Keg conditioning after primary?

[canihaveurpants]

I have a 1.071 Wheat IPA that I am planning on leaving in primary for a full 4 weeks. After this I will rack to a keg. My question is should I leave the keg at room temp to condition for a length of time before putting it in my kegerator?
Thanks!

 

[chickypad]

I'm usually drinking my IPA's by then so I vote for chill and carb it!

 

[mjdonnelly68]

If you are going to naturally carbonate in the keg at room temp, I would allow at least three weeks for it to reach proper carbonation.

 

[canihaveurpants]

I will be carbing with a CO2 tank at about 10 psi over about a week. I was just wondering if some conditioning in the keg would help to enhance flavor. I've been having a slight off taste in my recent batches and was thinking I was possibly rushing the beer to quickly into the kegerator's cold environment. I usually do a 3 week primary only, hoping a 4 week primary might improve my problem.

 

[canihaveurpants]

Would sucking up too much trub equate to the presence of an off-flavor? I just feel like my few recent batches have muted hop flavors along with a slight aftertaste. The only thing besides time I can think of was my racking process where I believe I accidentally sucked up an excess of trub.

 

[chickypad]

What is the off flavor that you have? Hop aroma and presence fades fast which is why I like to drink IPA's young.

 

[canihaveurpants]

I would describe it as a medicine-like semi-harsh after taste. Also, like I mentioned even with 1.5 ounces of dry hopping my last batch did not have much hop aroma. Could an excess of siphoned trub/yeast be the cause of this?

 

[canihaveurpants]

By the way, this batch used distilled water to try to rule out my water source as a problem. I ferment in a temperature controlled chest freezer that holds the beer in the low 60's.

 

[chickypad]

Chlorine in the water is a good thought. I've seen some arguments about distilled water and extract, most seem to say it's fine others say you should still use spring water. Hope you weren't using it for all grain though. Also, what are you using to clean/sanitize?

I wouldn't think it's due to trub, and anyway after a 3 wk primary you should have a pretty compact cake I would think. Are you having a hard time racking? As far as aroma, how long do you dry hop and what is your process?

 

[canihaveurpants]

I am an extract brewer. I use an off-brand Oxiclean clone for cleaning and Starsan for sanitizing.
I wouldn't say I have a hard time racking, just that I usually attempt to get every lost drop out of the primary which usually involves accidentally stirring up the compacted sediment and sucking up trub. I noticed my last few batches that I may be a little too eager to get all the beer from the primary.
For dry hopping (it's an all-Belma pale ale), I did 1.5 oz of Belma pellets into primary for 6 days. This is my standard dry hopping schedule, 1-1.5 oz for 5-7 days.

 

[canihaveurpants]

When I was using my tap water I filtered it through an RV filter that was connected to my tap. I was also always sure to add 1/4 campden tablet to my brew water per 6 gallons.

 

[Yooper]

I have a 1.071 Wheat IPA that I am planning on leaving in primary for a full 4 weeks. After this I will rack to a keg. My question is should I leave the keg at room temp to condition for a length of time before putting it in my kegerator?
Thanks!

If it's already 4 weeks old, more conditioning isn't needed. That's actually approaching "old" for an IPA! Four weeks is an exceptionally long time for primary anyway, but for an IPA it's really something I wouldn't recommend. I'm drinking most of my IPAs by 3-4 weeks old.

I would describe it as a medicine-like semi-harsh after taste. Also, like I mentioned even with 1.5 ounces of dry hopping my last batch did not have much hop aroma. Could an excess of siphoned trub/yeast be the cause of this?

As mentioned, it sounds like chlorine in the brewing water. Unfortunately, chlorophenols do not age out.

 

[canihaveurpants]

Hi Yooper,
Even if my extract kit instructions recommend 6 weeks you would not see a problem trying to have it kegged and ready to serve in 4 weeks? It will have been kegged for 4 weeks on April 6th. As long as my gravity is staying steady around 3 weeks it would be ok to keg?

 

[Yooper]

Hi Yooper,
Even if my extract kit instructions recommend 6 weeks you would not see a problem trying to have it kegged and ready to serve in 4 weeks? It will have been kegged for 4 weeks on April 6th. As long as my gravity is staying steady around 3 weeks it would be ok to keg?

Probably. It depends on the beer, and the OG, and if there are alot of complex flavors. I bet your "six weeks" includes 3 weeks in the bottle.

 

[canihaveurpants]

Actually you are right. The instructions say 3 weeks fermenting and then 3 weeks in bottle conditioning. I am just confused as to how if I bottle there needs to be 3 weeks conditioning but if I keg it will be ready to fridge and drink after only the initial 3 weeks.

 

[bd2xu]

I will be carbing with a CO2 tank at about 10 psi over about a week. I was just wondering if some conditioning in the keg would help to enhance flavor. I've been having a slight off taste in my recent batches and was thinking I was possibly rushing the beer to quickly into the kegerator's cold environment. I usually do a 3 week primary only, hoping a 4 week primary might improve my problem.

If you're force carbing with co2 then you'll need a lot more gas at room temp vs chilled. Check the online calculators for this.

You mentioned fermenting in the 60s, did you raise the temp to low 70s at the end of the ferment? I've started doing this to make sure the yeast finishes off and also as a diacetyl rest. Seems like it helps. I did a 10 gallon batch of extract extra pale ale (7.8 %) and split into two fermenters. One I bottled and moved to room temp to carb, its great. The other I went straight from the fermenter to the keg, and then into the Keezer, it never got above 65 or so. The kegged beer has an off flavor, that extract twang.

 

[canihaveurpants]

I've actually never thought to raise my fermentation temps. I always try my best to keep the beer in the low 60's (62-64 usually) for the entire fermentation. Maybe I will try raising up the temp for this latest batch. I'm really excited for this brew (Screaming Habdabs from Boomchugalug) so I am trying to do everything I can to ensure a good final product.

 

[Yooper]

Actually you are right. The instructions say 3 weeks fermenting and then 3 weeks in bottle conditioning. I am just confused as to how if I bottle there needs to be 3 weeks conditioning but if I keg it will be ready to fridge and drink after only the initial 3 weeks.

The three weeks in the bottle is for carbonation to happen. Sure, beer conditions a bit during that time as well, but that time is necessary for the carbonation to occur.

When you finish the fermention time, the beer should be pretty clear and pretty good. If not, then it could spend some more time either in the fermenter or in the keg at room temperature.