Barrell and bottle on same day?

[thehorse]

I should be ready to prime my first brew in a pressure barrell in the next couple of days. I also want to bottle some of it to have in the fridge, partly for convenience and partly to see whether the bottling affect the carbonation.

So do I do it one the same day? Or is it better for the beer to sit in the pressure barrell for a while before bottling?

 

[mike-os]

Do it at tge same time, I would add the carbonation sugar to the barrel, add the beer then fill bottles from the barrel

 

[Oranguman]

I'd go for the same day personally, it makes for a lot less messing about and you're only sterilising once. Also you would probably lose any carbonation you have built up by transferring the beer to bottles.

 

[Cwrw666]

Do it the same day. You'll find your pressure barrel will work better with say 4 gallons in it than the full five as there's more head space for the gas produced. With 5 gallons much of your gas is blown out through the pressure relief valve.
I usually find with 5 gallons that half way down the barrel I run out of pressure and have to re-prime it, whereas with 4 gallons the pressure stays right down to the tap.

 

[thehorse]

Excellent, thanks. Will be starting doing hydrometer readings from tonight. Is a turkey vaster the best way to go for getting at the beer? I read that you had to avoid splashes.

 

[terrym]

Excellent, thanks. Will be starting doing hydrometer readings from tonight. Is a turkey vaster the best way to go for getting at the beer? I read that you had to avoid splashes.

I just put the sterilised hydrometer directly into the FV and read it in there. Works for me.