From what I have read, the standard advice when kegging beer is to leave it for 4 to 6 weeks after kegging to mature before drinking it.
I don't have the patience so I tend to start drinking after a week. What I have noticed is that the flavour of my beer tends to peak between 2 and 4 weeks after kegging. After this time the hop flavour seems to diminish and the beer feels "fatter" in the mouth. It doesn't taste that bad (still as good as most pub beer), but I prefer the taste when it is younger. Obviously this may just be my personal taste, but from what I read I may have problem with oxidation.
The beers I have brewed so far are relatively low strength (3.5 - 4.5% alcohol) so maybe they are meant to be drunk younger?
Also if I bottled some of each batch, would they stay in peak condition longer - If oxidation is the problem I assume there will be less oxygen to react in the neck of a bottle than in the top of a keg.
Keg maturation and oxidation
Hello Hoppopotamus this is not anything strange you are experiencing my beers are exactly the same especially when serving through my beer engines with tight sparkler .I tend to over compensate when designing my beer recipes by using slightly higher mash temperatures & over hopping.I am drinking a pint of Bluebird Bitter that i Dry Hopped with 150g Golding's for 110 Litre brew.I thought i had over done it but when i started drinking it at 2 months it was lovely & still lovely now it's about 4 months



Thanks for the replies. I've just kegged a Bobek Stunner that I steeped with 125g of Bobek hops for an hour at the end of the boil. It tasted amazing straight out of the fermenter and definitely had a hell of a lot of hop aroma. Hopefully this will cause it to last longer before fading.
As a matter of interest, does anyone know if the hop aroma lasts longer if you bottle beers rather than kegging them?
As a matter of interest, does anyone know if the hop aroma lasts longer if you bottle beers rather than kegging them?