Advice needed for first pressure barrel secondary fermentation

[sodium1]

I have been doing my own brewing for nearly two years, nothing special though, just a few festival kits and some Wilkinson's and The range. I have until now always bottled my brews, but as the weather is getting colder, I am going to use my pressure barrel outside in my "supershed". I generally like gassy drinks like lager and cider, but I know that it's not possible to achieve them with a pressure barrel. What other drinks can I try which are slightly carbonated, and will be ok in a pressure barrel. P.s. Flat drinks just make me heave.

 

[terrym]

I have been doing my own brewing for nearly two years, nothing special though, just a few festival kits and some Wilkinson's and The range. I have until now always bottled my brews, but as the weather is getting colder, I am going to use my pressure barrel outside in my "supershed". I generally like gassy drinks like lager and cider, but I know that it's not possible to achieve them with a pressure barrel. What other drinks can I try which are slightly carbonated, and will be ok in a pressure barrel. P.s. Flat drinks just make me heave.

Lagers and other higher carbed beers are not suitable for a PB due to the pressure limitations. PBs are only really suitable for ales and stouts. The limit on priming sugar is about 90g per 23 litres in a 25litre PB. Any more and you will likely be dispensing foam, any more still and hopefully you will lift the rubber band RV and that defines the carbing limit. So my advice is keep your lager in bottles which you can carb up accordingly, and put ales and stouts into your PB primed as above, but keep it in a place at about 12-14*C (about 'cellar temperature')

 

[sodium1]

Thanks for taking time to reply, is there any ales what are really suitable for a PB ?

 

[Pablosaurus]

Most styles work well in a PB. Had success with pales, porters, stouts and best bitters...Just be prepared to wait a bit longer for them to clear and condition. Worth it, though - I'd much rather have a pint of ale from a PB than a bottle. Better head, pub-like carbonation and a whole pint! None of this miserly 500ml-minus-an-inch-of-drub nonsense.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Sodium, i have 4 pb's i use for bitter and english pale ales, as Terry says 90g is about the max for priming a pb although i have gone to 100 once not good, i mainly stick to 60 or 70g but i am not a lover of highly carbonated beers

 

[sodium1]

Thank you for the advice, would the Wilkinson's sweet newkie brown work ok in a PB ? I know they are slightly carbonated, but not much

 

[Pablosaurus]

Yes, I reckon that'd be fine.

 

[sodium1]

Thanks

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I have been doing my own brewing for nearly two years, nothing special though, just a few festival kits and some Wilkinson's and The range. I have until now always bottled my brews, but as the weather is getting colder, I am going to use my pressure barrel outside in my "supershed". I generally like gassy drinks like lager and cider, but I know that it's not possible to achieve them with a pressure barrel. What other drinks can I try which are slightly carbonated, and will be ok in a pressure barrel. P.s. Flat drinks just make me heave.

You can brew pretty much everything in a pressure barrel. It won’t give you that gassy level of carbonation typical of lagers though.

 

[sodium1]

I have started to lean towards slightly carbonated drinks, as too much gas plays havoc with my gut. I don't want loads of head on my drink, flat beer is not for me. Any other suggestions for different ales etc would be appreciated.

 

[Nidger]

Hi sodium.
I have similar taste, ie lager/cider.
Also have a PB and discussed pet bottles (17p aldi lemonade etc) on another thread for an out of date wilko lager i have brewing now.

I'd be interested in what you like best other than lager etc from the kits you have made , ie bitter,
Ales etc and what kits as I'm thinking of using my PB to store a bitter or ale too.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

It sounds like you like gassy drinks but they don’t agree with you, you don’t want flat beer and you also don’t want a head on your beer. I think most English bitters and pale ales could meet this brief, also saisons could suit if you want carbonated but not gassy. All of these beers are straightforward to make, flavourful, don’t need long to condition, and all can be made in a pressure barrel.

 

[terrym]

I have started to lean towards slightly carbonated drinks, as too much gas plays havoc with my gut. I don't want loads of head on my drink, flat beer is not for me. Any other suggestions for different ales etc would be appreciated.

I suggest you look through the extensive range of beer kits that is available at Brew2bottle and select something that takes your fancy. Brew2bottle are forum sponsors, their stuff is well priced, p&p charges are very reasonable, and there is much more to pick from than Wilko. You can also buy any other items you need like ME and dextrose.
Finally the amount of carbonation in any homebrewed beer in a bottle is usually more or less proportional to the amount of priming sugar you add. So you could run an experiment on one brew to find out what suits you best say at 2g/l, 3g/l and 4g/l. And for subsequent brews because you may end up dealing with small quantities of sugar it might be best to batch prime to maintain consistency across your bottles.

 

[sodium1]

@Nidger I have tried a few different Barley wine kits, also a IPA, which in my opinion was horrible. The barley wine was not great at first, but the 2nd and 3rd was fine, it makes a great Shandy. Most of my kits have been Cider kits, with my favourite being the Festival "oaked apple" kit. The lagers i have tried are ok, i have now started to use brew enhancers and Light sprayed malt to improve the body and taste. I am thinking about trying a "wherry" next.

 

[gedmac57]

Thank you for the advice, would the Wilkinson's sweet newkie brown work ok in a PB ? I know they are slightly carbonated, but not much

i can confirm that does work fine took about 5 barrels to make my mind up hic!!

 

[Nidger]

@Nidger I have tried a few different Barley wine kits, also a IPA, which in my opinion was horrible. The barley wine was not great at first, but the 2nd and 3rd was fine, it makes a great Shandy. Most of my kits have been Cider kits, with my favourite being the Festival "oaked apple" kit. The lagers i have tried are ok, i have now started to use brew enhancers and Light sprayed malt to improve the body and taste. I am thinking about trying a "wherry" next.

That's a good idea. I do like a bitter shandy.
(Probably get lynched on here lol)

Lager shandy is like gnats p***.