keg conditioning

[vendejp]

do you keggers seal the corny up with a blast of CO2, then leave the keg at room temp for a few weeks to condition or do you immediately put them in the fridge/freezer?

thanks

[Jughead]

I suspect either is fine depending on whether you use force or natural carbonation.

I usually make ales and naturally carbonate them, so I let them condition at room temp.

I dump 1/2 cup of sugar into the keg along with the beer, then close up the keg and give it 30lbs pressure to seat the lid and get a good seal. Then I drop the pressure to about 4 or 5 lbs and let it sit for a few weeks to carbonate and condition. Then I put it in the fridge and drink it.

If you want to force carbonate, then you could put the keg into the fridge and start drinking it right away, or you could leave it to condition for some time in or out of the fridge.

I also heard of people replacing one of the poppet valves on the keg with an air lock so they could lager in the fridge using the keg.

Cheers

[toneyc]

I force carbonate, so I purge the O2 and seal with CO2 and keep it under pressure at about 40 degrees for a week or two before drinking it. Some beers are great in a week, others take longer.

:)
Toney.

[brewmonkey]

I do it both ways depending on what I am shooting for.

I use my cornies for fermenters in some cases and just pull the blowoff ball lock off when I hit a certain gravity and then allow it to carbonate as it finishes fermenting. I then rack it to another keg where I serve it from.

To avoid yeast clogging the dip tube I cut about 1/2" off it to allow the yeast to drop below it. This allows me an entire beer start to finish without ever having to expose it to the atmosphere.

[vendejp]

ok, thanks, so with force carbonation its ok to condition at a lower temperature? i wasnt sure if the room temp was just for the yeast carbonating the priming sugar, or if it helped mellow ouot the beer a bit.

[toneyc]

Originally posted by vendejp
ok, thanks, so with force carbonation its ok to condition at a lower temperature? i wasnt sure if the room temp was just for the yeast carbonating the priming sugar, or if it helped mellow ouot the beer a bit.

Well, I'm not sure if it ok, or not, but that is what I do. It may condition slower at lower temps, I don't know, but i do know that it does condition. Of course, about the time I say to myself, "Man, this is the best beer I've ever made!" the keg goes dry. Never fails. Thankfully, there's usually another keg sitting right next to it going "Drink me!" What can I say, I'm easy.

:)
Toney.

[brewmonkey]

If you are going to force carbonate you need the beer to be as cold as possible. If the beer has finished primary and has had a diacetyl rest, start bringing the temp. down until you reach serving temp. Once you are there you can force carbonate.

If the beer is warm the CO2 will not readily go into or stay in solution. It will degas and you will end up with flat beer.

Works well if you have a thermostat on a dedicated fridge were you can bring the temp down over a few days at about 1 degree every hours or so.