I was reading in GW's book that after fermentation you should let the beer condition in a keg for 1-2 weeks before bottling.
I thought I would give this a go but wondered whether I needed to prime the keg for the 2 weeks conditioning or prime the bottles at bottling time or prime both the keg and then prime the bottles aswell?
Any thoughts on this?
Cheers
Nick
Kegging Beer before bottling
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BrewBoyJoe
Re: Kegging Beer before bottling
Hi Nick,
Yes the GW book is a classic! Mine’s pretty wort stained and ragged! I would normally condition in a keg after my primary for a week or so if dry hopping! I just set this up last night for my latest all grain IPA clone recipe! But if not dry hopping there is no reason to leave it conditioning for a full week. I would transfer sooner, after 24 hours or so and then condition in the bottle for a bit longer! Perhaps give 3 weeks in the bottle. The darker the beer, the longer you’ll need to condition! You don't prime until just before you bottle!
The purpose of transferring into another container is that any yeast, hops, hop residue that came over from the primary will settle out / and won’t get into your beer bottles! Some of these things get transferred even with the best will and equipment! After 24 hours or so, rack the beer back into another container! Just clean and sanitise your fermenter. That will do. But before you do so, first add your priming solution! I use beer kit enhancer for this which is 50% corn sugar / 50% DME! 100 gram per 5 gallon batch is just enough to give real beer style carbonation! If you add 100% malt then you get more krausen settling at the bottom of the bottle so I think the enhancer is a good half way house!
Cheers
Joe
Yes the GW book is a classic! Mine’s pretty wort stained and ragged! I would normally condition in a keg after my primary for a week or so if dry hopping! I just set this up last night for my latest all grain IPA clone recipe! But if not dry hopping there is no reason to leave it conditioning for a full week. I would transfer sooner, after 24 hours or so and then condition in the bottle for a bit longer! Perhaps give 3 weeks in the bottle. The darker the beer, the longer you’ll need to condition! You don't prime until just before you bottle!
The purpose of transferring into another container is that any yeast, hops, hop residue that came over from the primary will settle out / and won’t get into your beer bottles! Some of these things get transferred even with the best will and equipment! After 24 hours or so, rack the beer back into another container! Just clean and sanitise your fermenter. That will do. But before you do so, first add your priming solution! I use beer kit enhancer for this which is 50% corn sugar / 50% DME! 100 gram per 5 gallon batch is just enough to give real beer style carbonation! If you add 100% malt then you get more krausen settling at the bottom of the bottle so I think the enhancer is a good half way house!
Cheers
Joe