Evening all! My second brew (Woodforde's Norfolk Nog) has just finished fermenting, and I'm not certain about the best way forward if I want to bottle this one rather than keep it in pressure barrel as I did with my first brew.
I've seen conflicting advice!
A number of things I've read say I should simply prime the bottles and bottle the beer straight from fermentation. Graham Wheeler's book, however, suggests that all ales fundamentally benefit from some maturation in pressure barrel first regardless - he's ambivalent about priming the pressure barrel too - before being transferred to bottle from there, without any priming in the bottle either. What do you all recommend?
I'm working my way through my first brew (a Woodforde's Wherry, which has come out rather well), and decided a week or so ago to fill a couple of bottles with it straight from the pressure barrel, capped them and put them in the fridge to see what happened. I tried one today, and I have to say that it has gone somewhat flat. I didn't make scrupulous efforts to clean the bottle and cap as this was an experiment more than anything to see how long it might last bottling it this way, but finding it flat suggests to me that bottling from the pressure barrel without priming maybe a risky business.
I've seen conflicting advice!
A number of things I've read say I should simply prime the bottles and bottle the beer straight from fermentation. Graham Wheeler's book, however, suggests that all ales fundamentally benefit from some maturation in pressure barrel first regardless - he's ambivalent about priming the pressure barrel too - before being transferred to bottle from there, without any priming in the bottle either. What do you all recommend?
I'm working my way through my first brew (a Woodforde's Wherry, which has come out rather well), and decided a week or so ago to fill a couple of bottles with it straight from the pressure barrel, capped them and put them in the fridge to see what happened. I tried one today, and I have to say that it has gone somewhat flat. I didn't make scrupulous efforts to clean the bottle and cap as this was an experiment more than anything to see how long it might last bottling it this way, but finding it flat suggests to me that bottling from the pressure barrel without priming maybe a risky business.
