[smilvet]

I am new to kegging beer and was wondering what's the correct way to condition?  Should I leave the beer in my secondary for the required conditioning time or condition in the keg while being force carbonated?

[brewinhard]

Depending on the style and original gravity of your beer, I would always let it condition in the primary on top of the yeast cake without racking it to a secondary. Racking to a secondary, IMO, is not necessary whatsoever unless you are working with fruit, hop, oak, wild yeast/bacteria, or spice additions. Let your beer stay on the yeast cake for a minimum of 2 wks to properly condition (once again, this is gravity/style dependent) prior to racking to a purged keg and carbonating for serving. Once the beer is in the keg, it can be aged as long as needed to allow the beer to come into its own.

[fmader]

I agree with above. Forget ever using s secondary unless you have a beer that has a secondary fermentation such as a fruit beer. Keep your beer in the primary until you reach FG. Then straight to the keg. If you're going to dry hop, dry hop in the keg in a suspended bag. I actually welded hooks on the bottom of my kids to suspend with fishing line. But others use dental tape to suspend the bag. It will seal with the lid and not leak.

[tesgüino]

Either way (carboy or keg) of bulk conditioning is fine and equal. I'd base it on if I had a free keg that could be dedicated to conditioning time.

[euge]

When you've hit a stable terminal gravity in primary and stayed there for a couple three days; go ahead and rack to keg if you're around day 10-14. The beer can finish conditioning in the keg- best done at cool room temps for a couple more weeks.

Depends on the yeast and beer type and strength so it could take less or more time but I try to get the beer in the kegs sooner than later.