[wamille]

I have a 1.083 OG (now 1.013) IPA just recently kegged 11 days ago.  I kegged it shortly after finding out the beer was at it's 1.013 mark.  After kegging, I set it on my porch where the temperature stays around 40 - 45 degrees.  Here's the conditioning questions... conditioning refers to secondary fermentation?  Is conditioning complete once the final gravity has been hit or should it remain in the fermentor for an additional time period prior to kegging?  I was wanting to make sure any/all off flavors would be completely removed in the conditioning phase.  I just want to fully understand if I did this when I kegged my beer or if I jumped the gun and should've left the beer in the fermentor longer.  By the way, the beer was in the fermentor a total of 38 days.

[matt]

Conditioning is not secondary fermentation. I would eliminate the term 'secondary fermentation' from your vocabulary. Any way, conditioning is the time after fermentation is complete when you let the beer rest or age prior to serving. You can bulk condition, keg condition, cask condition, bottle condition. In your case, the beer was in the fermentor for 38 days and hit it's final gravity. The yeast has done it's job. I think you kegged at the right time. Now that it's sitting in the keg, some of the remaining yeast and other particulate matter will drop out of suspension and the beer will clear up nicely. Also, the carbonation will balance out and the bubbles will become finer. At this point there are chemical reactions and balancing going on, not yeast action. Try a glass now, let it sit for a month, try another glass. I think you'll see a marked improvement.

[Malticulous]

In Papazain's book he defines conditioning as adding carbonation to the beer. That's part of it. I think of it more as the process of turning green beer into beer that is ready to serve. With that long of primary a lot of it should be done. A lot of brewers tend to believe the yeast are active long after fermentation but I don't believe so, A few days after FG is reached they are done. Fermentation off flavors still in the beer at that point can be difficult to remove. Aging may reduce them but the beer will never be as good as it could have been with a healthy fermentation. The cold conditioning you did on the porch will drop out particulates faster. I'd get that keg on the gas.