So what do you do with your proto-beer after it has gone through the primary fermentation and a secondary fermentation? At this point, you might be surprised to know, the beer has no carbonation. Even though in the first fermentation, the yeast were busy belching out CO2 just as fast as they could, most of that is released to the air and is not trapped in the beer(otherwise your ale pale would explode in what is sometimes referred to as a "beer bomb"... it is not pretty).

There are two ways to get carbonation back in your beer. If you put your beer into bottles, you add just enough sugar to the uncarbonated brew to get the yeast a little active again and then put everything into the bottles. You have to be careful about how much sugar goes in or those bottle become beer grenades, which, like the beer bomb, make a big mess and loud scary noises. The other way to do it is by kegging. All the beer you get on tap in a bar or pub has been kegged. Because neither John nor I relish the idea of cleaning and santizing enough beer bottles for a 5 gallon batch of beer and because I have no desire to find out just how destructive beer grenades are, we opted to go for the kegging system.

Sanitizing 5 Gallon Cornelius "Corny" Kegs

Probably the most important part of this process is having santized kegs. One thing that is guaranteed to make you unhappy with your beer is if some other microbes besides your beer yeast get involved with the beer. Since beer is plenty rich in nutrients, there are plenty of bacteria and fungi that are willing to sample your beer for you. Unfortunately, this leads to all sorts of unpleasant flavors an off-putting smells. Since your beer could be spending quite a long time in this keg (after all, it does take a little while to go through 5 gallons of beer if you are only two people) it's important that it be well cleaned. There are a number of nice one step sanitizers on the market now, and that's what John used to get his keg ready for storing beer (I think the one we used is "StarSan")..

From Carbuoy to Keg

Just like moving the beer from the primary to the secondary fermentation, moving the beer to the keg involves a sanitized siphon, an elevated surface and a little bit of patience while the beer moves into it's final home.

Mixing the Beer and CO2

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the CO2 gas canister and its associated apparatus. You'll just have to trust me that after the keg lid is sealed, you pump CO2 gas into the canister. After that, you give the keg a bit of gentle agitating to mix the CO2 throughout the solution.

Chilling the Kegs

It may not look like it, but what you are seeing here is chemistry in action. CO2 is more soluble in cold liquids. Thus, to help the carbonation process along, it's important to chill the kegs (and beer) down to 40-50 degrees Farenheit. John managed to find the perfect sized small refrigerator that holds 2 5 gallon kegs and fits in the fridge space under our wet bar. One of those kegs contains our IPA the other contains our Belgian-style ale.

Beer, like wine, will change as it ages. How long you need to keep the beer kegged before you start drinking depends on the beer and your tastes. We sampled both our IPA and our Belgian less than 24 hours after kegging and noticed changes as the beer matured. The beer was good almost immediately, but both have mellowed nicely as they've aged. This was particularly important for the Belgian, which is 9-10% ABV (alcohol by volume). At first taste, the taste of the alcohol was very forward. A couple of weeks later, it has receded into the background and some of the lovely carmelly malt and banana flavors have taken over.

Belgian-Style Ale Amongst the Petunias

Here's a view of the final product. Our Belgian is a little darker than you would expect most Belgians to be, but it is quite clear, which makes John quite happy. Not a huge head on this beer, but it's turning out to be a very pleasant and smooth drinker, and a nice complement to a hot day. Not a beer you can drink a lot of at once or drink fast, so we expect this keg to be with us through the fall.

Cheers!