Horse Hooves and a Piggyback

[monkbuttbrews]

Hey all, total newb to brewing here as I only have seven 1Gl batches under my belt. Not sure if this is a Kegging question or a kit question so I thought I would put it in this forum.

First up the Piggyback part of my confusion….Brewed my first 5Gl batch (American Amber Ale Extract) @ two weeks ago. Kits instructions say two weeks primary, two weeks secondary and two weeks bottle conditioning. Brew is finishing up the primary now so this weekend I should transfer to a secondary per the instructions. I will be kegging this batch and I know I can use the keg as the secondary. My question is this. If I transfer it to the keg at the two week mark and it is supposed to be there for two weeks can I just go ahead and hook up the Co2 at serving pressure (guessing @ 10psi) and let it carb as it sits for those two weeks thus piggybacking those steps.

Next up is the horse hooves… A lot of my friends want to try this beer/see the keg set-up once it’s ready so I want it (the beer) to be as clear as possible when I serve it. I did use Irish Moss in the last 15 min of the boil but was thinking about adding gelatin to the keg as well. When should I add it? Think I need to do it when I rack but before I carb, correct? With that how does this fit in with the question above?

If I have done the quick math in my head right then there should be about 11.9634 answers to the questions… just wondering what the popular ones are LOL!
Thanks in advance!!

[beersk]

Ha, the last bit was kinda funny.

My advice to to skip the horse hooves. That sh*t smells nasty and doesn’t belong in beer. I know it doesn’t affect the beer, but the very idea makes me cringe. Get it as close to 32 while carbonating for a couple weeks, it should clear up.

[sampothepancake]

Skip the Jell-O. If you used Irish moss, your clarity should be fine.

[dannyboy58]

If you used irish moss and you got good hot and cold break your beer will clear up nicely after a week or so in the keg without the gelatin.

Most of my beers go from primary to keg after 2-3 weeks. Take a gravity reading after 2 weeks, then take another 2-3 days later. If it’s near your predicted FG and stable over a few days might as well keg it, carb and chill it and let it condition. While taste testing daily for proper carbonaton…

[loopie_beer]

And so your question gets answered… yes, you can hook to CO2 immediately. This will actually be better as the CO2 will hydrate and provide a smoother bead/head on the beer.

[monkbuttbrews]

Thank you all, sounds like I was thinking right. Will check the FG over the next few days and keg/carb if ready leaving the Jello out… unless Mr. Cosby stops by

[rebuiltcellars]

One more point to remember. The beer will clear up fine in the keg, but all that stuff that clears will drop to the bottom. The first glass will pick up a lot of gunk that is right around the intake to the pickup tube, so you won’t get clear beer till after that. Also, if you move the keg, you will stir up the sediment, and it will take some time (hours to days, depending on the beer and how shook up it got) to clear again.