firkin conditioning

farmer brown · Jul 4, 2013

Hey All,

Last night I filled my first firkins and have a few questions.

1) For a EPA would you say 60g of sugar is enough?
2) The cellar is around 19c at the moment, is this enough to help prime it? Is 1 week enough or should I play it safe and leave for 2 weeks?

Thanks

michking · Jul 4, 2013

I am about to fill my first too!

1 - that looks good for priming (viewtopic.php?f=36&t=7615)

questions I have.

3 - I will have 3 weeks for it to condition before my party. Will be in my garage most of the time i'd suggest 18 degrees avg. that should be fine i assume?

4 - Is there a cheap workaround/hack to get it cooler for the day of drinking? I don't have a fridge etc big enough... I should have a plastic bucket big enough so maybe ice a day or two before before, then very carefully put in position right before tapping (with towel or somesuch around it?). thoughts/advice much appreciated!!

farmer brown · Jul 4, 2013

Thanks and good luck with that : cheers:

I'd be interested in how you do cool it? Maybe get in a plastic container filled with ice and cut away the keyhole/tap area?

hopin mad · Jul 4, 2013

real ale should not be cold as in refrigerated. if your garage floor is concrete just put the barrel on the floor, to bring it down to a cool temperature,
These very cold beers that are sold in some pubs are cold to hide something, your tongue is fooled by the cold and actually mises that there is no taste, just try letting one warm up a bit and you will see what I mean

graysalchemy · Jul 4, 2013

You do need it down to 10-12c for drinking which you may struggle with just a concrete floor at this time of year. You could always try the covering it with wet towlels and use latent heat of evaporation to bring it down. I remember doing this for a family party many years ago with a pin of bitter. It worked quite well.

farmer brown · Jul 5, 2013

Good idea, maybe a wet towel and a bag of ice to try drop it down to 12'sh?

Sorry, i just have 2 last questions!

1) My EPA was in the fermenter for around 2 weeks, I then added the adjunct and left for another week at 19c. I then filled 3 firkins along with priming suger and islinglass and left at 19/20c. Am I right in saying that after 3 weeks the ale should have conditioned? How long should I wait before tapping it? My local is going to take it and drop id down to cellar temps for 2 days before tapping

2) I added some dry hops to one of the firkins with around 100g First Gold in a hop bag. When I used to dry hop my smaller batches I only ever left it for 5 days? Im guessing its going to be at least 2 weeks in the firkin, will this be ok? I think next time Ill dry hop in the fermenter instead of the firkin,

Thanks all

michking · Jul 9, 2013

farmer brown said:
Thanks and good luck with that :

I'd be interested in how you do cool it? Maybe get in a plastic container filled with ice and cut away the keyhole/tap area?

I plan to put in a large container 3 days before with ice. then the day before putting into position with wet towel around it

firkin conditioning

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