Aging Beer in Keg

I'm not sure I understand the question, but you can hook up the CO2 at the proper Set-and-Forget pressure and leave it hooked up for two weeks, two months, or two years.

 

I burst it to seal the lid and leave it under pressure warm to age a couple months before cooling and carbing for serving. Just put a 4 month old Imperial Stout in the keezer last night.

 

I would do the "same, but cold". If you know your CO2/kegs don't leak (and you should), I would set the carbonation and store it at a typical London cellar temperature (low 50s?). When @jbakajust1 says store it warm he's talking about "Oregon warm" (which is PDC). It will age/condition nicely with carbon dioxide bubbles floating around. Try not to take a sip before 4 months (six is better). It'll probably continue to improve for a year+ barring any flaws in your process.

 

I would cool it down first, then carbonate it at about 20 pounds, rock it for a few minutes until it hardly takes up any more pressure, and leave it in the kegorater unattached to the CO2 container until you get back. Then when you return, give it a burst at about 12 pounds (or whatever pressure you want), and keep repeating it every day for a few days. If it doesn't take up any more pressure, it should then be at the desired carbonation level. This works great for me.

 

If you haven't brewed it yet, you might consider a 2 month secondary @ cellar temp if possible...otherwise keg and forget.

 

Maybe...if you are like me, you have 1 temp controller and it is set at ~ 37*F...so if you want to age an Imperial Porter, it would be advantageous/faster @ 53 than 37*F, imho.

 

I don't disagree, but if he is like you with one temp controller set at 37, then his options are 37 or whatever he keeps his house at while out of town for 2 months. For me that would be with the AC thermostat set at 80, which would keep some air moving but not cost me an arm & leg. He lives in SoCal, so 53 is not an option in the middle of summer. I would choose 37.

 

I vote with set and forget at 37.

 

I tend to agree if the OP has no cellar/basement temp. arrangements.

 

Beer is food and like all food cold storage is better than warm storage. Always.

There is something about cold lagering with beer, no matter the style, that is a vast improvement over warm storage. If one week of warm storage is about the same as 1 month of cold storage, go with cold storage every time. It's just better. And you can't get stale beer back from the dead. Once it's gone it's gone.

Hit the keg with good pressure to make sure everything is sealed (and know too that a 20 psi will be absorbed, leaving 0 psi in the head space and a leaky seal). So hit it once again after a few hours. Then adjust the pressure at serving temp and you are good to go.
Cheers.

 

I'm shocked nobody has mentioned adding priming sugar, then sealing it in the keg with a blast of CO2 and allowing it to carb while you're gone...especially being gone that long. It'll carb over that time like its in a bottle and if it doesn't finishing carbing, you can hit it with the CO2 to finish it up. For this, it would carb better at warm temps than cooler temps it seems. I have not done this myself (priming sugar in the keg) but have seen several BA homebrewers mention that they do it here on the forum several times.

 

I'm still confused as to why OP doesn't just hook up the CO2 at a set-and-forget pressure appropriate for the temperature and leave it for the two months. Or why repeated blast sealing, fast force carbonation, and sugar priming (all of which are more complicated solutions to the "problem") are being recommended.

 

For me it's the risk of a leak. Say you get a scratch on the connector oring and develop a very small leak that's hard to detect. After two weeks your co2 tank goes empty, then you start to lose pressure in the corny, then you come back 2 months later and wonder if the beer is still any good and how long it's been flat. I prefer to pressurize and disconnect. This can still happen with a leaky gas poppet on the keg, but at least you didn't lose a tank of co2. If I were able to monitor/check on the keg every couple of days I would just connect the gas line and leave it. But you also tie up a gas line for quite a while when you do that too.
I also like the priming method. It is a bit more work but is similar to set it and forget it.

 

I'm not a fan of, nor do I, set and forget due to an experience where I didn't realize I had a leak and lost a whole canister of CO2. Now I manually turn the canisters on and off to carb and then to maintain serving pressure after I pour a few beers. Its not a hassle for me and I don't have to worry about leaks killing a tank again. I tend to be a worrier, so this helps me not have to check my kegerators daily to satisfy my anxiety and I have peace of mind knowing my CO2 will still be there when I need it.

How is heating up some water and dissolving priming sugar in it complicated?

 

So you guys don't check for leaks? Spray some starsan mix or soapy water all over the poppets/couplers and lid? I guess I've never had to contend with a slow leak that I didn't catch before I "set it and forget it," maybe I'm just lucky? I have had cheap picnic taps fail on me before and dump a whole keg of beer, but I digress.

 

You've been lucky. Some slow leaks are very difficult to find.

 

I commonly age in kegs. I currently have a 20% imperial stout, English Barleywine, Dubbel and Doppelbock bulk conditioning in kegs. I don't like taking up the extra space in my kegorator so I hit them with gas to seal them up and check again in a week to ensure they are still sealed. If so, all good. If not, keg lube and another hit of CO2 and try again. I store them in the basement at 68*.