Multi-week/month keg conditioning

Gas doesn't have to be continual, but you need to dissolve enough gas in the beer over time to keep the keg pressurized once you remove the gas supply. (A quick burst at the beginning won't do that.) As for temperatures... just about everything that's going to happen during your conditioning time will happen faster at higher temps, including staling. I see it as a tradeoff. I'm more comfortable with bigger beers at higher temps (like room temp) than I am with smaller beers. If you just want to clear the beer, lower temps (lager-like) are the way to go.

 

I have 5 - 12oz. left of this from a friends batch. DELISH after 2 months lagering in the bottle. It was really good after 2 weeks in the keg. If you just wanted it to drop clear, a few days below 32F (but above the beers freezing point) is better than a few weeks above 32F according to Bamforth. It depends on if you gave it enough time in primary in the first place. If so, cold conditioning is where I would spend time.

 

I've had great luck with adding the 3 oz of priming sugar that you'd use for bottling directly into the keg. A quick shake-and-bake approach at room temp to make sure the keg is sealed. After that, I treat it like a 5 gallon bottle of beer. Two weeks at ambient temp and cellar temp thereafter should do the trick.

For aging: Beers are dynamic. Just like wine. If the're not hop driven, they usually get better and better as they age. So long as your methods are solid 4 months is where a lot of beers begin to start drinking really nicely.

 

Pop the top and chug?

 

I drank this beer when it was 2 weeks old in feb. And I've drank this beer after 2 months. It was much better at 2 months, but still great at 2 weeks. A little more crisp fruity ester and smoother at 2 months. If you don't want to wait, don't.

Again I say it depends on how successful the primary fermentation was. Aging an incompletely fermented beer vs. a fully fermented beer will yield dif results. Set some bombers aside and drink the rest.