First brew done!

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SteveM

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May 16, 2020
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Good morning all

I’ve just completed my first brew, tried a couple of bottles last night and pleased with the results. I made a fairly simple (I was told) citra IPA and compared to a citra IPA I saw in M&S - mine isn’t quite as clear but tastes similar.

I used one of brew UK’s starter kits and managed to get a old fridge off the internet and bought an inkbird temp controller and small greenhouse heater - and that has worked out well so far.

After fermenting (2 weeks) I kegged the beer with the priming sugar added first into the bottom of the keg and then I bottled half of the keg before leaving everything again for another two weeks.

the bottles are fizzy (swing top one’s) but my keg hasn’t fizzed at all.

the keg is only about half full - is that likely to be the reason - too much headspace in the keg?

my thought was to bottle what’s left in the keg and add some more sugar to try and rescue approx 10L?

plenty of learning still to do!
 
The most likely cause of the beer in the keg being flat is that you have a leaking seal. A smear of vaseline on the rubber washer in the cap usually does the trick. Your options now are to either re-prime the keg or bottle your beer (remembering to prime the bottles!)

Good luck !
 
Hi Steve,

It sounds like you’ve had a successful brew. Great job! The clarity will probably come in time, your beer might well take 6 weeks to properly condition - very few of us let it sit that long ;) .

Many people struggle with kegs to keep them sealed so it’s possible that the pressure is leaking away. Did you pressure test your keg before using it?

It’s possible you’ve just not left it long enough for your keg to carbonate - how long has the beer been carbonating?

It’s also possible that the yeast is not very active in the keg if the temperature is too low - what yeast are you using and what temperature is the keg stored at?

It’s also possible that because of the head room it will take longer to carb up. If you don’t want to wait you can always just inject a CO2 bulb.

The last point is also a way of checking for leaks - gas the keg and pour a drop of ale from the keg, this will confirm pressure. Pour another drop the next day and see if you still have pressure.
 
Thanks for all your replies - lots of good advice there - much appreciated.

I think I’ll follow the first post about bottling the contents of the keg and re-priming.

In answer to the other questions:

I didn’t pressure test the keg beforehand but I did put Vaseline on the seal. There was a small leak about an hour after I’d done the transfer, lost maybe 500ml, perhaps this may have caused it.

keg left for 2 weeks to carbonate at 22c

US-05 yeast used

there is pressure in the keg today but it’s still flat.

Thoroughly enjoyed doing the brew - and it wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be - keeping organised and sanitised as best I can - even with a toddler trying his best to “help” at various points!

final question for now -the keg is at 5c and if transfer to bottles and re-prime individually - am I best to prime for 5c (500ml using dextrose reckons about 3g for 2.5 vol/co2) and leave the bottles at 5c or am I better raising the temp back up to say, 22/23c and priming accordingly (1.7g)

thanks again.
 
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