Home Brew

[marksx]

Not replied on here for a while.

I have get well into AG brewing now. Currently, I have an American IPA in the fermenter, ready for bottling this weekend, and a spiced honey ale in another fermenter, that has another week to go yet.

Also, as a little experiment, I have 15 litres of turbo cider on the go. 10 litres of fruit cider and 5 litres of straight apple. No idea how they will turn out, but they take minutes to make!

[227bhp]

marksx said:

Also, as a little experiment, I have 15 litres of turbo cider on the go. 10 litres of fruit cider and 5 litres of straight apple. No idea how they will turn out, but they take minutes to make!

Probably a bit harsh, but dependant on OG and time left in bottle. The trick is to use yeast with sweetener to make it more drinkable if you find it is.

[marksx]

227bhp said:

Probably a bit harsh, but dependant on OG and time left in bottle. The trick is to use yeast with sweetener to make it more drinkable if you find it is.

I bottles these last night and was pleasantly surprised, as I wasn't expecting much.

I expected dry and harsh, so I did a little crude back sweetening of half of each cider using sweeteners.

OG of the straight apple juice was 1050. I didn't test the fruit cider.

Due to a dodgy bottle I had a full bottle of the sweetened fruit cider to drink, and although still flat, it was very good.

I had a sample of the unsweetened apple from the bottling bucket and it was very dry, but not too bad. I'll see how it mellows in the bottle.

Not bad really for the ~40p or so it costs for each bottle.

[227bhp]

marksx said:

I bottles these last night and was pleasantly surprised, as I wasn't expecting much.

I expected dry and harsh, so I did a little crude back sweetening of half of each cider using sweeteners.

OG of the straight apple juice was 1050. I didn't test the fruit cider.

Due to a dodgy bottle I had a full bottle of the sweetened fruit cider to drink, and although still flat, it was very good.

I had a sample of the unsweetened apple from the bottling bucket and it was very dry, but not too bad. I'll see how it mellows in the bottle.

Not bad really for the ~40p or so it costs for each bottle.

Sounds promising What was the FG and what did you calculate your final % as, about 7%? How much sugar did you add initially?
I make mine a bit strong so it turns out a bit harsh for me, but other people seem to like it. I'm going to try some rhubarb next, I had some in a pub and it tasted great.
Currently making wine from a kit and it's turned out really good, £2 per bottle!

Edited by 227bhp on Monday 5th September 00:46

[Jonboy_t]

Good afternoon citizens . I have a keg question!

I kegged a brew a few months ago in a normal plastic pressure barrel. After a few pints from it, the pressure went completely. I managed to get about 2/3rds of it out by topping up from a gas canister, but ended up giving up and just left it in the shed as a bad job for about 2 months over the winter.

I've now got another batch ready to keg so got myself a new barrel sorted out. I went back to the old one that had lost pressure ti empty it out, put it over the sink and opened the tap and it sucked in gallons of air!

It seems like it's reversed pressure somehow?! I guess this is a good(ish) thing in so much as i now know it will hold a pressure, but I don't want to risk using it if it's going to lose all positive pressure on my new brew!

Any ideas why this might have happened or how I could avoid it in future?

[marksx]

What sort of pressure barrel was it? Some of them, such as king kegs, can be tricky to seal. That being said, if you are sucking in air, this says to me the seal is good.

The pressure will always drop in the barrel once you start emptying it unless you have a constant gas feed and regulator.

Generally with pressure barrels they are printed with sugar which pressurises the barrel, and topped up with co2 once this initial pressure runs out.

The sucking in air is to be expected once the pressure has equalised and there is still liquid to come out.

[Jonboy_t]

marksx said:

What sort of pressure barrel was it? Some of them, such as king kegs, can be tricky to seal. That being said, if you are sucking in air, this says to me the seal is good.

The pressure will always drop in the barrel once you start emptying it unless you have a constant gas feed and regulator.

Generally with pressure barrels they are printed with sugar which pressurises the barrel, and topped up with co2 once this initial pressure runs out.

The sucking in air is to be expected once the pressure has equalised and there is still liquid to come out.

Cheers Mark. I knew the pressure was lost in it after a while when I kept having to top it up after each pint or two, but thought it was odd that it could hold enough pressure to suck in so much air when I opened the tap. I would have thought if the seals were gone, it would have stayed at atmospheric pressure rather than 'negative' pressure?

[C0ffin D0dger]

Jonboy_t said:

Good afternoon citizens . I have a keg question!

I kegged a brew a few months ago in a normal plastic pressure barrel. After a few pints from it, the pressure went completely. I managed to get about 2/3rds of it out by topping up from a gas canister, but ended up giving up and just left it in the shed as a bad job for about 2 months over the winter.

I've now got another batch ready to keg so got myself a new barrel sorted out. I went back to the old one that had lost pressure ti empty it out, put it over the sink and opened the tap and it sucked in gallons of air!

It seems like it's reversed pressure somehow?! I guess this is a good(ish) thing in so much as i now know it will hold a pressure, but I don't want to risk using it if it's going to lose all positive pressure on my new brew!

Any ideas why this might have happened or how I could avoid it in future?

They often can be a PITA to seal properly, it only takes a pinhole sized leak to lose all the gas over a few days.

