Beer underway - but pressure keg or bottle? Or both

[biggtime]

Hi all,

My first brew is underway as a newbie, and I'm very excited!

And even though I'm using an allegedly simple and foolproof starter kit, I still have plenty of questions.

The main question is to do with post-fermentation. I have a 5 gallon/40-pint pressure barrel. If I choose to use that for secondary fermentation/storage, do I have to pretty much fill it to get the benefit? I ask, because one thought was to bottle some but not all the beer (I don't have enough bottles to do all of it). But if I did that, I assume there might not be enough pressure in the pressure barrel for the secondary fermentation/carbonation to work properly. Is that right? That you can't really bottle, say, 5-10 pints and put the other 30-35 in the barrel and have it work properly?
Alternatively, could I put it all in the barrel for the 10-14 days recommended, then put some in bottles? As it will be exposed to air in the process, and presumably won't still ferment in the bottles even with sugar, will they go off quickly? Quicker than if I bottled straight from the fermenter with a little priming sugar?

Cheers,

Dave.

 

[pittsy]

Hi Dave , You can put some in bottle and most in keg but if there is lots of head space in keg it may be best to use a c02 bulb if you have the valve , and you should bottle at the same time as keg otherwise your bottled beer will get air and ruin them.

 

[biggtime]

Thanks Pittsy. I do have CO2 but would prefer to avoid and go au naturelle if at all possible first time around. It seems best for me to cask it then, and ensure I have reasonable pressure. Presumably I could bottle some to hand on to willing guinea pigs once it's ready in the cask, on the basis that they should drink it within a day or two? Or is it feasible to put it in the cask for the full maturation period (say a fortnight) and then bottle some with a little sugar to keep it 'live'? I've assumed not so far, because I assume that the yeast is unlikely to activate again for what would be a 3rd fermentation, of sorts. Is that the case, does anyone know?

 

[anthonyUK]

You could add a couple of grains of yeast when bottling but it is best if you bottle at the same time you keg as your beer will need a good month or two to reach its best in the bottle whilst you will probably have finished off the keg in that time