Good morning all,
I was given a Youngs ale kit for Christmas a couple of years back, and finally decided to 'make' it a fews weeks ago.
I bought the barrel, the bin, brew belt extra sugar etc and set off - (nb I had brewed before in the 70's - Boot's kits - and it was a basic failure so I never got very far).
All seemed to go very well. I sterilised everything, made up the kit and the first fermentation seemed to go off nicely.
Question here though: when I brewed before, I had an 'immersion' heater type thing that clipped to the side of the bin inside. That was thermostatically controlled. Is it better to use one of those, rather than a belt (how do you tell the temperature and control the brew belt?)
I syphoned off the beer into a sterilised barrel - King Keg top tap - and primed it with the additional sugar as per the instructions. I then attached the brew belt and left it to kick off the 'secondary' for a couple of days, before moving it to a cooler place to condition.
Question here: What is 'cool'? The instructions just said to a cool location, so I put it in our conservatory, that probably had a wide range of temps from 4c to 14c. When conditioning what temp range is required?
I left the beer for about 2 weeks and then tried it. It came out a bit cloudy, but not too bad. The taste was ok but yeasty (is that called 'young'?). But having drawn off about half a pint, the pressure was gone. So I used an 8gm CO2 cartridge to boost the pressure.
I then left it another few days and tried again. This time the extra pressure forced the beer out like a rocket (so does to me implied that I didn't have a gas leak) - but after a pint or so, the pressure dropped . The beer was ok'ish, and getting clearer.
So again I topped it up with CO2 and left it. I tried it again yesterday and it is looking quite good - the beer is 'brighter' and the yeast taste is dissipating - but, again after drawing a pint or so, the pressure has just dropped off.
Question here: Any ideas why it is losing pressure? The barrel has a top tap and uses a float. Can I have made a rick here and the float is just sucking off the 'gas'? Or is the secondary not 'right' and is not creating enough gas? I can't see what else is the problem, as the pressure seems to be there, then drops.If I had a pressure leak, I would have expected the barrel to be flat from the off.
Second question - How can i rectify this? I can keep injecting CO2, but that only seems to serve up a pint or so, and I don't have that many cartridges!
I'm no master brewer as you can tell, so how much CO2 is supposed to be created by the secondary and should that be sufficient to empty the Keg? Similarly, if I introduce gas from an 8gm cartridge, what should that be good for ie how much liquid should that displace?
I'm just worried now that I'll lose the rest of the beer, just when it is looking good.....
Thanks in advance for any input.
I was given a Youngs ale kit for Christmas a couple of years back, and finally decided to 'make' it a fews weeks ago.
I bought the barrel, the bin, brew belt extra sugar etc and set off - (nb I had brewed before in the 70's - Boot's kits - and it was a basic failure so I never got very far).
All seemed to go very well. I sterilised everything, made up the kit and the first fermentation seemed to go off nicely.
Question here though: when I brewed before, I had an 'immersion' heater type thing that clipped to the side of the bin inside. That was thermostatically controlled. Is it better to use one of those, rather than a belt (how do you tell the temperature and control the brew belt?)
I syphoned off the beer into a sterilised barrel - King Keg top tap - and primed it with the additional sugar as per the instructions. I then attached the brew belt and left it to kick off the 'secondary' for a couple of days, before moving it to a cooler place to condition.
Question here: What is 'cool'? The instructions just said to a cool location, so I put it in our conservatory, that probably had a wide range of temps from 4c to 14c. When conditioning what temp range is required?
I left the beer for about 2 weeks and then tried it. It came out a bit cloudy, but not too bad. The taste was ok but yeasty (is that called 'young'?). But having drawn off about half a pint, the pressure was gone. So I used an 8gm CO2 cartridge to boost the pressure.
I then left it another few days and tried again. This time the extra pressure forced the beer out like a rocket (so does to me implied that I didn't have a gas leak) - but after a pint or so, the pressure dropped . The beer was ok'ish, and getting clearer.
So again I topped it up with CO2 and left it. I tried it again yesterday and it is looking quite good - the beer is 'brighter' and the yeast taste is dissipating - but, again after drawing a pint or so, the pressure has just dropped off.
Question here: Any ideas why it is losing pressure? The barrel has a top tap and uses a float. Can I have made a rick here and the float is just sucking off the 'gas'? Or is the secondary not 'right' and is not creating enough gas? I can't see what else is the problem, as the pressure seems to be there, then drops.If I had a pressure leak, I would have expected the barrel to be flat from the off.
Second question - How can i rectify this? I can keep injecting CO2, but that only seems to serve up a pint or so, and I don't have that many cartridges!
I'm no master brewer as you can tell, so how much CO2 is supposed to be created by the secondary and should that be sufficient to empty the Keg? Similarly, if I introduce gas from an 8gm cartridge, what should that be good for ie how much liquid should that displace?
I'm just worried now that I'll lose the rest of the beer, just when it is looking good.....
Thanks in advance for any input.
