Festival Razorback & US Steam Beer - Keg vs Bottle

Sherlock · May 15, 2016

Mornin' homebrewers,

I've currently got 2 brews on the go. The festival razorback and the US Steam beer. After 6 days of what appears to be steady fermentation I have just added the hop pellets as per instructions. In 5/6 days time I'll be bottling and kegging.

I'm planning on bottling the Steam beer using my 40 or so brown glass bottles; batch priming in a bucket. For the razorback I'm planning on syphoning to my keg. Its a 5 gallon youngs pressure barrel, with a vent cap. I was planning on priming in the barrel. The last time I transfered to this barrel it was nowhere near full; maybe 3/4 or so.

My question is, is headspace when priming and not adding any additional Co2 going to cause any issues? And would anyone do anything different to what I'm planning, based on experience?

I'm a bit of a novice so any advice appreciated.

Churzen!

Sandimas · May 15, 2016

Headspace won't be an issue, I regularly barrel 10L brews in those. If you think about if, there will be a lot of headspace when you get down to the last few pints.

The only issue is that without adding additional CO2 you're leaving sealing the barrel to chance: time and time again you'll see threads on here that say they've got a flat barrel after 2 weeks. Getting a good seal is notoriously hit and miss, too loose or too tight and you'll lose CO2. I replaced the cap with one with a S30 valve and always give it a quick squirt of CO2 from a Hambleton-Bard cylinder just after priming, to listen for leaks.

Sherlock · May 21, 2016

Update: I've just kegged the razorback. I've had a cheeky taste and it's flippin lovely. However, it's by far the most sedimenty brew I've ever done (despite the use of a mesh bag). Hopefully it'll settle out after a while. Not the end of the world though as it does taste pretty great. The hops taste great but leave so much mess!

Now....to bottle the steam beer.....

essexjim · Oct 24, 2016

Sherlock said:
Now....to bottle the steam beer.....

How did the steam beer work out?

I've just tried the first bottle of mine (1 week after bottling) and I'm really disappointed, it was REALLY hoppy, like a nice IPA, I was hoping for something more like Anchors steam beer, a bit more malty.

Don't get me wrong, it's beer and nice beer at that but not what I was looking for.

Personal91 · Oct 24, 2016

essexjim said:
How did the steam beer work out?

I've just tried the first bottle of mine (1 week after bottling) and I'm really disappointed, it was REALLY hoppy, like a nice IPA, I was hoping for something more like Anchors steam beer, a bit more malty.

Don't get me wrong, it's beer and nice beer at that but not what I was looking for.

how long did you have it in the primary fermentor ? + a week isnt enough conditioning time

normally 2-2-2

2 weeks in the primary fermenter
2 weeks conditioning in the warm in bottles or your keg
2 weeks conditioning in a constant cooler area so the carbonation can settle

essexjim · Oct 24, 2016

Personal91 said:
how long did you have it in the primary fermentor ? + a week isnt enough conditioning time

normally 2-2-2

2 weeks in the primary fermenter
2 weeks conditioning in the warm in bottles or your keg
2 weeks conditioning in a constant cooler area so the carbonation can settle

3 weeks in the primary in total, waited for over 2 weeks before I added the hop pellets (learned my lesson from the Razorback IPA kit, 5 days to ferment before adding the hops my ass).

But yeah, like I said I had it after 1 week in the bottle (couldn't wait to give it a try).

So I'll leave it for a few more weeks, actually might move it to the shed since the weathers cooled.

Cheers.

Personal91 · Oct 24, 2016

essexjim said:
3 weeks in the primary in total, waited for over 2 weeks before I added the hop pellets (learned my lesson from the Razorback IPA kit, 5 days to ferment before adding the hops my ass).

But yeah, like I said I had it after 1 week in the bottle (couldn't wait to give it a try).

So I'll leave it for a few more weeks, actually might move it to the shed since the weathers cooled.

Cheers.

I normally leave me brew for longer then 2 weeks to allow the yeasties to mature and clean up they're mess !

leave it in a warm area for another week then 2 or so in constant area or the fridge so the carbonation will settle

Festival Razorback & US Steam Beer - Keg vs Bottle

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