Trying one kit before moving over to AG. Muntons Smugglers Gold. OG Came in at 1048 @ 23.7 degs. Got a brewmaster barrel with top tap. Had a look at it. Filled it with water to see how the top tap works. But nothing was coming out, does it need to be under pressure or something? Sorry never used a barrel before. Anway, bet concerned with the temp in the bedroom, sorry brew room. 17.5 degs but the brew this am is 22, will check again tonight..
1st and only kit....hopefully..
- Thread starter jampot
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Muddydisco
Landlord.
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Yes the Barrel needs to be under pressure to get the beer up to the top tap, you can squirt a quick bit of co2 in if you wish to check that it's sealed and working ok.
I wouldn't worry about the temps they are just about right :thumb:
I wouldn't worry about the temps they are just about right :thumb:
BigYin
Regular.
sounds like it's worked fine :thumb:
Dissolve the necessary amount of sugar in some bolied water to make a syrup, add that to the barrel once it's cooled a bit, fire in beer, give it a wee shake, seal it and keep it somewhere warm (but NOT where a leak will cause problems!) for a week to carbonate, then somewhere cool for a week or two to condition it.
Also, once you've got the beer in the keg, give it a little blast of CO2, wait a few minutes, then gently open the lid to let pressure out and then seal up again - CO2 is heavier than air, so if you do this a few times, giving the gas time to settle each time, you'll end up with a layer of CO2 sitting over the beer, which will starve any nasties than may have got in of oxygen, so preventing any infection getting a hold :thumb:
Dissolve the necessary amount of sugar in some bolied water to make a syrup, add that to the barrel once it's cooled a bit, fire in beer, give it a wee shake, seal it and keep it somewhere warm (but NOT where a leak will cause problems!) for a week to carbonate, then somewhere cool for a week or two to condition it.
Also, once you've got the beer in the keg, give it a little blast of CO2, wait a few minutes, then gently open the lid to let pressure out and then seal up again - CO2 is heavier than air, so if you do this a few times, giving the gas time to settle each time, you'll end up with a layer of CO2 sitting over the beer, which will starve any nasties than may have got in of oxygen, so preventing any infection getting a hold :thumb:
luckyeddie
Landlord.
I've never had one of those barrels, but here's a 'troubleshooting' guide...
http://www.stonehelm.co.uk/pdfs/9187RTBarrel.pdf
http://www.stonehelm.co.uk/pdfs/9187RTBarrel.pdf
Lobes
Active Member
jampot said:
You could try putting some vaseline around the seal of the tap, that should help to seal it
luckyeddie
Landlord.
jampot said:
A good trick is to stand your FV in some sort of waterproof tray or box and put an inch or so of water in the bottom. Then get an old tee shirt, soak it in water and let the FV 'wear' it. Make sure the bottom of the tee shirt is in the water. Capillary action will pull water up from the bottom and keep the shirt wet. The water will evaporate and the latent heat of vaporisation from the evaporation process will suck heat from your FV. It will cool your FV by up to 5C.
If it's still too warm, the next stage is to position a fan to blow air at the tee shirt. It will increase the rate of water evaporation and reduce the temperature by around another 5C.
For additional amusement, add a couple of goldfish to the water.
I lied about the goldfish.
snail59
Regular.
jampot said:
The odd sample for QC purposes is allowed
Ok, just tried a very small drop for qc purposes. Well it tastes like beer. 2 things I noticed. One is there is a slight crackeling sound comimg out from the valve. Also in the beer sample there appears to be white flakes settleing at the bottom of the glass I would imagine if I were to pull a full pint now there would be quite a bit of this....
luckyeddie
Landlord.
jampot said:
It's a great trick. Physics is your friend...
luckyeddie
Landlord.
jampot said:
By crikey - the latent heat chiller must be working if it's turning your beer to snow.
:rofl:
girlfriend came over tonight so I pulled another small drop to show her, no white bits in it at all. Maybe the very 1st drop had yeast caught in the top tap float. The ale felt like it had co2 to the mouth but it didnt seem too alive to the eye. There were a few small round bubbles around the edge of the glass. What should it be like and is eight days too early to get up to full co2 levels. Will try another small drop next weekend. Can that much happen between then and now?
BigYin
Regular.
Sometimes I've managed to get a good 6 or more pints out before the keg needed co2 added, and other times I've had to use co2 almost straight away. I'm inclined to suspect a very slow leak somewhere allowed the building pressure to seep away very gently and slowly...... :hmm:
