I'm somewhat new to kegging, and I'm trying to decide what to do with a beer I kegged this past Sunday. It's a chocolate pecan brown ale that I did for a friend's wedding. I kegged it, seated the lid with about 15 seconds of 15 psi, disconnected the gas, and have it sitting at room temps. I brewed the beer about a month ago, and my thought was to let it rest at room temp for a bit until about two weeks before the wedding (oct 20) before putting it on the gas to carb up. My reasoning is that the beer will age and come together better with more time at room temp rather than cold. Am I misguided here, or will the beer in fact come together better in the mid 60s?
You can carb it at room temp. I do this all the time. Just consult a carbonation temp to figure out what psi to set it to based on temperature and desired volume CO2. No reason to keep it disconnected from the gas.
Even if you up it to 40 psi ,check it frequently. Sometimes they leak verry slowly. Even a brand new corny is not going to hold gas like a sanke. Also make sure to purge once or twice to replace the air in the head space with as much co2 as possible.
To answer the question: Yes, aging it not chilled will speed up the process of it coming along and being better. It's slowed when it's cool. I would have done the same thing.. I'm brewing for a wedding at the end of this month, and I'm putting both batches on gas and chilling them this weekend, so I can then bottle them from the keg by the time I need to leave for the wedding. Doing it that way, so I don't have to deal with shit in the bottles if people want to drink it from the bottles.
I agree that there is no problem carbing at room temperature, but that means you will need more pressure. I would think you would need over 20 lbs (to hold 2 volumes of CO2). Here is a table of pressure/temperature combinations up to 65F: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php
^will the beer in fact come together better in the mid 60s?^ I would prefer this option.By the time you are going to use this batch ,beer is going to have 60 days old,it is enough time for this beer to be ready to drink,it would be better to wait a little bit more though, but you have no more time .On october 18 you can put it into a fridge to cool it down to about 38 F ,next day you can carb it wasting less co2 shaking the keg.
Thanks for the responses, folks. To clarify: I'm not carbing warm. I've kegged and am letting it sit at room temp without being on gas. I'll chill and keg in early October after letting the beer sit at room temp for about a month. I've not had luck with the quick carb/shaking method, so I'll probably drop the temp and set to serving pressure 2 weeks ahead of the wedding.
From what I understood, putting enough gas on it to seat the lid would be sufficient. By positive pressure, do you mean go ahead and put it on gas to carb up?
I seem to be in the minority here, but I feel my malty beers come together more quickly when I cold condition them as opposed to a secondary at room temp. I could not tell you why, just what I have noticed.
I don't think the increased pressure affects conditioning as much as actively fermenting yeast...so yeah, why not get a headstart on carbonating and sleep better knowing everything is headed out rather than into your beer? If the temp is fairly constant though...it shouldn't matter much.
i have a question within your question. seems like you got some good responses for your kegging question but i would like to know your recipe for the chocolate pecan brown ale. that sounds amazing!!
Thanks folks, I've made some adjustments. There's a thread here from when I was formulating the recipe: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/brown-ale-help.31985/ I used a pound of pecans, roasted in the over at 350 for 10-15 minutes, left overnight in a brown paper bag to absorb some oils, and then briefly roasted again. Mashed these. The chocolate was just a spur of the moment thing. I had thee ounces of beans from a local chocolatier left over from another beer, so I tossed them In at the end of the boil. Flavor is subtle on both counts from the hydro sample I've tasted...I think it's just hard to get a good pecan flavor, and 4oz of cacao at flameout would give a bit more distinct of a chocolate flavor.
