I have just bought a ball lock keg , and will buy the rest of the things I need for it next week. I have looked at youtube an looked online about kegging (force carbonation, cleaning, sanitation, etc.) my question is: with bottles I normally let them sit in my basement for 2 weeks or so I was assuming it was not only to carbonate them but also to let the beer age. The info I have seen about kegging doesn't say anything about aging, only to force carbonate and after about 2 days drink it. does anyone have any info on this subject?
yes, it really depends on your set up and what you like, all I can tell you is what I like to do. first Ill explain the theory, aging allows gravity to cause the heavier elements to drop to the bottom including yeast which for some people makes the beer taste better but it can also fade hops and other flavors so its really up to your tastes. question is do you like a fuller or yeastier beer do you not even care? lol my fast "I need a beer now system", and doing it as we speak ferment a few days longer than normal like 10 days in the primary, transfer off the yeast cake to another carboy, stick it in the keezer at 36 for 3 days, transfer out of that to a keg; at this point you can do 2 things fource carbonate now or filter .... I filter next, depending on the gravity is the kind of filter I use ....then force carb rolling on the floor at 30 for an hour let it set in the keezer at 30 over night unhooked from the co2 but still at 30, the next day bleed and hook back up at 12 in the keezer, let that condition for 2 weeks. Now that doesn't mean you can't drink it while its conditioning. wink After 2 weeks the tastes start blending together more so back to the question, you might not have everything I have so in my experiences if you force carbonate right after fermentation, you'll have yeast still floating around, if you like it go for it, but the first quart out might be a bit cloudy and yeasty smelling, some people just poor that out and start drinking. If you want better tasting beer let it condition cold for 1 to 2 weeks
It is all about how the beer tastes. Some beers taste fine young (like an American Hefe), while others need time to develop and settle out (higher gravity more complex beer). If you don't rack or cold crash, and go straight to the keg, the first pint might have some yeast/sediment in it. I don't go through the extra work of force carbonating. I hook up the keg at normal pressure and it takes about 2 weeks to get fully carbonated. Usually it tastes okay at that point, but some beers take awhile longer to peak. Lagers in particular take more time.
+1 on what Larry said. I'm still relatively new to kegging so I can't claim to be any kind of expert, but I've gone with both the set-and-forget and the burst-carb methods and prefer the former. It takes longer to have your beer carbonated, but there's less room for error and you also age it longer. I burst carbed because I had just kegged and wanted to put some beer in growlers for a family reunion. When I bottled, I would keep it at fermentation temps for 2 weeks to carbonate and then transfer to cooler temps for at least 2 more weeks to condition. So even the set-and-forget method cuts 2 weeks from my previous timeframe. When I burst-carbed, I went to 30psi and rocked it for a while, then left it hooked up at 30 for 24 hours. I then purged and turned down to 20psi for 24 hours, before purging again and then getting it to 10-12psi. All this talk about kegging makes me want to brew.
