conditioning under pressure or not?

[Rick_UK]

Hi Chaps

I'm about to keg my Hobgoblin clone and can't decide if to carb it up with CO2 and leave it to condition for a few weeks. Or leave it in the keg to condition then hit it with the CO2 when I want to drink it.

Basically does it condition better under pressure or not. Or doesn't it matter??

Thanks for any advice.

Rick

[OvenHiker]

An interesting question. I've no idea if it makes a difference. My gut feeling is that it probably doesn't.

It does raise the question why you would need to add condition after a period of maturation, I would expect an excess of condition, with no need to add extraneous CO2?

[bigdave]

During conditioning, the beer absorbs co2, which gives it that sparkle. So essentially, without CO2 your beer won't condition and you'll just be pouring flat beer.

[Rick_UK]

Is conditioning the same as carbonation? What about 'maturing' - I'm confused

[OvenHiker]

Is conditioning the same as carbonation? What about 'maturing' - I'm confused

Sorry for the confusion caused.

I believe, 'conditioning' is the term that used to describe all the things that occur to the beer once it is racked off the yeast, typically into a vessel such as a cask. Hence the term cask conditioning. The processes do include the production and dissolving of CO2 to bring the cask into 'condition', but also involves the reduction of off-flavours, the production of some nice flavours and the dropping out of yeast and haze, among other things. [Cellarmanship 4th Edition, O'Neill, 2005].

I tend to use the term 'maturation' rather than 'conditioning', to help avoid the confusion. The 'condition' on the other hand, is a specific term used to describe the level of carbonation in a beer.

Getting back to your original question, I've no idea because I would usually prime or carry a few gravity points over to the cask to ensure the yeast produces plenty of condition.

If you are kegging a filtered beer (?) on the other hand, I've no idea if it is best to gas it up prior to letting it mature for a while or not?

[Martin G]

If racking to a vessel that you add gas then it is not a bad idea to give a puff of gas let it sit a while and then release the pressure. That should purge most of the oxygen, TBH it probably is not worth worrying about though. As far as pressure is concerned it is going to do most of its conditioning under pressure anyway if primed or racked a couple of points above final gravity.

[Rick_UK]

Thanks for the replies fellas and the excellent research Ovenhiker

Yes I always thought of conditioning as the dropping out of finer yeast particles and final clearing up job of. any undesirables. Carbonation I always thought was purely the forcing of CO2 into the beer through priming or kegging/bottling a few points from fg or adding the gas. Maturation the mellowing and development of various flavours over time.

Well I've kegged the ale now and given it a squirt of CO2 rather than prime and move somewhere warm. The main reason I ask is because there isn't anywhere convenient to keep a keg in the house while it carbonates where SWMBO or the kids won't be an issue!

As has been said I can't see it's a biggie and unlikely to spoil the beer.

Happy brewing!

Rick