Secondary and cold crashing in a keg

[Mario_B]

Is there any con to doing a secondary in a keg? Also, if I were to transfer from primary to keg, purge the O2, leave a couple pounds of CO2 head pressure and keep it at room temp for a week or 2 or 8, is that not the same thing as a secondary? Then when I put it in my keezer, it chills, is that not the same function of cold crashing? I just toss the first pint. Is my thinking off on any of this?

 

[tre9er]

Is there any con to doing a secondary in a keg? Also, if I were to transfer from primary to keg, purge the O2, leave a couple pounds of CO2 head pressure and keep it at room temp for a week or 2 or 8, is that not the same thing as a secondary? Then when I put it in my keezer, it chills, is that not the same function of cold crashing? I just toss the first pint. Is my thinking off on any of this?

No con, yes it's the same, yes it's the same. You can even put some gelatin in before you cold crash and it should drop incredibly clear after the first pint.

 

[bknifefight]

I would consider that just plain kegging.

 

[tre9er]

I would consider that just plain kegging.

It's transfer to a secondary vessel and letting it sit, that's secondarying. Then taking that secondary and cold-crashing it...same thing. The only difference is not racking off the top, rather sucking up the junk on the bottom via the dip-tube.

 

[bknifefight]

Since it's in the keg and youre not transferring out of it, I would just consider it kegging.

 

[tre9er]

Since it's in the keg and youre not transferring out of it, I would just consider it kegging.

It's a second stage, and accomplishes the same thing of letting the beer age and clear. You can call it kegging, but it is doing everything a secondary does, with one less step.

 

[Mario_B]

Do most people chill right after kegging? If I just let it sit at room temp with CO2 on it for a couple weeks it seems like that's secondary and kegging to me, just without carbonating. It just seems like I'd be adding one too many steps if I secondary in a carboy.

 

[tre9er]

Do most people chill right after kegging? If I just let it sit at room temp with CO2 on it for a couple weeks it seems like that's secondary and kegging to me, just without carbonating. It just seems like I'd be adding one too many steps if I secondary in a carboy.

You can do either. If you can't chill it, you can leave it at room temp under pressure