Worried about my first go

[Orion1210]

Hi,

I moved my first go at homebrew, a wherry kit, into my pressure keg per the instructions last week. After two days in a warm place it had clearly built pressure. I then moved it into a cool place i.e the garage bench. It has since lost all pressure, i re gassed it yesterday and again no pressure remaining today. I've re fitted the cap and re gassed again and used soapy water around the s30 valve, no leaks evident and the tap isn't leaking. I used vasaline on the cap seal.

Should i be worried about the beer? Whats going on?

It tastes and smells fine, still cloudy as expected at this stage a guess.

Any advice or ideas greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Mr BR]

hi am not an expert by any means but from what i have read and if this is right when you move your brew into a colder temp the brew absorbs more co2 than in a higher temp something to do with the bubbles being smaller dont know the science behind it but if am wrong am sure somebody with alot more knowledge than me will put us both on the right road but with every aspect of homebrewing i have learned patience patience patience is the answer good luck :thumb:

 

[Runwell-Steve]

After transferring the beer to the barrel you should leave it in a warm place for at least a week for the pressure to build up.

I would take out a small amount of the beer into a jug, and dissolve about 80g of sugar in it in the microwave, then once it is cooled down add it back into the beer in the keg. Then move the keg somewhere nice and warm for at least a week.

Then you can move it somewhere cooler.

As has been said as you cool the beer it both absorbs CO2 and it contracts in size, both of these will account for the drop in pressure, but if you have enough pressure in there to start with you should be OK with a small drop.

 

[Orion1210]

Thanks for the ideas chaps.

I noticed the pressure relief sleeve hissing when i put my ear right next to it. I gave the brown ring a gentle massage :nono: and it now seems to be ok. I'll re check in the morning.

 

[Orion1210]

Checked this morning and again no pressure.

Decided to re assemble the lid assembly. When i refitted i noticed the lid seal kept rolliong out of its seat way. On closer inspection it turned out the edge of the keg opening, where the seal mates, was out of round. I a little tweak with the pliers and it now looks round(er) and the seal now appears to have seated properley. Will check pressure again later. I'm praying the beer hasn't been contaminated!!

 

[RobWalker]

I gave the brown ring a gentle massage

:shock:

 

[Orion1210]

Two days have passed and am happy to say it is now holding pressure.

When a beer is conditioning what is the ideal temperature to do so?

I've got this in a detached garage and the temp has been down to almost 2 degC at times. Will this affect the time to clear/condition?

Thanks

 

[carl_saint]

Ideally you want it at room temp for about a week then move to somewhere cooler at around 10c. The cold will help it clear quicker, should take about about 1-2 week to clear.

 

[artiums_enteri]

The cold temp will help while cold crashing and carbonating the beer, but the cooler the solution the more rapidly the gas is dissolved into the liquid giving you a very well carbonated beer, but taking the excess pressure used to "push" the beer and dissolving it into solution rather than building the pressure in the keg. If no leaks are evident then I would imagine the C02 is being dissolved into the beer. I know when I keg I keep my kegerator at 34* and set my regulator on the C02 tank at 10 psi. This keeps the beer carbonated and keeps just enough pressure in the keg to get a good pour. If I turn off the gas the C02 is dissolved into the beer within 2 days, and, I am left with very carbonated beer with an inadequate amount of pressure to move it through the draft lines.

 

[StrangeBrew]

The cold temp will help while cold crashing and carbonating the beer, but the cooler the solution the more rapidly the gas is dissolved into the liquid giving you a very well carbonated beer, but taking the excess pressure used to "push" the beer and dissolving it into solution rather than building the pressure in the keg. If no leaks are evident then I would imagine the C02 is being dissolved into the beer. I know when I keg I keep my kegerator at 34* and set my regulator on the C02 tank at 10 psi. This keeps the beer carbonated and keeps just enough pressure in the keg to get a good pour. If I turn off the gas the C02 is dissolved into the beer within 2 days, and, I am left with very carbonated beer with an inadequate amount of pressure to move it through the draft lines.

And irrelevant to this thread !


As he is using the keg that comes with the Wherry Kit which is carbonated by secondary fermentation ie adding 80 grams of sugar solution to the keg and storing in a WARM place to allow the sugar to ferment and produce Co2 naturally. As previously stated by another poster ideally for a week or two. Once there is visible signs of pressure (you'll notice the bottom of the keg bulging) or tapping some beer and it comes out in an intense rush it's time to move the barrel to a cooler place to condition...

The Co2 bulb that comes with these plastic kegs isn't for carbonation, it doesn't have enough pressure for forcing carbonation. It is just there to replace the head volume with Co2 as the beers used up and to aid dispensing. Once the flow of beer starts to get slow then it's time to use the Co2 bulb typically about half way through consuming the barrel.

:

 

[artiums_enteri]

As irrelevant as you may think the post is to the thread, C02 is C02, and is the same gas no matter how it's produced. By letting the container get cold, no matter the vessel, C02 will be absorbed into liquid. By keeping the liquid warm the C02 will build a gas layer in the container and will not be dissolved as rabidly, but put pressure behind the liquid. It's basic chemistry.

 

[StrangeBrew]

As irrelevant as you may think the post is to the thread, C02 is C02, and is the same gas no matter how it's produced. By letting the container get cold, no matter the vessel, C02 will be absorbed into liquid. By keeping the liquid warm the C02 will build a gas layer in the container and will not be dissolved as rabidly, but put pressure behind the liquid. It's basic chemistry.

But you have to produce the Co2 in the first place ! and with this kind of keg it's done in the WARM !

You later move it into a cooler place once the Co2 is produced by the sugar fermenting. It is not a Corny keg where you can carbonate the beer with force carbonation the Co2 in these kegs comes from fermentation and needs WARMTH.

 

[artiums_enteri]

I'm not debating this fact. What I'm saying is once the beer is carbonated and you move the keg to serving temp don't be surprised when carbonation volumes skyrocket and pressure is depleted. Keep the keg warm at non serving temp and you have less volumes of gas in solution but more pressure in the keg.

 

[StrangeBrew]

I'm not debating this fact. What I'm saying is once the beer is carbonated and you move the keg to serving temp don't be surprised when carbonation volumes skyrocket and pressure is depleted. Keep the keg warm at non serving temp and you have less volumes of gas in solution but more pressure in the keg.

No what were saying in the original post I made comment on was all about carbonating with with externally supplied Co2 as in a Corny keg and it's relation to cold... which was and still is irrelevant to this thread...

Nobody is disputing the need to cool a beer