Why is my bottled beer ALWAYS better than my kegged beer?

[Beerisnom]

Over and over again, I've had more success with bottle conditioned beer than I have with any of the beer I've kegged.

I've been kegging my IPAs after 2 weeks in primary followed by a 10 day dry-hopping period. Followed by a typical 3 weeks under pressure at 38F and 12 PSI to hit desired carbonation.

My question, does the three weeks in the keg not count as time "conditioning"? Should I be waiting the full amount of time that I would for a bottle conditioning process, and then going to the keg? Maybe transferring to the keg after dryhop but waiting a month before putting in the kegerator? I always assumed the time spent pressurizing in the keg was multitasking the conditioning process. The consistency with which my bottled beer is better is making my question this.

Thoughts?

 

[CU_tony]

I don't have experience with keg carbing, but it only makes sense to me that you will have a different product/result when you split a batch and add different ingredients to one half. In this case it's priming sugar, which shouldn't affect the flavor much, but will change the ingredients in that half slightly. Plus bottle conditioning gives the yeast more time to do... stuff that otherwise they wouldn't do in your keezer.

 

[CU_tony]

Also "better" is subjective at best, can you describe the difference? Is it related to carbonation, body, flavor?

 

[kombat]

I'm going to guess, "oxidation." Please describe your purging process after you fill a keg with a batch of beer.

Also, "conditioning" is a very nebulous concept with respect to beer. Yeast don't know when they're supposed to be done fermenting and switch to "conditioning." Conditioning just means the yeast are completely done fermenting, maybe finishing up cleaning up after themselves, and flocculating out of suspension. As the yeast clear out, the flavour of the beer will change. As time goes on, any oxygen in the keg will oxidize the beer, causing it to taste more "stale." I suspect that's what's happening in your case.

There are a couple of ways to ensure the minimum possible oxygen in your keg. The most thorough method is to fill the keg to the brim with Star San, then hook it up to CO2 and push out the Star San. Then hook the siphon up to the "liquid out" post of the keg and siphon the beer into the keg, venting CO2 out the pressure relief valve at the top of the keg. This is thorough, but in my opinion, a little wasteful of CO2.

The method I use is to simply thoroughly purge the keg with CO2 after it's been filled. I used to connect the CO2, set the regulator to about 12 psi, then pull the pressure relief valve 5-6 times. However, I've since read some numbers from people much more familiar with gas laws than myself, that suggested that in order to reduce the amount of oxygen in the headspace to trace levels, you actually need to purge at least 10 times (not 5-6) at 30 psi (not 12). So that's what I do now, and my beer stays fresh right up until the keg kicks.

 

[agrazela]

Agreed we need more on what you mean by "better." But a few more Q's:

You say your kegged beer spends 3 weeks cold and on gas before you tap it; that should be plenty of time IMO to do any "conditioning" it's going to do. Are you comparing bottle-conditioned beer also at 3 weeks (in the bottle)? Or are the bottles getting more time?

Are your kegs getting moved around at all during this 3 week period? Maybe sediments are getting stirred up?

Are you absolutely sure fermentation is done before you package?

 

[Beerisnom]

The differential in quality came down to flavor essentially. My typical process includes two weeks in primary, 7-10 days dryhop, followed by three-four weeks in the bottle before being deemed ready. When I'm kegging, the same amount of time elapses, it's just that the three weeks are spent cold and under pressure rather than at 70F in bottles.

I'm guessing my problem has to do with what kombat mentioned. I haven't been releasing the oxygen out of the headspace after transferring to the keg, so my beer has been getting oxidized. Live and learn.

In a related concept, though, are there processes happening within the bottle other than the carbonation process? I've had cases where a bottled beer seemed improved overall (not just regarding carbonation) after more time went by in-bottle.

 

[day_trippr]

Aside from the evident oxidation defect, one can imagine the conditioning process that your warm bottles see for three weeks is quite different from holding green beer cold for the same period...

Cheers!

 

[GHBWNY]

If I were a yeast and you gave me all the time I wanted to eat, digest and relax on my own schedule, the happier I would be. And generally-speaking, the happier I am, the better the product will be that I produce.