Beginner Brewer

bernard1978 · May 29, 2012

Hi, this is probably a very basic question but i hope someone may take charity on me!

I've brewed a caxton tradition beer kit which fermented well and this weekend transfered it to a barrel. Only i've transferred across all the yeast sediment in the bottom of the fermenation barrel and my wise father tells me this was a bad idea as the brew will be excessively yeasty now.

Is this the case and if so, can i syphon it back into the sterilised fermentation barrel leaving the yeast in the pressure barrel, clean it out and decant back in?

Or is this a bad idea....?

jonnymorris · May 29, 2012

You can though you'll have to re-prime and you risk infection/oxidation each time you rack it.

You could leave it to settle... does your barrel have a top tap?

calumscott · May 29, 2012

<yoda>
Wise, your father is.
Wise also, Jonny is.
</yoda>

You could easily let it settle in the keg, rack back to your FV (sterilised of course), clean the keg, prime it again and syphon back in. The dangers are as Jonny says the risks of infection and oxidation. Keep everything meticulously clean and you should be OK.

graysalchemy · May 29, 2012

I wouldn't have thought it a problem as long as you don't splash the beer , sterilize everything and keep it covered to minimise the risk of infection. :thumb:

bernard1978 · May 29, 2012

Thanks for your advice!

The barrel has a tap at the bottom unfortunately - the beer went into the barrel on Sunday and has already built up a reasonable amount of pressure. I thought if i could ease the pressure and then syphon from the top into the FV this would be the best way of avoiding transferring the yeast across again. I've been really hot on the sterilising side of things so far.

If i then give the barrerl a good clean i've got CO2 to repressurise the barrel if it needs it later.

Sound okay?

I've already bought another kit (a 'summer ale') as i've enjoyed the process so much (so far!)