Keg Conditioned Beer

[Brewberoza]

Has anyone any experience conditioning in a keg?

I have read a lot of posts that say something along the lines that "a keg is a giant bottle". This maybe true but one drinks from a keg in a very different way than from a bottle. Natural carbonation may work the same but surely the act of dispensing beer involves pushing CO2 into a keg. This can potentially affect the volume of dissolved CO2 over time.

Has anyone any experience?

 

[brewtim]

I think you are talking specifically about carbonating? Conditioning is a catch-all term that covers a wide range of post-fermentation activities including carbonating.

I would expect that 99% of people that own a cornie or sankey type keg have experience of dispensing using CO2, the amount of CO2 is usually controlled via a regulator attached to a large continuos CO2 source which would be a pub sized bottle of CO2.

If you are talking about a plastic barrel type keg then the principle is the same however the method of injecting CO2 is different, you gas it up using a very small bottle bulb of a few grams of CO2, a one-time fill until you need to gas it a second time etc. It's difficult to control the amount of CO2 needed.

Batch priming can be done for either.

Temperature and pressure will affect the rate of CO2 absorption into the beer, with the regulator this can be controlled, with the CO2 bulb it can't.

 

[BIGJIM72]

Again-need to define terms a bit better. I know nothing about cornies so cannot comment, but if you are referring to plastic kegs being like a giant bottle......

Beer from a plastic keg will have a very different mouth feel to a bottled beer. Bottling is far more suited to beers that need a higher level of carbonation- lagers,APAs etc. Plastic kegs are far more suited to English ales & stouts- with a lower degree of gassiness. Also its a PITA to try & chill a keg compared to sticking bottles in a fridge-so the analogy you quoted about being like a big bottle doesn't ring true for me.

 

[Brewberoza]

Thanks for the insights.

When I said keg conditioned I meant keg conditioned in the sense of cask conditioned. A lot of posts suggested that it is a no brainer but I was skeptical. Judging from the comments here was I right to be?

 

[brewtim]

Thanks for the insights.

When I said keg conditioned I meant keg conditioned in the sense of cask conditioned. A lot of posts suggested that it is a no brainer but I was skeptical. Judging from the comments here was I right to be?

Now you're asking REALLY dodgy questions with a potential multitude of complex answers :)

A keg and a cask are different beasts and both have various ways of serving from them, cask ale as in CAMRA 'real ale' can only be served naturally aspirated for it to be 'real' (I think there may be some CO2 allowed somewhere in the serving pipeline), my experience is only with cornies and serving with CO2, simple straightforward and produces really good ale.

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