I'm guessing you followed the usual procedure to prime the barrel, i.e. add a bit of sugar (around 100 - 110g for 5 gallons / 23l) when putting the beer in the barrel then leaving it somewhere warm for a couple of weeks before moving somewhere cooler to serve it?

[Jonboy_t]

C0ffin D0dger said:

They often can be a PITA to seal properly, it only takes a pinhole sized leak to lose all the gas over a few days.

I'm guessing you followed the usual procedure to prime the barrel, i.e. add a bit of sugar (around 100 - 110g for 5 gallons / 23l) when putting the beer in the barrel then leaving it somewhere warm for a couple of weeks before moving somewhere cooler to serve it?

I did. The kit I did came with priming sugar, maybe left it somewhere warm for 10 days rather than 2 weeks, but should be enough.

The loss of pressure isn't so much the issue, it's more ti do with how it could hold a 'negative' pressure when I wouldn't hold a positive one.

[marksx]

It's not that it is holding negative pressure as such. Once you have emptied past atmospheric, and you continue to pour beer, it needs to get air in somehow, so glugs back through the tap.

Theres a chance the main seal may pass, when under pressure, but could seal when under vacuum. You never know.

[Jonboy_t]

marksx said:

Theres a chance the main seal may pass, when under pressure, but could seal when under vacuum. You never know.

That's a really good point, sort of like it's being sucked into place instead of being force out of alignment.

I've treated myself to a new King Keg now anyway, so normal service has been resumed

Thanks for your help chaps, much appreciated as always

[Hoonigan]

Jonboy_t said:

marksx said:

Theres a chance the main seal may pass, when under pressure, but could seal when under vacuum. You never know.

That's a really good point, sort of like it's being sucked into place instead of being force out of alignment.

I've treated myself to a new King Keg now anyway, so normal service has been resumed

Thanks for your help chaps, much appreciated as always

I would seriously consider ditching the king kegs, for £100.00 you can have a corni-keg setup, trust you will never look back...

[craigthecoupe]

well i've done two of the youngs ipa kits, the saison (interesting.....) and currently have the rajas reward from bulldog. its been in the bottle for about a month now, and so far i'd say its horrid. tastes very much like it came out of a packet (which in fairness it did), not sure what to do with it now?
can anyone recommend a new one for me to try? i'm a fan of the ipa i've had so far, hoppier the better.

craig

[Turn7]

Woodfordes wherry is very repeatable, try that ?

[C0ffin D0dger]

Hoonigan said:

I would seriously consider ditching the king kegs, for £100.00 you can have a corni-keg setup, trust you will never look back...

As a owner of three King Kegs who turns the air blue every time the bloody things lose their pressure this is my long term plan once funds allow, hopefully combined with some sort of kegerator setup

[C0ffin D0dger]

craigthecoupe said:

well i've done two of the youngs ipa kits, the saison (interesting.....) and currently have the rajas reward from bulldog. its been in the bottle for about a month now, and so far i'd say its horrid. tastes very much like it came out of a packet (which in fairness it did), not sure what to do with it now?
can anyone recommend a new one for me to try? i'm a fan of the ipa i've had so far, hoppier the better.

craig

Surprised your Bulldog kit didn't turn out well, I've made a couple in the past, though not Rajas, but they've been quite good. If you want another one to try the Festival Razorback IPA tends to get mentioned favourably on the brewing forums I frequent.

[motco]

C0ffin D0dger said:

Hoonigan said:

I would seriously consider ditching the king kegs, for £100.00 you can have a corni-keg setup, trust you will never look back...

As a owner of three King Kegs who turns the air blue every time the bloody things lose their pressure this is my long term plan once funds allow, hopefully combined with some sort of kegerator setup

Always lubricate the threads and seals on King Kegs. I have a big pub cylinder feeding my King Kegs and a little puff of death gas (sorry, CO2) and the beer is dispensed with a creamy head. Sometimes, there's sufficient natural condition that no additional gas is needed. Corney kegs are fine but they aren't a convenient size for my usual 40 pint batches.

[don4l]

craigthecoupe said:

well i've done two of the youngs ipa kits, the saison (interesting.....) and currently have the rajas reward from bulldog. its been in the bottle for about a month now, and so far i'd say its horrid. tastes very much like it came out of a packet (which in fairness it did), not sure what to do with it now?
can anyone recommend a new one for me to try? i'm a fan of the ipa i've had so far, hoppier the better.

craig

I bottle all my beer and don't touch it until it has been bottled for at least 6 weeks.

Woodfords Wherry is good. You can add some spraymalt at the beginning and later add some goldings hops to improve it.

The spraymalt will improve the flavour, and the hops will improve the aroma.

[motco]

My exclusive brew is this one Art of Brewing bitter. If you like it hoppy, use the sachet of isomeric hop extract provided. Two weeks fermenting in a cool room (15°C) with a heater belt. Keg and do not prime. Use Kwik Clear finings and drink within another fortnight. The first few pints are not brilliant but after one third down the keg, it's the dog' danglies! I always boil the wort whatever they say in the instructions. Ten minutes simmering after the wort 'breaks' (the froth subsides) and that's all. Never more than 1kg of sugar.

[Blown2CV]

anyone got a braufather?