Polypin Question

[Springer]

You are right E, not many things are new, just recycled.
Can't remember pins in the 80s though, :? (was only about half my age then :) , thats 210ish in dog years :lol: ) ...........just maybe a distant glimer, will ask my mates, not many of them are on the phone these days. :lol: .
S

 

[phettebs]

Update:

I racked my Landlord clone into the pin last night. The Wyeast 1469 is a very clumpy yeast. It dropped out very well.

I could not get all of the air pockets out of the pin after filling it with the beer. I don't know if that matters or not but I may rethink my plan to introduce a bit of air after carbonating to try to induce a small controlled amount of oxidation like in the pub.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

 

[MattPark]

First time pin user:
I racked a milestone lions pride into a polypin exactly one week ago.
I used a small amount (70g) of priming sugar as i would if i was kegging (not sure if i should have done this!).
I pushed as much of the excess air out and then left it to sit.
One week on now and the pin is quite tense with CO2, (for a guide there's probably an inch of CO2 above the beer level)
My question is this:
I'm going on my hols for 2 weeks leaving on Sunday, is the pin likely to get any tighter to the point of even rupturing and am I best off trying to get some off the gas out before I leave?
I'm guessing Den will have the answer to this.
Thanks in advance.

 

[evanvine]

To my way of thinking the plastic bags are not designed for pressure, they are designed for gravity feed.
If it was me I would vent off all the pressure and hope all is ok when you get back!

 

[MattPark]

To my way of thinking the plastic bags are not designed for pressure, they are designed for gravity feed.
If it was me I would vent off all the pressure and hope all is ok when you get back!

Agreed but I've read some of Den's posts where he says he has seen some pins almost round in shape with the pressure.
I am gonna let some out but wondered if I should have not used priming sugar. Will need to know for next time. My next one is a St Peter's Ruby Red which I don't want to spoil!

 

[evanvine]

As the "Pin" is a gravity serving device, no priming is necessary.

 

[BrotherMalice]

I am new to the whole pin thing but surely you want some form of priming or you will just end up with flat beer wont you?

 

[evanvine]

I you want fizzy beer, you will need to use a keg, a corney or bottle.
Draught Pub beer isn't fizzy!
These are just my thoughts.

 

[Casey76]

I guess polypins are more suitable to "real ales" which have no fizz ar all. The head is formed as the ale is forced out of the hand pump in pubs. At home, you would need to invest in a hand pump, or enjoy your beer flat with no head.

Anyone who has any experience drawing "real ale" will tell you you can develop quite some muscles with a hand pump (I had to keep swapping hands, especially when we had three or four ales on)

 

[BrotherMalice]

Thats good to know, I like this idea but I would still have primed with a little sugar, now I know I dont need to.

:

 

[kebabman]

If you ferment your beer right out you obviously do need to prime in the polypin otherwise it will be unpalatable and flat.
If people are confusing polypins with the very flimsy wine bag in a box type thing, the latter will not take any conditioning pressure but polypins will take a smallish bit of conditioning pressure but need to be watched very carefully.
Dennis's pictures show some ballooning due to priming sugar or some residual fermentable sugar still in the beer fermenting out, which is acheived by racking the beer just before end gravity.
Polypins are reasonably tough but must be watched especially if you are reusing them.

 

[MattPark]

I just got home from work and the pin was tense to the point were I couldn't indent it. I let most of the gas out but now I am concerned that I am away for 10 nights on holiday and won't be able to keep an eye!!!
Anyway, time will tell!
I'm still left with the quandry next time though whether to use priming sugar next time or not.
I have a proper bar set up with an Angram hand pump so maybe it's worth trying without priming next time just to see, trial and error!

 

[Springer]

If you ferment your beer right out you obviously do need to prime in the polypin otherwise it will be unpalatable and flat.
If people are confusing polypins with the very flimsy wine bag in a box type thing, the latter will not take any conditioning pressure but polypins will take a smallish bit of conditioning pressure but need to be watched very carefully.
Dennis's pictures show some ballooning due to priming sugar or some residual fermentable sugar still in the beer fermenting out, which is acheived by racking the beer just before end gravity.
Polypins are reasonably tough but must be watched especially if you are reusing them.

Spot on Bab.
S

 

[doyley]

If you haven't already left on holiday you could set up an airlock thus:-
Turn polypin so that tap is uppermost, fit tubing to tap, put other end of tubing into a bottle half full of water (could stick a bit of a camden tablet in it to keep it sweet) and open tap. Finally press slightly on the polypin to eject some CO2 which will then fill the tube as far as the water. When you get back turn the polypin the right way up and leave a couple of days to settle. Then you won't have your holidays marred by thoughts of exploding polypins! :

 

[dennisking]

I would not of primed just before going away, yes they do take a reasonable amount of pressure but there is always a limit. The airlock idea is a good one or let out pressure and put in cold fridge I would have thought
would also work.

 

[MattPark]

Got home yesterday and alls well, no burst polypins!! :thumb: :thumb:
Hooked up the Lions Pride that has been in the bag for about 5 weeks to my Angram pump and it's not too bad although other than a little more malty and smooth I couldn't really tell much of a difference between this and my first brew which was a Coopers English Bitter. Not sure it was worth the extra £14 for the 2 can kit. But still very nice!! :drink:
Any way....I have now got a St Peters Ruby Red in the second pin which I will leave as along a possible before being tempted, from all accounts it's one of the nicest can kits!
Thanks for all the advice :

 

[dennisking]

:thumb:

 

[Baldbrewer]

Hi all,
I've just ordered 4x 5L polypins and have bought a beer engine. :thumb:
I want to transfer my AG#3 TTL to these, can somebody please tell me how to do it?

I'm assuming that I can use my autosyphon from my secondary FV to fill or is it more complex than that?

What sort of volume of priming sugar (or dme?) should I use for a 5L polypin?
The old father in law likes his ale pub style and I think the bottles of my AG#1 I gave him were a little too carbonated for his taste.

I would like to give him a proper hand pulled pint on christmas day and perhaps a few for me

 

[BrotherMalice]

I think the general concensus is not to prime them, they should have a head when pulled through your beer engine :)

 

[kebabman]

Another reason to prime polypins is that if you then drink the beer fairly slowly you will get a co2 layer form above the beer (also created by slowly fermenting sugars in the wort) and the PP will only tend to cave in when nearly empty.
If you don't prime the top of the polypin will immediately start caving in and creasing the polypin and this is what tends to cause pin holes to form and splits in the PP.