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ukblasterbrewer

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Sep 21, 2015
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Hi,

My wife bought me the Youngs "BrewBuddy" kit and I have just transferred the beer to a pressure barrel after 7 days in the Fermentation Vessel. ( along with around 70g of sugar heated and dissolved in a bit of water )
This is my first attempt at homebrew, so bound to be making mistakes along the way.
Beer is cloudy at moment but tastes like beer, so not all bad yet !

I am now assuming that I will need to now wait a couple of weeks.

In meantime, I bought a Youngs american IPA kit, so figured once I "learned the ropes with the Brewbuddy kit I would move onto something a bit more substantial.

Already thinking of buying boxes of bottles etc. !
 
Welcome aboard! A lot of folk on here (including me) go by the '2 + 2 + 2' rule. 2 weeks in fv, 2 weeks conditioning (bottles or keg, doesn't matter) at same temperature as fermentation, then 2 weeks somewhere cooler. You should end up with a nice pint if you follow this regime! How much did you end up with? The only reason I ask is that 70g of sugar could be a little on the low side, depending on how many litres went into the barrel.
 
Welcome aboard, first timer myself only got round to starting my first kit tonite :smile:
 
Welcome aboard! A lot of folk on here (including me) go by the '2 + 2 + 2' rule. 2 weeks in fv, 2 weeks conditioning (bottles or keg, doesn't matter) at same temperature as fermentation, then 2 weeks somewhere cooler. You should end up with a nice pint if you follow this regime! How much did you end up with? The only reason I ask is that 70g of sugar could be a little on the low side, depending on how many litres went into the barrel.

I would say about 18 litres in the barrel ( approx 3/4 full ).
I put 2 pints into bottles as well.
I could add a bit more sugar to barrel I guess but I was not totally sure fermentation wad totally finished.
 
I'm a little confused. Why would you need more sugar at higher temps? Surely you'd need less as more CO2 is likely to dissolve in solution at higher temperatures, therefore you need less of it?
 
I'm a little confused. Why would you need more sugar at higher temps? Surely you'd need less as more CO2 is likely to dissolve in solution at higher temperatures, therefore you need less of it?

I think it's the other way around. C02 will be absorbed more at colder temps. just like when you put an over carbonated bottle in the fridge so the beer absorbs the C02 to make sure you don't get a beer fountain
 
Oh my god! I have a degree in Chemistry! I should probably chuck it in the bin!

In which case, when conditioning do they advise 2 weeks at higher temperatures, and 2 weeks at cooler drinking temps before drinking (2+2+2)
 
Daft question. 2 weeks to ferment the sugars you have added, then cooler temperatures to allow the CO2 to dissolve. With it now!
 
Oh my god! I have a degree in Chemistry! I should probably chuck it in the bin!

In which case, when conditioning do they advise 2 weeks at higher temperatures, and 2 weeks at cooler drinking temps before drinking (2+2+2)
2 weeks at the same temperature as fermentation, with the extra sugar, gets the yeast munching and producing co2. 2 weeks at a cooler temperature will help that co2 dissolve more readily into the beer, would be my guess.
 
Indeed!! In which case, why the fermentation temperature the governing factor when determining how much sugar is required? Surely the storage and or serving temperature determines that?
 
Because co2 absorption would be exponential? To get the required level of co2 for serving temperature (which hopefully will be lower than fermentation temp!) the sugar first needs to be eaten by the yeast. If you tried this initial yeast eatfest at serving temp it would be too cold for the yeast to work. So you start at ferment temp to get the initial burst of co2, with an increased level of sugar, to end up with your desired level of carbonation at serving temp?
Again, I'm only guessing at most of this, but I do know yeast doesn't like the cold!
 
All sounds logical, but for the question of why does the fermentation temp matter. It needs to be 18-20 ish for fermentation to occur, but whether the temp is 18, or 26 we will still produce the same volume of CO2, therefore, in terms of absorption I don't get why it makes a difference, if the storing/serving temp is going to be the same (fridge temp for example) regardless.
 
All sounds logical, but for the question of why does the fermentation temp matter. It needs to be 18-20 ish for fermentation to occur, but whether the temp is 18, or 26 we will still produce the same volume of CO2, therefore, in terms of absorption I don't get why it makes a difference, if the storing/serving temp is going to be the same (fridge temp for example) regardless.

It's because the lower the fermentation temp the more CO2 is absorbed in the beer during fermentation. If you think about it, if you bubble CO2 through a liquid some of it is bound to get absorbed. This CO2 is then 'topped up' during the carbonation stage and you need to top it up more if the fermentation was warmer as less would have been absorbed.
 
All sounds logical, but for the question of why does the fermentation temp matter. It needs to be 18-20 ish for fermentation to occur, but whether the temp is 18, or 26 we will still produce the same volume of CO2.

That's the point, you won't produce the same amount of co2 at different temperatures! Beer calculators need the temperature at time of priming to calculate residual co2 left in the beer after fermentation, in order to achieve your target carbonation level. So, from your example above, at 18°c, 19l of beer, to reach a target carbonation level of 2, requires 82.4g of sugar. To achieve the same target carbonation at 26°c, 95.6g is required. To produce the same target carbonation level.

The higher the temperature, the less co2 produced, therefore an increase in the amount of priming agent to achieve the target carbonation level is required.
 
Ok. I get it now. fermentation temperature allows you to work out how much CO2 is dissolved during fermentation.
 
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