

In the end I would like to have many different beers available to drink not being forced into drinking what's on tap till gone.

Thanks ahead of time, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I venture forward.

 

[jaytizzle]

Welcome to the forum! I was an utter noob not long ago. I brewed my first batch almost 2 months ago and am now 30 gallons of beer and 5 gallons of apfelwein in!

First, you're gonna play hell getting a sediment-free beer. You stand a better chance if you're going to keg then bottle from the keg using a bowie bottler or something similar.

Using kegs for aging isn't a bad idea at all. It's up to you if you want to carb while aging or not. I don't think it will hurt anything. Get it carbed to the right pressure and leave it be for an extended time frame.

As far as serving, kegerator/keezer is absolutely the way to go. Jockey boxes, etc. are usually temporary solutions at parties and the like. You don't have to worry about temp swings when using a kegerator, either. If you want to pull the keg off halfway through and put another one in its place, go ahead. It really shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[rcbishop]

Personally, I would definitely age the beer fully carbonated. This is one of the things that help keep bugs out, if I recall.

It does not have to be refrigerated, of course. In fact, if you aren't going to be drinking it for a while, it is possible to use priming sugar right in the keg (but check to make sure it is pressurized after a week or two, as kegs can leak).

As for having a sediment free bottle of beer, I just bottle mine out of the keg when I want to take it somewhere.

 

[wolfstar]

KISS

 

[scrambledegg81]

After reading all kinds of views and posts I think I'm gonna go with the following general system. Is it a good idea?

Primary (7 gallon bucket), secondary (5 gallon better bottle), keg, then poss bottle.

This is actually the typical setup you'd find at many homebrew shops, so that looks good. Make sure you get a large enough boiling kettle, a good propane burner (Bayou Classic is one of the best brands), a stainless steel stir spoon, proper sanitizer (Starsan or iodine-based ones work best), at least twice as much tubing as you think you'll need (you'll be surprised how quickly you can go through it), muslin bags for your grains & hops, and a Wine Thief to transfer with. For bottling, you'd need a bottling wand with the proper sized tubing, caps, and a capper (butterfly style works best from my experience). There's a ton of other miscellaneous stuff you can get that will make life easier, but those are the bare essentials.

My idea is to store the kegs in my basement at room temp say 60-70. I don't understand though for heavier beers that talk about months of conditioning, should I be adding just a little co2 to purge the oxygen then letting it sit. Or am I better off carbing over several weeks then disconnecting from the co2 and letting it sit for months.

In terms of purging O2, it's better to either:
a) Keep the keg at serving PSI for the duration, or
b) Set at a lower PSI and shake the keg every few hours to disperse the CO2 within the beer (which results in quicker carb times, but overall lower conditioning times). Here's a great reference table for specific styles/PSI's. Afterwards, you can age to your hearts' content.

Btw I want to age in the keg cause I don't want glass carboys for safety reasons and I'm also not a big fan of liquid sitting that long in a plastic container. My thinking was with a keg it's a dark no oxygen environment which should be perfect to age in.

You'd be right there, as long as you purge the oxygen for the first day or two.

I do plan on bottling some of the beer, tho once again am I better off carbing in keg then bottling then ageing or ageing in keg, carb then bottle?

In my own experience, I haven't found the need to keg and bottle a particular brew, but bottling can be a fickle mistress. The gold standard is about 2/3 cup of priming sugar to each 5 gallons of brew (diluted in boiling water, of course), but you would have to calculate out how much sugar you'd need for each particular bottle in order to get the carb levels right.

My final question to this long post is serving from a keg. Am I better off leaving the keg out at room/outside temp and using one of those systems that cools through steel/copper tubing ( I believe that's how bars do it right?) or do I build/use a kegorator keeping the beer cold till gone. Would keeping the beer warm mean that if I only finish half the keg I can disconnect it put on a different flavor and save the half keg for another time maybe months away?

Best to keep the keg chilled for more consistent temperatures. With temperature fluctuations, the density of CO2 changes pretty dramatically, and you would have severely foamy brew in the daytime, and normal to low-end carbonation at night. Depending on where you live, pre-made or custom kegerators often go for a steal on Craigslist. (I got mine with 2 tap handles, a 15-gallon pony keg & a 5 lb. CO2 bottle for $250.)

 

[MakoMadness]

Thanks for all the advise

I do plan on bottling from the keg, also planning on using gas - not sugar to carbonate.

My big question was if carbonated can the beer sit at room temp say 60-70, in the keg for extended periods for ageing, or will the carbonation do anything bad if left for several months.

Big thanks to scrambledegg for all their info. I do have all the little accessories for brewing. That link u sent is gonna help tons, also good call on the day to night temp flux - didn't even think of that.

 

[onthekeg]

Yes you can let the beer age at room temp. You will want to carb it at a higher pressure when the beer is warm as it will absorb co2 into the liquid when it cools.

 

[oakbarn]

Your best bet is to age the beer cooler. A chest freezer is perfect for this. It will hold the corny kegs. I would look on craigslist and get the biggest one you can. We have two freezers and a large kegerator with 6 taps. If you really want clear beer, you want to age it and then drink without moving it. Our beer is crystal clear if we do not move it after a couple of months. Our ales are cloudy and if that is off putting to some, it means more for us!