Starting to keg

I also just started kegging and my first keg i carbonated for three days and then tapped it. How long do you usually condition your kegs? do you condition them in the fridge or outside of it?

 

I am still getting the feel for all things kegging, and recently used a few new procedures. I typically start getting into the keg early (I have a warm IIRA on dry hops [in the keg] that was kegged on Sunday that I poured a partial glass of last night for "Sampling"). This usually causes the issue of not having enough of the beer when it really hits its peak, which takes a few weeks of carbed conditioning. It usually takes a good 2 weeks of cold carbonation for the beer to become saturated with the carbonation instead of just having CO2 in solution when poured (drinks more like a Nitro pour with only a few days of CO2). Another couple weeks for the beer to clear, the flavors to round out, all that jazz. I am going to try something new this time, I am dry hopping and partially carbing in one keg. Then I will chill it some to get most of the gunk out of suspension, then I am going to jumper the beer to a different keg to get it off the layer of yeast and hops at the bottom.

 

Brew partner and I have (4) kegs between us. Just bought (7) more today. Now we can 'secondary' condition in kegs and free up the fermenter and always have enough kegs ready to go!

IPA I'm drinking now was brewed on 08/23, kegged on 09/06 and I started drinking it on 09/07. First beer I've force carb'd but I was out of beer so it was necessary! I need to plan better!! But it tastes excellent and is nearly crystal clear!

 

Just a point of order for any keg newbs reading this... any time you carbonate a keg with CO2 from a CO2 cylinder, it's force carbing. (Force carbing just means artificially carbonating, rather than priming with sugar.) In your case, I think you're probably referring to fast force carbing (shaking/rolling and/or using very high pressures to get CO2 dissolved faster) as opposed to set-and-forget force carbing.

 

I brew a lot of IPAs so dry hopping is generally a necessity for the style we like...I dry hop in the primary most of the time, unless its a double dry hop. I generally dry hop for 5 days, cold crashing the fermenter with 2 days to go. Then I rack directly into the keg and force carbonate immediately. After reaching desired pressure (I like to equilize at 25 psi after force carbing) , I put keg in fridge and let it carbonate for 2 full days (at 30-35 psi) before tapping and taking first pull to remove any settled yeast/trub, which then gets tossed. Usually the beer is clear and lightly carbonated at that point (Irish moss at 15 minutes in the boil helps with clarity). I keep the pressure around serving pressure (10-12 psi) from then on out and by day 4-5 I've got a fully carbed keg ready to go. As mentioned, I brew a lot of IPAs which have big hop flavor changes as they age...but I enjoy all of the flavor changes to be honest with you. I don't like to age the beer but instead just drink it over the next few weeks and embrace the green to more refined flavors as they change. I haven't conditioned a keg outside the fridge, so I cant speak on that aspect.

 

Don't forget to get decent fridge

 

Lots of good advice in this thread.

Let me add: start looking around for a used refrigerator now. They come up on craigslist all the time, and if you keep you eyes open you can save some serious cash. A refrigerator is often the single most expensive part of a kegging system, but if you're patient you can often find a used one for cheap.