Beer incident

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Varnish

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I've just had my first major home brewing incident.

I made an IPA two months or so back, which is refusing to clear.
I put a bottle of it in the fridge last night and the amount of sediment which fell out was astonishing.

I decided there was way too much yeast in solution for the beer to clear.
Now, I have a corny full of this same brew which has been in the fridge for 3 weeks or so and is also refusing to clear. So I think "I'll move it from this corny into another one to get it off the yeast".
I connected up the OUT posts on the two cornies and set the regulator to about 20 PSI and turn the gas bottle off.

I then think (and this is where the problem started) two closed systems will reach equilibrium before all the beer is transferred.
"I know! I'll take the pressure relief valve out and it won't be a problem".

I set it running, it's all going nicely so I leave it alone for a few minutes and go back inside.

Maybe five minutes later I walk back outside and make my way to the shed (where the cornies are) and I can hear the gas bubbling through the beer as I walk to the shed. I think "Good. That means it's finished transferring".

I open the shed door and the only words I can use to describe what stood in front of me are "beer" and "fountain".
The corny was literally exploding in front of me! Beer was covering all four walls, me, the ceiling the floor, 2 bikes and an assortment of garden furniture.

Sorry I didn't get any pictures. I decided to get everything cleaned up before someone came to see why there was a lot of swearing coming from the shed.

One thing I have learned.

Leave your beer alone.
 
I open the shed door and the only words I can use to describe what stood in front of me are "beer" and "fountain".
The corny was literally exploding in front of me! Beer was covering all four walls, me, the ceiling the floor, 2 bikes and an assortment of garden furniture.
:rofl: ...sorry, that's a really funny mental picture :lol: ....foam party!
Not so good for the beer loss though :(
What yeast did you use v ?
 
Say no more, I might have guessed, I've had exactly the same issues with it.
I've had a beer refuse to stop fermenting. I skimmed the yeast head completely off (twice) and low and behold another one formed each time :roll: I kegged the brew with IG and still it was cloudy. I re-kegged with IG again all to no avail. I then left it for about 3 months and it cleared beautifully.

I've changed my brewing practice to accomodate the yeast as I really like its properties. When my target FG has been reached, I check to see if I can taste/smell any noticable diacetyl. If I detect any, I leave it a few more days. I then drop the temp to 5 deg c for a week before racking to corny. I find this drops the yeast head and partially clears the beer. I then rack to corny and let the beer warm up to cellar temps before adding the IG. I find the beer clears this way in 24 hours or so.

If the beer is a strong IPA or old ale which needs keeping, I'll re-rack the beer from original corny to a new corny, as I don't like the beer sitting on that much yeast
 
Vossy1 said:
If the beer is a strong IPA or old ale which needs keeping, I'll re-rack the beer from original corny to a new corny, as I don't like the beer sitting on that much yeast
And you do not want to leave clear beer sat on isinglass for an extended period of time either
 
Eventually it taints the beer.

Isinglass is usually added to the cask as it leaves the brewery, and generally it only stays in the pub cellar for a week (If you are really lucky) before being tapped . . . its then drunk in a couple of days to a week. . . . If you are not drinking you beer very quickly . . . or you have a variety of beers on tap and you leave the beer sat on the isinglass/yeast for 6-8 weeks . . . the beer can taste pretty manky . . . especially If you don't have the facilities to keep the beer cool
 
Not really . . . once you have fined any beer its a good idea to get the clear beer of of the lees as quickly as possible . . . within a couple of weeks ideally
 
The gelatine I put into my latest brew is floating on the top in small lumps.
I'm guessing I did it wrong :(

Reassure me :pray:
 
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