Secondary in a keg?

[deucedaily]

I was wondering if there is a difference between conditioning in a keg vs. leaving in the primary longer or transferring to a secondary. It seems to be that all ways would lead to settling out. I also wouldn't think that temperature is a factor in the settling, which is one of the main reasons for transferring, correct?

[corkybstewart]

Temp is very important when it comes to settling the stuff in your beer. I leave my beer in primary a couple of weks at least for a normal gravity beer, rack to keg and put it in the fridge. Getting it cold will make yeast settle out much faster. That's why it's called "cold crashing" the beer.

[deucedaily]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
Getting it cold will make yeast settle out much faster. That's why it's called "cold crashing" the beer.

Thanks for the info, now as a follow up, what is wrong with cold crashing the beer? I thought one of the points was to get everything to settle out.

In this particular batch I just did, I got it to the target FG, then transferred to a keg, now it is in the fridge cooling down with a little CO2. I'm wasn't expecting much more work out of the yeast, and didn't need to get it carbonated from the priming sugar, so why not just let it settle out?

I think the next batch I'm doing I will prime and leave out of the fridge until some space frees up. I'll also need to leave it out to get the natural carbonation. Will leaving it at room temperature in a keg be similar to a secondary? I think that is the roundabout way to the question I was asking before, but didn't mention tossing the keg into the fridge. Sorry for the confusion.

[corkybstewart]

You can leave it at room temp, just make sure you purge it and pressurize the keg so it's sealed. I hit mine with about 30 psi for a minute or 2.
I like to cold crash mine for a couple of days and then hook it to CO2 to carbonate. But if there's no room in th fridge, I'll just leave it out until there is room. There's nothing at all wrong with cold crashing, you're right that it's a good thing.

[deucedaily]

sounds good. So there is nothing I am missing out on by not leaving it out a bit longer? No super special conditioning that takes place before chilling?

[MmmBeer]

Your first pull from the keg will be dregs; drink this only if you want to spend 24 hours in the bathroom.