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hi all,

I'm looking at taking the plunge into kegging for a number of reasons, lack of storage for bottles being a primary one.
That said, I'm very new to brewing, having only had 5 brews under my belt, and am a bit confused by one aspect in particular.

When bottling, everyone says to leave to carb for 2 weeks and condition for a minimum 2 further weeks, which I can understand. When kegging however, everyone seems to say one of the benefits is that you can drink straight away once the keg is carbed. Wouldn't this then prevent the further development of the flavours that the conditioning period is supposed to provide? I understand that I could always leave a keg to condition, but found these two points of view slightly paradoxical. Or have I got it all wrong?

You CAN carb and drink right away with kegging but you will find giving the keg 2 weeks in the fridge will see it improve. I condition most beers unless its a wheat in which case its game on as soon as its carbed up.

Some see kegging as a short cut to drinking as soon as possible although that doesn't always result in the best beer.

If I have no stock of beer, I will fast carb at 20psi for 2 days, giving a 1 minute shake twice a day.
Then on the 3rd day back gas off to 8 psi, depressurise from top of keg, and its usually OK to drink.

The beer flavour does change / improve though from start to finish of a keg if you get into it early. Some of this may be the way the carbonation is happening, and some may be conditioning.

Because I ferment fro minimum 3 weeks anyway, lots of teh conditioning is done and the beers are still nice when very fresh.
All grain / kegging seems to allow drinking of very fresh beers, which is great if you like hoppy beers as the aroma is right up there in the first few days.

Some beers are ok to have straight away but others definately need say 2 weeks to be nice.

I find that DrSmurto's Golden Ale enjoys a little bit of time in the keg.

I condition prior to kegging.

2 weeks primary, rack, 1-2 weeks cold conditioning, fining, then keg. Force carb and start drinking 15 mins later. That is for ales, lagers get 3-4 weeks in primary and then spend months cold conditioning (aka lagering) prior to kegging.

The beer does still develop with time in the keg and for some beers, stouts in particular, i like to keg them and leave them at room temperature for a month or 2 prior to drinking.

Other beers drink better when they are fresh.

drsmurto wrote:...
The beer does still develop with time in the keg and for some beers, stouts in particular, i like to keg them and leave them at room temperature for a month or 2 prior to drinking.

Other beers drink better when they are fresh.

Thanks, that makes more sense. It is still a bit contradictory how a lot of people say you should leave your brews (except wheat beers) in bottles for a couple of months before cracking them, but don't necessarily sau the same thing about kegs.

Cheers all

I guess its because bottles need the carbonation time, plus the time for the yeast to settle out properly.

Bottled beer does semm to improve like that though, the yeast must keep cleaning up off flavours for a long time if stored at the right temps.