When to bottle/keg

[NickN]

My beer has been fermenting for two weeks and the fermentation is at a point where I can keg it. It would be kegged at 2 weeks after brewing. Is that ok? I seem to remember seeing some people say they wait 3 weeks minimum.

Thoughts?

 

[unionrdr]

Don't be in a hurry,especially with kegging. The beer needs to settle out clear in primary first. That's usually about 3 weeks. Keg it & give it another couple weeks to condition on gas.

 

[cooper]

For most styles of beer with an average OG (somewhere around 1.050) people find that the beer is better when left to primary for three weeks and then just bottle or keg. For a Hefe though most people will let it sit in the primary for 10 days and then bottle or keg it as the yeast play such an important role in the quality of the beer, it must be drank while it's young or you end up with a Kristal Weis, which isnt a bad thing at all.

Remember though, the higher the OG, the more the beer will need to sit to let the yeast clean it up. Most beers over 1.060 are recommended to sit in primary for at least 3 weeks and then rack to a 5 gallon carboy (the least amount of headspace as possible is very important at this stage to prevent oxydation) to age it for a few months, however most people will just rack it to a keg after three weeks and then let it sit either at room temp for another couple of months or at a "cooler temp" somewhere around 60-65 degrees to secondary and clean up.

 

[Golddiggie]

When to keg depends on what you made, how it fermented, where you are, what temperatures it fermented at, and more. If you're new to this, take a taste sample of the batch. IF it has no off-flavors, and is ready to go to glass, other than needing to be carbonated, then it's ok to keg and carbonate. I would also advise going with the slow carbonation method. Two weeks at serving temperature and pressure to get the CO2 volumes desired. Use this chart to figure out what pressure to set (or temperature).

 

[cooper]

When to keg depends on what you made, how it fermented, where you are, what temperatures it fermented at, and more. If you're new to this, take a taste sample of the batch. IF it has no off-flavors, and is ready to go to glass, other than needing to be carbonated, then it's ok to keg and carbonate. I would also advise going with the slow carbonation method. Two weeks at serving temperature and pressure to get the CO2 volumes desired. Use this chart to figure out what pressure to set (or temperature).

Awesome chart! Thanks! I agree too about the slow carbonation, its such a pain to get the pressure right after you've had it at 20 psi for a week or so.

 

[Golddiggie]

Awesome chart! Thanks! I agree too about the slow carbonation, its such a pain to get the pressure right after you've had it at 20 psi for a week or so.

IME it's easier to simply set the keg for the slow method. I'm patient, plus I have the brew fridge set up so that I typically have one keg just on gas (carbonating) while serving three others. When one keg kicks, I can then move the carbonating keg to it's spot and be good to go. I actually have an open tap, and my brown ale is ready to go onto it. I'll bring up another keg, probably my mocha porter, to carbonate. Once my MO SMaSH kicks, I'll bring up a replacement keg for that. Just need to kill the keg on the third tap two weeks (or before) so that I have a spot for it to land on. :rockin:

Part of the fun, for me, is on tap rotation.

 

[sok454]

Not to hijack but just want to know about the keg discussion as I think i'm getting a kegerator 2-3 tap for xmas. So after 3 weeks fermenting you would put the beer into the keg and set it for say 8 psi as I want a stout at 2.15 and 39 degrees (in kegerator) and just let it sit for 2 weeks is that correct?


I've seen vid of the forced method where you roll the keg around and force the CO2 into the beer.

 

[Golddiggie]

Not to hijack but just want to know about the keg discussion as I think i'm getting a kegerator 2-3 tap for xmas. So after 3 weeks fermenting you would put the beer into the keg and set it for say 8 psi as I want a stout at 2.15 and 39 degrees (in kegerator) and just let it sit for 2 weeks is that correct?


I've seen vid of the forced method where you roll the keg around and force the CO2 into the beer.

Two weeks at serving temperature, and pressure (as per chart linked earlier) for best results. The roll around method can be very tricky for people new to kegging. Hell, even people that have been kegging for a while have inconsistent results with that method. You'll also still need to let it equalize, for a week (or so). Which means you're still looking at a minimum of a week from going to keg to glass.

I let each batch go in fermentation vessel (almost always primary) until it's ready to go to keg. Some will be ready in 2-3 weeks, others can take 8-12 weeks. There are batches that I've had aging (on toasted wood) for about 8-11 months now. Thinking about transferring those to serving keg soon.

 

[unionrdr]

You basically can't avoid the conditioning phase for a beer. The 2 weeks on seving pressure method should take care of that for an average ale.

 

[Golddiggie]

You basically can't avoid the conditioning phase for a beer. The 2 weeks on seving pressure method should take care of that for an average ale.

I 'condition' mine in primary/fermentation vessel... Since things happen much slower at keg dispensing temperatures, I find it best to do all conditioning before it goes to keg. I also dry hop in keg (mentioned more than a few times ) when a batch calls for it. So I don't worry about that either. :rockin:

 

[unionrdr]

I've seen many folks on here condition kegged bers for two ro three weeks. You can't scrimp on goodness.

 

[Yooper]

A well made beer doesn't need weeks and weeks to condition.

For most normal beers (no intense flavors, oaking, etc that need time to meld and mellow), I keg at day 10-14 or thereabouts. Once the beer has been finished for at least 3 days, and starts to clear, it's ready to package.

I keg, and then put in my kegerator at 40 degrees.

 

[sok454]

Thanks guys. I'm excited to move up to the kegging side of things. I got my first batch bottle conditioning after about 23-24 days in primary. Hope I did the priming ok!