Coopers Real Ale Over Priming and Conditioning Time

[therelly]

Hello i'm new to both this forum and to brewing!

I'm on my 2nd Brew, which I transferred to a barrell last night after 8 days of fermentation! It was coopers real Ale! Although I am worried because although the instructions said to prime bottles with 8g sugar per litre, which equates to 160g per 20 litres, (I followed these Instructions) when transferring to the barrell! These threads seem to indicate that the ideal priming amount is between 55g - 65g.

So have I over primed my barrell?

Also how long would you leave it to condition? I was thinking 3 weeks, Is this too early for a decent pint?

Any help would be greatly recieved!

Thanks, :wha:

 

[therelly]

Also If over-primed, what will this do to my beer? be just too fizzy? or turn it into a bitter wine? Is it better to just start again or go with it and see how it turns out?

 

[Bernie]

I put a Coopers Draught into an old Boots keg and primed with about 130 g. Some of the CO2 was lost through the pressure relief as it didn't close properly, initially. I think I use a little too much anyway so the beer is rather foamy, but not bad.
Remember that the headspace:beer volume ratio is much smaller in a barrel so you might need less fermentable per litre when priming. Keep an eye on your barrel and vent it if it starts deforming and keep it at cellar temperature.

 

[therelly]

Thanks Bernie! I'll keep an eye on the barrel and make sure it doesn't explode on me! Was worried the ale might taste too bitter with all that priming sugar?!

What about the conditioning time? do you think I should leave it for longer to allow the bubbles to reduce? maybe a month? or longer? I'm not sure

 

[Bernie]

I kept the barrel at 20 °C for 2-3 days then put it in the cellar at 15 -18 °C. It took a while to condition and it tasted rather yeasty for a month. Lots of yeast in the first glass anyway, as yeast collected in the tap. Then it was rather good, except that I had used 1 kg sugar as the extra fermentable so the hops of the hopped malt came through strongly (should have used some form of malt extract). As the level drops it gets less foamy and I expect that I'll reach a point where there's not enough overpressure but plenty of beer left in the barrel. I don't have extra CO2 on it.
Should I bottle the rest?

 

[joe1002]

Welcome to the forum :

I would leave it for 2 weeks in the warm then at least the same again in the cool. Having said that, there is no harm on checking on it's progress along the way

With the over priming you may well end up with a pint of froth to begin with.

As an aside, most tend to keep their beer in the fv for 12-14ish days before kegging / bottling so as to let the yeast clean up and drop out of suspension as much as possible. The kit instructions seem to be very optimistic on timings.

 

[therelly]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for the advise! I was worried I might have ruined it!

As an aside, most tend to keep their beer in the fv for 12-14ish days before kegging / bottling so as to let the yeast clean up and drop out of suspension as much as possible. The kit instructions seem to be very optimistic on timings.

as for keeping the beer in the FV (closed fermentation) for longer, will this not make the beer taste stale? I thought you had to keg/bottle as soon as fermentation had finished?! If not then that makes life a lot easier! thanks!

Happy brewing!!! :

 

[joe1002]

I generally leave mine in the fv for a couple of weeks, it won't cause any stale or other tastes in that period. Some transfer to a secondary fv to help it clear, but that is another discussion. If you search for it you will find plenty of different views.

I use a secondary fv if I am dry hopping and i want to reclaim the yeast or if the initial fermentation has made a complete mess of the fv :thumb: