New member help

Hello, I’m a new member as of today. I’m reading lots of peoples guides and just wanted to run my thoughts by the professionals.

It all started when a YouTube video with a Keezer. I thought this would be a great addition to my toys and originally planned to buy a commercial keg, with a pump and co2 etc. I then purchased a local 2nd hand freezer for buttons, bought a st1000, heat tube, box and tested the setup. All good.

I then changed my mind and decided to have a go myself, bought 2x kits ( a coopers and a youngs)

I currently have 2x home brew kits in fermenting vessels 3 days in inside the keezer at the recommended temp.

Now, I’m going to buy 2x corny kegs and the other associated bits. What’s the next stage If I’m not planning on bottling? I was working to the 2/2/2 method for timings, but have read a lot of contradicting info….

Do I, after a steady FG reading at around 2 weeks

-Leave in the primary FV for another 2x weeks at the lower temp then corny?
-Syphon to a 2nd FV and condition for 2x weeks then corny?
-Syphon to a primed 2nd FV and to the corny

Or something else that I have missed?

Thanks for your help

philt99 said:

Hello, I’m a new member as of today. I’m reading lots of peoples guides and just wanted to run my thoughts by the professionals.


Do I, after a steady FG reading at around 2 weeks

-Leave in the primary FV for another 2x weeks at the lower temp then corny?
-Syphon to a 2nd FV and condition for 2x weeks then corny?
-Syphon to a primed 2nd FV and to the corny

Or something else that I have missed?

Thanks for your help

Click to expand...

As Robin54 said ask three people you may get three answers so here's mine.

First I don't follow the 2/2/2 timing but if you do then that's fine you just need to know what I do, not how long I take.

After fermentation - 4-5 days I then cool slightly to 14°C for 1 day and then chill ( still in primary fermenter) until it is clear.
Once clear - 4- 6 days I will then rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar and bottle or keg if required. Conditioning warm in the bottle for 1 week followed by chilled for 1 week max.

For your timings then there is nothing wrong in following the same process but adjust the timings to your own. Remember all of these things work and once you have tried it and it makes decent beer you may stick with it or try something different. If you plan to use the cornie to carbonate then you can miss out the priming sugar and condition with CO2 for 1 week before drinking

+1 on what geetee has said.
We all have our own way of doing things.
The 2+2+2 method is a good start point but by experience you will modify it to suit your own preferences on timing and process.
And the 2+2+2 method is
- 2 weeks in the FV
- 2 weeks carbonation in the warm
- 2 weeks conditioning minimum in the coldest place you have

Yep there is always another way.but you will develop your own.
IMO it's allways better to siphon off the leas into a secondary FV after the initial fermentation has subsided about a week. This will eliminate at leat the offflavours from the dead yeast.
Then you can leave it for as long as you want as long as it's under air lock I'm not an advocate of fining but you can do this at this point if you wish to clear a bit quicker.
With corni Kegs you can force carbonate & drink immediately it's clear.

Also as you brew different kits you will find some take a bit longer....my Youngs AIPA is on day 16 and it's still bubbling away. I'm going to give it another couple of days before checking the fg...then if it's where it needs to be there's a dry hop of around 4 days on top so this one will probably be 3 weeks in the fv! Mine are carbed for 2 weeks in the house then moved to the shed.

Cheers

Clint

a corny only holds 19l so unless you brewed your beers short you will also need half a dozen or so bottles too per kit

Fwiw i will ferment and once primary is complete i will crash chill down to 0C to aid both the clarity and the conditioning via pressure in the keg later. I will then bottle 6-8 bottles priming each bottle individually.

the remainder i drain into the corny, when crash chilled to below 4c condensation soon forms on the corny wall indicating the fill level

while you can prime a corny keg it will generate a greater degree of sediment which in turn will pour as more dirty beer when first tapped due to the way the beer is dispensed via a dip tube that feeds from the bottom dimple in the keg.

And as you need a regulated co2 supply in order to dispense most folk who keg simply apply pressure to the keg and force the condition into the beer, while many do this in an ad hoc way bumping the initial pressure upto 20 or 40 psi you can also reference a kegging chart http://www.kegerators.com/articles/carbonation-table-pressure-chart.php

look up the ideal serving pressure and temperature depending on the level of condition you desire and set it up and leave for a week or so, agitating the keg can accelerate the conditioning but wont have any effect on the beers maturity.

i would suggest even when using co2 to force condition into the beer you should consider leaving it a full 2 weeks to mature before tasting anything other than samples but you may enjoy your beers greener than I ? either way stash a couple of bottles away to sup in a few months so you can judge how the flavour matures..

happy supping..

when corny kegging remember to seal the lid without it clamped down with a blast of c02 then clamp the lid shut

Thanks for all the replies! I'll sort out another pair of FV and the kegs and I'm good to go then.

Although I have just seen the 30l kegs at crusaderkegsandcasks. Decisions...decisions...

:)

Just a quick update to this now I have a clear head. I kegged both my brews on thursday evening, I was itching to sample some and force carbed both kegs that night. Both are surprisingly tasty, clear and pour a professional looking pint!

I ended up doing 2 weeks in the primary, siphoned to secondary and immediately dry hopped with 25g Saaz for the youngs pilsner and 25g citra for the coopers mexican cerveza. Left for 3 days at 18 degrees, then 1 day at 5 degrees and into the keg. Looking forward to my next 2x kits now! Thanks all

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