good head retention but lifeless beer ?

[stee41]

I love Geordie kits with a few added hops and extract, I get great head retention and beer tastes fine but its very lifeless and all my beers have turned out this way, I feel as though I have made them correctly and they get up to a month in the FV before being kegged in king kegs (is this the problem?) , all keg seals are fine and the first 10 pints or so pour well but still flat without the aid of CO2 or nitrogen mix, giving a shot of gas only seems to propel the ale through the tap faster but its still lifeless and also has good head retention.

85 grams of priming sugar is used at the time of kegging and left in a warm place for at least 2 weeks, them moved to the garage to condition for at least 4 weeks, what going on here!! any ideas fellow brewers?

 

[Sean_Mc]

If you can try chilling the beer in a fridge, helps aborb the co2

 

[bob downe]

I'm no expert but could it be that the beer is clearing after so long in the FV and giving you less yeast for a second fermentation in the Keg?

Try Kegging just after the fermentation has stopped. Allow it to second ferment, condition and clear in the Keg. This may well give you much more dossolved gas in the beer itself.

Also, it is said that allowing the beer to sit on the yeast bed (settled out in the Keg) will give a better beer. Just as it does in a real cask.

 

[tubby_shaw]

Which Geordie Beer have you made Stee41 ?
If you have made any of the kits other than the Lager then what you are describing is the correct level of carbonation :thumb:
If you have made the Lager kit and are looking for a commercial type level of carbonation then you won't achieve this in a king keg I am afraid as they will not hold sufficient pressure.
The only easily achievable way to keg high levels of carbonation are to either bottle or us a cornelius type keg :thumb:

 

[Paolomuzzo]

Hi Stee41,

I am certainly no expert but what Tubby_shaw is saying is true - I did my first brew in a keg and it was flat and lifeless, I even added a new top and injected Co2 into it - all that did was get it out faster, it was still flat.

I bottle everything now and they are absolutely superb - really sparkling with a good head. I also use a glass with one of those frosty looking fizz things in the bottom and that keeps it lively with a full head.

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