When to Keg

[Mac MacFarlane]

I started my first batch since college I am now going to keg. I plan on force carbonation it has been in my fermenter for 8 days. Start sg was 1.036 and its now 1.004.
When should I keg?
It's a morgans lager kit.

 

[VikeMan]

You should keg after your FG is stable and not before any off flavors have been cleaned up by the yeast.

 

[Jag75]

Different strokes for different folks . I'm a 3 week in the fermenter kinda guy. I prefer to let it clean up itself . You'll hear people say man this taste better after a couple weeks in the keg . Technically you can package your beer once it's done.

 

[bracconiere]

i especially like the old time phone, looks like it might even be hooked up! (ain't going to be any phreaking with that, thing, you'ld have to sweet talk the operator, lol)

but i agree with vikeman, when it stops fermenting.....

 

[SouthBounds]

1st beer back, heck yeah keg it and enjoy. Once you get a pipeline going you might consider a 2 week ferment/condition.

 

[Mac MacFarlane]

Thanks for the replys, l will recheck the fg tommow and see if it is the same.

 

[VikeMan]

Thanks for the replys, l will recheck the fg tommow and see if it is the same.

I don't know when you took your first FG (1.004) reading, but it's best to wait 48 or even 72 hours before the next one. Readings only one day apart can mislead.

 

[Mac MacFarlane]

Thanks for the headsup it was taken yesterday.

 

[Andrew7447]

Honestly if it was me, 1.004 is low and morgans lager kit isnt going to be amazing quality. Id be kegging it, probably wouldn't risk bottles though. Depends if you are in a rush for some beer on tap I guess. Ive done many beer, grain to glass in 3/4 days.

 

[bleme]

That's not an easy decision. On the one hand, you don't have to worry about the keg blowing up like you do with bottles. I wouldn't even bother with taking more readings as they are a pointless disturbance of the beer. On the other hand, with more time, more yeast will drop out. That's less trub in your keg, less waste of beer, and better beer in your glass. I'm leaning toward giving it more time.

I'm also assuming you don't have a top-draw system in your keg. That would change everything and I'd keg now, no question.

 

[doug293cz]

There is another school of thought that promotes kegging prior to completion of fermentation, and letting the remaining fermentation naturally carbonate the beer. This is known as spunding, and has advantages for helping minimize O2 exposure of the beer. A variable pressure relief valve (known as a spunding valve - not surprisingly) is very helpful to prevent excess pressure in the keg (which will lead to over carbonation.)

Spunding can be done in bottles, but this can be dangerous as over carbonation can lead to bottle bombs. To spund in bottles, it is imperative to know in advance what your actual FG will be.

It's actually pretty difficult to keg too soon. But just because it is kegged doesn't mean that it is ready to drink. Most beers benefit from a few weeks of maturation in the keg.

So keg early, or leave it in the fermenter for weeks. Both work, and what you should do depends more on how you prefer to roll than anything else.

Brew on

 

[Mac MacFarlane]

I ordered a all grain kit and I'm going to do biab theres still a few days before it shows up and I have beer in the fridge, I'll keep in the fermenter until the kit shows up and I need the fermenter.
First time doing biab looking forward to learning more.
Thanks everyone for the replys

 

[Andrew7447]

I ordered a all grain kit and I'm going to do biab theres still a few days before it shows up and I have beer in the fridge, I'll keep in the fermenter until the kit shows up and I need the fermenter.
First time doing biab looking forward to learning more.
Thanks everyone for the replys

Good to hear once you go biab ag you dont go back.

 

[Alex4mula]

I keg since I started brewing. After 40 brews I always try to do 18-21 days minimum. Once I keged at 14 for a Marzen due to a trip and was perfect. But it may not work for all. Patience will produce great beer.

 

[fun4stuff]

There is another school of thought that promotes kegging prior to completion of fermentation, and letting the remaining fermentation naturally carbonate the beer. This is known as spunding, and has advantages for helping minimize O2 exposure of the beer. A variable pressure relief valve (known as a spunding valve - not surprisingly) is very helpful to prevent excess pressure in the keg (which will lead to over carbonation.)

Spunding can be done in bottles, but this can be dangerous as over carbonation can lead to bottle bombs. To spund in bottles, it is imperative to know in advance what your actual FG will be.

It's actually pretty difficult to keg too soon. But just because it is kegged doesn't mean that it is ready to drink. Most beers benefit from a few weeks of maturation in the keg.

So keg early, or leave it in the fermenter for weeks. Both work, and what you should do depends more on how you prefer to roll than anything else.

Brew on

This helps prevent oxidation. You don’t even really need a spunding valve, although it helps monitor process.

1) Buy a floating dip tube
2) Keg when about 4 points from final FG.
3) Attach spunding valve adjusted for 30-35 psi. This allows it to clean up any oxygen picked up during transfer and to self carbonate. Faster turn around time too.

I generally give it a 1-14 days in the keg after transfer, depending on when I want to drink it. I’ve made the same beer with 1-2 days condition and 2-3 weeks. You can’t really tell the difference.

So keg yours up!

 

[VikeMan]

This helps prevent oxidation. You don’t even really need a spunding valve, although it helps monitor process.

1) Buy a floating dip tube
2) Keg when about 4 points from final FG.
3) Attach spunding valve adjusted for 30-35 psi. This allows it to clean up any oxygen picked up during transfer and to self carbonate. Faster turn around time too.

I generally give it a 1-14 days in the keg after transfer, depending on when I want to drink it. I’ve made the same beer with 1-2 days condition and 2-3 weeks. You can’t really tell the difference.

Spunding is a great tool.

