priming a pressure barrel

[jamie72]

I got a Youngs pressure barrel for my birthday and have previously only bottled my beers. I would like to know how much priming sugar to use for a 5 gallon batch?

I was going to boil up the sugar in some water, let it cool and then add to the barrel before transfer? Thanks in advance.

 

[Cwrw666]

3 oz, or 80g if you're metric. I just chuck it in. good luck with the PB - they're renowned for gas leaks from the cap seals, drips from the tap and leaks from where the tap screws in. But don't let me put you off - when they work they're brill. When you've filled your barrel and primed it and put it somewhere warm to get pressure up - stand the barrel on some kind of tray to catch drips; several pints leaked into your carpet etc. will not go down well with the Mrs.

 

[jamie72]

Cheers Cwrw666, think I will just chuck it in too! I am going to enjoy the relatively hassle free experience of barrelling (as opposed to bottling!) so the less to do the better! :-D

 

[matt666]

I've primed with 80g a few times as that's generally good advice, but mine always seem to be too fizzy with that amount so this time I went with 50g and its still plenty fizzy enough. Pressure barrels are really unreliable so what I've started doing is bottling 5 to give the keg a bit of air space to compress, installed a Tyre valve so I can monitor the pressure and release if it gets above 10psi. Also use a robust tap, the standard ones are pretty flimsy.

 

[Redron]

Agreed, pressure barrels are less hassle than bottles, that said I do use both. Practice makes perfect but a good starting point with a new barrel is to dismantle the cap and tap and reassemble using Vaseline on all joints and threads and resist over tightening otherwise you can distort the seals. I use King Keg bottom tap barrels that give reliable service along with Hambleton Bard S30 valves for Co2 injection, usually requiring a burst when the keg becomes half empty (or full) whichever way you want to look at it.... For info I tend to use the barrels for ales and beers and bottles for lagers. :

 

[jamie72]

Cheers for the advice. Going to use it tomorrow so have completely filled it with water tonight, to hopefully get rid of the plastic smell. Tomorrow I will dismantle the tap etc... For now I will have to use the supplied tap but will upgrade it perhaps later.
Going to carry on bottling as well as 1 barrel cannot cope with my brewing output!! :)

 

[jamie72]

Well the barrel is wobbling on its base now so is clearly pressurising. one thing that worries me though is that I never let the air in the headspace purge out but just screwed the lid up tight as soon as I had finished syphoning. This was after all the foam from the starsan had plumed out the top.
Is this the way others do it? or should I have left the lid loose overnight and tightened it up the next day?

 

[Spapro]

Re. the purging it will be fine. I have read some on here inject a bit of CO2 and then release the lid so the head space is left full of mainly CO2. I never bother with that (I use bulbs so don't want to waste any !), I just pop the priming sugar in, syphon the beer in on top and then pop the lid on, tight enough to seal but not too tight as can wrinkle the lid seal up and not seal properly.

I figure as soon as secondary fermentation starts the airspace becomes very CO2'y quickly anyway. Not had a problem in a good few king keg brews.

Re. the starsan: you did empty the bulk of the starsan out before syphoning in didn't you ? I assume you were just left with a bit of foam in the keg before putting your beer in ? A bit of foam or even a little starsan solution left in is ok but hoping you didn't leave 2 litres of starsan in the keg before adding the beer ??? Shouldn't harm you but would likely affect the taste !

 

[jamie72]

Yeah I emptied the starsan out all that was left was the residual foam!! I actually released some of the pressure tonight so that should purge anyway. I'm sure it will recarb as I only barrelled on Friday night. I have got co2 bulbs so I am sure all will be well.
Thanks for the reply!! :)

 

[Coups]

Im intruiged by this thread jamie72, i am about to start a brew for a friends 30th. Am i correct in assuming that between an afternoon and evening - if all the beer in the keg goes, it will still be plenty fizzy enough? Or am i better putting the beer in a corny keg instead?

 

[jamie72]

Never used a barrel before but I am expecting to have to use co2 bulbs when pressure is lost about half way down?

 

[Mish]

In my experience, if you expect the beer to be gone in a day then you should be ok without CO2 bulbs, if it's struggling to get beer out just unscrew the lid a little. It lets air in but you can carry on drinking and no ones gonna get a pint of foam!! It's going to be gone before it goes off!

 

[Coups]

Thanks mish!

 

[jamie72]

I am hoping mine gets drunk over 2 days so cheers Mish!