I transferred a brew to a keg last night after cold crashing for 48 hours. I didn’t bother to check the FG before transferring since it had been 3 weeks. Once transferred, I pulled a sample to check. Seems as though fermentation hadn’t finished based upon my sample. Question: what can happen if I transfer to a keg ad carb before fermentation was complete?
If you leave it at fermentation temps, it will keep fermenting as normal, but unless you let the pressure out it will over carbonate. If you can vent the gas effectively, kegs make good fermentation vessels.
If I have it at carbing temps (35 degrees), will that stall fermentation or stop it altogether?
It will stall it until you warm the beer up again, at which point it will probably restart, but maybe not. Restarting after stall is not something that is always reliable.
What leads you to believe it hasn’t finished yet? Also, it’s not too late to take a gravity reading.
And make sure you let the sample warm up to about 68F. The gravity will read higher the colder the temperature. I assume you did this, but just making sure…
If it was in the fermenter for 3 weeks before you cold crashed, it had to be as done as it was going to be. Three weeks should be plenty of time for almost all fermentations to be done, with a few exceptions.
[quote=“Beersk”]
If it was in the fermenter for 3 weeks before you cold crashed, it had to be as done as it was going to be. Three weeks should be plenty of time for almost all fermentations to be done, with a few exceptions.[/quote]
Very likely correct. Depends on the yeast and temp more than anything else. This summer I had WLP007 floc hard and finish close to expected FG after three weeks in the mid 60’s, so I went ahead and racked to a keg per my SOP. It ended up dropping another point or two over a week.
