A question of pressure.......

[AndyBWood]

“How much malt do I add?”; I ask naively. A simple question deserving a simple answer. “About 5oz will do the trick”; came the quick response. “Just open the tap after a couple of days to make sure it’s holding pressure.” Wise words indeed….

All goes well with transferring my first brew, St Peter, into his new home. An extra 5oz of goodness nourishing him on his way to maturity. Must heed that advice though, must make sure the sacred gas isn’t escaping…

The 3rd day comes and I can wait no longer. “Just open the tap”; he said. I approach my keg with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Have courage young brewer I say to myself as I take a firm grasp on the squat barrel shaped grip of milky white plastic. Seems quite stiff…..

A strategically placed pint pot sits expectantly beneath the virgin opening; beer has never passed this way before. A memorable day. Maybe it’s jammed…..

A loud click reverberates around my kitchen; a scant ¼ turn at most, no more, nothing outrageous……

The exploding shaft of liquid hits the bottom of the pint glass with a force similar to several Apollo space craft focused at a point in time. Nuclear fission takes place in my kitchen….. For one instant I am blessed with slow motion vision and watch the volatile product climb the sides of the glass and climb, climb ever further. I close the tap with the speed of a shaolin monk but… I am too late, far too late.

The briefest pregnant silence follows only broken by the unmistakable sound of liquid challenged by gravity. Having taken the brunt of the deluge the lampshade above me drips with a rhythm akin to Chinese water torture. All around me familiar kitchen objects take on new shapes and lustre basking in their baptism of beer.

But wait…. I summon every ounce of retinal strength trying to focus upon the amber globule forming at the tip of my nose. This insignificant drop grows larger feeding from streams and tributaries which now gather force as they make there way through my furrowed brow.

I extend a tongue but the distance is too great to cover; a deft tilt of the head is needed to dislodge the prize which makes it’s way along the philtrum and finally curls around my upper lip.

mmmmmmmmm……. that’s good………..

An hour or so later my world is returned to normal, utensils have been cleaned and walls wiped down. Like overcooked pasta, however, the limp and lifeless paper lampshade lies helpless and cannot be saved.

Turning my mind back several days I recall the conversation once more; “about 5oz will do the trick…” A trick indeed………

So, the question remains; to prime a five gallon batch, how much malt extract would you be brave enough to use ?

Andy

 

[jaymondo]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Moley]

:rofl: Andy, you have an excellent way with words :clap:

Mixing metric and Imperial, as is my wont, I prime with sugar at 2g to the pint, which would be about 3oz to a standard kit. Malt extract might be slightly higher than that, but 5oz wouldn't be excessive.

Are you certain that fermentation had finished, did you have a stable hydrometer reading for 2-3 days before kegging?

 

[jonnymorris]

If yours is a King Keg, the taps are notoriously difficult to open in degrees. However hard I try, mine seems to be either closed or open. A happy medium is hard to find.

 

[Aleman]

2oz . . . . Possibly going higher if i was certain that the pressure relief valve was working :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

 

[AndyBWood]

All

Thanks for the replies; much appreciated. I’m thinking this mishap was a combination of fortunes…..

Maybe a little under fermented. The lovely liquid was stable for a couple of days but the final gravity was over the target quoted on the side of tin. Maybe the transfer to keg roused the beast and finished it off ?

Maybe a little too much malt. Well, if the yeasts were made a little peckish again by the transfer looks like they finished off their new malty treat as well.

Maybe a little too much twisting of the tap. Yip; it’s a king keg and the tap is definitely on the clunky side. No chance of pretending to be a combination safe cracker when you turn the damn thing – think I’ll research a replacement.

Thanks again. After a few relatively successful kit attempts the ‘dark side’ is calling and must be answered soon. What dangers await are as yet unknown. I’ll let you know…….

Andy

 

[Baz Chaz]

Thanks for the replies; much appreciated. I’m thinking this mishap was a combination of fortunes…..

Maybe the transfer to keg roused the beast and finished it off ?

Maybe a little too much malt. Well, if the yeasts were made a little peckish again by the transfer looks like they finished off their new malty treat as well.

Could easily be just that Andy and it's all part of the learning curve, next brew will be better and the one after better again etc etc :thumb:

Many many moons ago (nearly 40 years in fact :whistle: ) @ a University not that far from here, me and a mate had a go at brewing, his room in halls was over the boiler house and about the hottest place in the building. We brewed in a 5 gallon collapsible plastic sherry container we got from the refectory bar, we had to let the pressure out several times a day, the container was square, but got very round on more than one occasion :?

We made some fantastic bottle bombs, due to a combination not waiting until the end of fermentation and overpriming, a whole spoonful of tate and lyles finest per each large pop bottle! By 'ell did those buggers blow, might have made good fire extinguishers even though mild was 8p a pint and bitter 10p we still fancied the idea of brewing our own :!:

 

[ScottM]

I always thought you should keg with around 1/2 of what you would bottle with due to the lack of pressure holding ability with kegs?

I would have thought 3oz would have been plenty. I guess your relief valve is gubbed then?

 

[AndyBWood]

Well; at least I just got wet and didn't take the building out !

Baz Chaz - 8p Mild / 10p Bitter. Beats me by a couple of years. Which does suggests a poll...........