This may have been discussed before, so sorry if I'm repeating an old thread here. I've been wondering this for a while now, so here goes. Let's say you are getting ready to package a batch of cellar-able beer after all signs of fermentation are complete. You decide to bottle one half, and keg the other half. The kegged half you put in the fridge right away and carb with CO2, the bottled half you store at room temp. Over time, my guess is that the bottled half would continue to condition and mature (flavors melding together), since the yeast are still active at room temp, and can condition the beer further. Yeast in the keg will go dormant since it is being refrigerated, and will not continue conditioning and maturation. That's just my opinion here. I guess my main question is, does a carbonated batch of beer continue to mature in the keg at refrigerator temps? I kind of want to try this on my next batch to see if I can taste a difference.
Beer will continue to mature in the keg but at much much slower of a rate than if it was bottle conditioned on the shelf. That being said if the beer has a lot of additives like coffee maple chocolate coconut stout ( crazy but I have seen it) those additive will fall off more quickly even at cold temps, and I believe you answered that yourself because of the cold temps that make the yeast go dormant. With the bottles the residual yeast will continue to mature the beer and create different good or bad flavors depending on the style and how many additives are in the batch. Good luck cheers man!
The 'effects' of yeast is just part of overall aging. The other aspect is oxidation processes. If you age a Barleywine to achieve Sherry type flavors that is a result of oxidation. By storing the keg cold you significantly slow down the effects of oxidation; that is not necessarily a 'bad' thing since it is dependent on what your goals are for aging the beer. Cheers!
You can also store the keg at cellar temp and condition in the keg with sugar. I prefer to bottle age my Belgians, barrel aged beers, sours and anything that will sit longer than a year. It's just the way I've always done things. I have and wouldn't hesitate to age in the keg. Manilovebeer17 covered it pretty well.
If you want to cellar the beer, then don't refrigerate the keg. Why do you feel you need to treat it differently than the bottles?
Thanks. This was kind of the reason for the question though. I guess I could've narrowed it down to: would a keg of refrigerated, force carbed beer taste more complex in 4 months as opposed to freshly kegged? or would refrigeration prevent the yeast from aging the beer any further? Thanks. I also bottle barleywines and RISs (or any big beer) for the long haul, mostly because I only have one corny keg and don't want to dedicate that one to extended aging. That, and it takes a long time, at least for me, to finish off a keg of barleywine!
The beer will mature, just more slowly. It will taste different than fresh, but it will also likely taste different than beer aged at room temp for 4 months in bottles. My point is, why not simply age it at room temp just like you would with bottles? You're deliberately slowing down the aging process, then wondering if it would taste different than beer that was 'aged' more quickly. There's another dynamic that goes beyond simply time and age. Some feel that bulk aging in the keg has benefits over bottle aging. I can't speak to that, but it's something else to consider. Even if you age both at the same temp, there may still be a difference.
