Belgian Ale From Primary to Keg - Not Well Aged What Next?

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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manplant
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Belgian Ale From Primary to Keg - Not Well Aged What Next?

Post by manplant »

In a learning experience about 4 weeks ago racked a spicy belgian ale after 2 weeks of primary completion directly into my keg in the fridge to force carbonate. The beer tasted a little green, was cloudy and fruity as I expected.

However, I expected the beer to age in the keg at lower temperatures and become smoother, and less "green" but the beer tastes nearly exactly the same as it did they day I racked it over from primary.

After reading a few other threads, the 35 degree temps appears to have made the yeast inactive. Did this stop the aging process? Is it possible to rack the beer back to secondary for futher aging and clarification? Any suggestions?
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wottaguy
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RE: Not Well Aged What Next?

Post by wottaguy »

Hiya manplant,

I recently did the same as you and looking back on it i do have a suggestion or 2.

The beer is fine in the keg.....to condition it properly, do take the CO2 off of the keg and condition the beer in the 35 to 40 degF range for at least 6 months. It is because of this reason i would recommend to bottle and cork in Belguim bottles and age for a min of 8 months for a "Cing Cents" or to 1-2 years for a "dark strong".
I am planning to brew both of these styles as soon as the "hop crunch" is over...(maybe 2 years or longer???) I hope not.

Hope this helps!

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manplant
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Belgian Ale From Primary to Keg - Not Well Aged What Next?

Post by manplant »

Wottaguy,
I appreciate your help. Ive had the beer in the keg for over a month now at 35F, and I have been sampling here and there. As of last night, the flavor has started to improve, tasting similar to the lower gravity spicy tripel I had intended. My goal was to produce a lower gravity version of a Gouden Carolus Tripel in the 7.0-7.2% Alc range. It would be a cross between Hoegaarden Grand Cru and the GC tripel at lower FG.

Unfortunately, I wish I had your paitience on aging for that period of time. Ive never had a keg last more that 6 weeks since I started brewing in Aug 2007.

There have been a few suggestions on the forum on bottling from keg. Do you have any recommendations? Im only set up with kegs at the moment.
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RE: Belgium Ale...

Post by wottaguy »

On a recent Triple that I brewed, I kegged it and conditioned it and carbonated it to 3.5 volumes of co2. After that I attempted to bottle it and was very unsuccessful due to the beer foaming up because of all the co2 in the beer. I was using a blichman beer gun, then realized that the only effective way to to this would be to use a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler.

I don't know if you have been conditioning your beer in kegs under co2 pressure to carbonate or not. If so, I would recommend to use a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler and avoid the mess that I had going here. Really wasted most of the batch due to foaming. OR...just let it sit in the keg and have it on tap, and save the bottling for next time.

I know that the next time I do this, I'll condition the beer in the keg for a month( use enough co2 pressire to seal the keg...then disconnect the co2 and relieve the pressure to maintain the seal)...then when done conditioning,,relieve the keg pressure, re-yeast with half of the yeast I used to ferment with (shake well after keg has been resealed)...wait 3 days...add priming sugar (shake keg well again)...then bottle and cork in Belgium Bottles and cage them up then let them condition for around 8 months or so.

I have a few sessions to perform first but I will be brewing these Belgiums soon!

Hope this helps!
(_)3
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
manplant
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Belgian Ale From Primary to Keg - Not Well Aged What Next?

Post by manplant »

Keep me posted. Watch out for slow leaks once you seal the keg
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