For anyone who hasn't done this, note that transferring to keg with 4 points of gravity will yield about 3.5 volumes of CO2 if not using a spunding valve. Also, a spunding valve set for 35 psi at, let's say, a temperature of 66F, will settle at about 3.1 volumes.

I mention this because...
- If someone doesn't use a valve, they'll likely have to bleed off excess CO2 manually.
- It's a good idea to choose the level of desired CO2. Armed with that, and the temperature of the beer, choose the appropriate valve setting, per the carbonation charts.

 

[Mac MacFarlane]

When I do put the beer in the keg, do I pressurize it right away or wait until it cools down and force carbonate.

 

[VikeMan]

When I do put the beer in the keg, do I pressurize it right away or wait until it cools down and force carbonate.

Definitely pressurize it. You don't want O2 creeping in.

 

[SouthBounds]

When I do put the beer in the keg, do I pressurize it right away or wait until it cools down and force carbonate.

Don't forget to purge the headspace out after you hook up the CO2. I burp the keg 3 times.

 

[weaf27]

As you can see, everyone has their own system that works for them. I would agree with everyone warning you to reduce or avoid O2 as much as possible including burping the keg a few times when you first move the beer.

Here is my system:
I ferment most beers for 2 weeks, move to keg and either quick carb at high pressure or just let carb up normally over time.
If it is an IPA or any beer needing dry hops I still move it to a keg but I dry hop in the keg for 6 to 7 days and then move it to another keg for carbing and drinking of course.

The biggest thing I've changed over the past 2 years is to move from the carboy to the keg either using counter pressure or with a pump system with water in the line. And then if the beer is dry hopped in a keg I move it to another pre-CO2 purged keg using CO2 pressure to and of course burp it all. If you need more details on this let me know as I have a handful videos on YouTube showing this process from start to finish under "Bitter Reality Brewing".

 

[doug293cz]

When I do put the beer in the keg, do I pressurize it right away or wait until it cools down and force carbonate.

Don't forget to purge the headspace out after you hook up the CO2. I burp the keg 3 times.

You definitely need to purge the headspace of air (particularly oxygen.) immediately after racking to the keg. There are two reasons for purging the headspace:

1. The carbonation tables/calculators assume that the headspace is 100% CO2. The pressure gauge reads the pressure of all gases combined in the headspace, and any air in the headspace reduces the CO2 pressure, which will lead to under carbed beer.
2. Oxygen in the headspace will absorb into the beer and oxidize the beer. This is especially an issue for hoppy beers. Commercial standards call for less than 0.15 ppm (150 ppb) total packaged O2 for hoppy beers.

Getting the O2 content down to sub ppm levels requires much more purging than most people realize. The following table and chart show the effects of purging headspace that starts out as air. A purge cycle consists of pressurizing to the specified gauge pressure, and then releasing all of the pressure thru the PRV. If you don't fully pressurize, or fully vent, the cycle will be less effective than desired.

Doing closed transfers to pre-purged kegs will result in the headspace having very little O2 to start with, but you still might want to do a few purge cycles to account for process errors, or unaccounted for O2 sources.

Brew on

 

[fun4stuff]

You definitely need to purge the headspace of air (particularly oxygen.) immediately after racking to the keg. There are two reasons for purging the headspace:

1. The carbonation tables/calculators assume that the headspace is 100% CO2. The pressure gauge reads the pressure of all gases combined in the headspace, and any air in the headspace reduces the CO2 pressure, which will lead to under carbed beer.
2. Oxygen in the headspace will absorb into the beer and oxidize the beer. This is especially an issue for hoppy beers. Commercial standards call for less than 0.15 ppm (150 ppb) total packaged O2 for hoppy beers.

Getting the O2 content down to sub ppm levels requires much more purging than most people realize. The following table and chart show the effects of purging headspace that starts out as air. A purge cycle consists of pressurizing to the specified gauge pressure, and then releasing all of the pressure thru the PRV. If you don't fully pressurize, or fully vent, the cycle will be less effective than desired.

View attachment 677102 View attachment 677103

Doing closed transfers to pre-purged kegs will result in the headspace having very little O2 to start with, but you still might want to do a few purge cycles to account for process errors, or unaccounted for O2 sources.

Brew on

This is why i switched to doing a closed gravity transfer to a pre-purged keg when i have about 4 gravity points left and spunding at around 30 psi. I pre-purge the keg with co2 from fermentation with the blow off connected to the keg.

It isn’t any more effort to do this and is really only a problem if you want to dry hop in the keg or add fruit to secondary. I’ve been adding fruit and dry hopping in primary at around high krausen which has been working out fine for me so far.

 

[doug293cz]

This is why i switched to doing a closed gravity transfer to a pre-purged keg when i have about 4 gravity points left and spunding at around 30 psi. I pre-purge the keg with co2 from fermentation with the blow off connected to the keg.

It isn’t any more effort to do this and is really only a problem if you want to dry hop in the keg or add fruit to secondary. I’ve been adding fruit and dry hopping in primary at around high krausen which has been working out fine for me so far.

Yes, purging the keg with fermentation CO2 is definitely much more efficient use of CO2 than purging from a CO2 tank. If you have the capability to do this, it is definitely the way to go.

I did an analysis here that shows just how effective purging a keg with fermentation CO2 can be (single digit ppb O2 levels.) And most of my post was copied verbatim into an article at ********************

Brew on

 

[fun4stuff]

Yes, purging the keg with fermentation CO2 is definitely much more efficient use of CO2 than purging from a CO2 tank. If you have the capability to do this, it is definitely the way to go.

I did an analysis here that shows just how effective purging a keg with fermentation CO2 can be (single digit ppb O2 levels.) And most of my post was copied verbatim into an article at ********************

Brew on

yes, prior to seeing your post i would fill the keg with sanitizer first. It’s a great post!