Keg Conditioning & Carbonation

[Josiah Seatter]

Hello I am a new home brewer who skipped bottling and got a keg system with my first fermenter and am having fun with some mates learning the in's and out of brewing!

I have a couple of questions and would be wrapped to get some answers. I have racked an ipa from secondary to keg today 24/10 but would like to drink the beer for the rugby world cup final on the 1st of November.

I know I can chill it down and force carbonate it and drink it right away but I have been reading about keg conditioning at room temperature for 3 or so weeks for the beer to mature... Could I just hook the keg up to say 11 psi? And leave it at room temperature to let's say the 30th? Chill it down have a try and if it's not carbonated right wack it up to 30psi give her a shake and leave overnight?

Or should I just leave the keg to condition until the 30th chill for a day then force carbonate?

Thanks for your time and look forward to your reply's :)

[Scott H]

Cold beer absorbs CO2 more readily from what I understand. What I would do if it was me is, chill it to down and put 30 PSI on it for 24hrs asap, then return the pressure to 11 psi for the rest of the week, it will be carbed enough to serve but probably not 100% carbed and mature. With an IPA its kinda 50/50, 3 weeks is defo the sweet spot for aging, but drinking it earlier means brighter hop flavours.

[Josiah Seatter]

Yeah this was the plan but I read that beer conditions much faster at 20 degress once you chill it down it slows considerably... This is why I was thinking about leaving it at room temp then just force carbonating by shaking the keg @ 30psi the day before the game :p.

You reckon just chill it down now and carb it properly? 

[Sam DT]

Could even go up to 40 psi as long as you go no longer than 24 hours, keep it cold the whole time, check a carbonation chart but 11 psi at 4 degrees is probably about right. 11 psi at 20 degrees will be well under carbed.

[Josiah Seatter]

You think it's not worth leaving at room temp to mature better and just chill and carb properly? 

[Sam DT]

I did a three week IPA a couple of months ago - there's a thread on here somewhere. I was thinking of doing the same thing but ended up using gelatin and keeping it cold and worked out well. The added bonus of keeping it cold as you'll you'll drop out lots of yeast and improve your clarity.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

how many brews have you done?

[David R]

I like my IPA's fresh, I'd force-carb it now and see what you think, keep it in the fridge and see how it changes between now and 1-Nov.

[Smiffy]

Using excess pressure and trying to control the carbonation by timing is totally unpredictable and unreliable.

Decide what "volume" of carbonation you want (I go for 1.7 for an IPA), look at the actual temperature (e.g. 20C), read off the pressure from the chart (18 PSIG) and set the regulator for that. While you chill it, turn off the gas but leave the gauge connected an you will see that the pressure drops as the temperature does. For example, at 12C it will be about 9 PSIG. Confirm that with your chart, set the regulator at that to serve. It is an ale so it doesn't want to be too cold or too carbonated.

Smiffy