I've been reading up about the beer maturing faster in a keg (presumably due to being carbonated much faster than the natural way) so how does this affect lagering or cold conditioning?
Is there a point to doing it the long way, or just tradition?
What I'm asking is, do I bother with putting the secondary in the fridge for 6-12 weeks or does just kegging it & waiting a week before drinking it achieve the same thing?
I have searched & found conflicting info each way (week in keg or 6 weeks in secondary) hence asking the question.
Alot to do with cold conditioning/ lagering is clearing the beer and dropping the sediment out, obviously along with other reasons but if you were to do this in the keg then all the crud that usually drops out when lagering will still be in the keg
I'm still going to rack for two weeks, but not drop the temp & wait longer, so the keg would be like a tertiary anyway - just after about a month total not like 3 months total.
I don't secondary lagers (as such) at all. 2 weeks approx in primary lift temp for diaceytal rest, chill to 0c, filter, keg & carbonate. Within 1 to 2 weeks the beer is tasting better than any beer I've lagered for 1 to 3 months in secondary.
I rack my lagers off primary to secondary conditioning (dry hop & finings)
for 2 weeks because I have an extra fridge(5C).
Then into lagering freezer(0C) for 6 weeks hopefully then keg,
depending on demand!
My lagers are crystal clear.
Cheers Glenn.
