I moved a beer from FV to pressure cask on Wednesday, with priming sugar solution added. It's a 5 gallon brew so 80g of white sugar in 250mls of water. However, the pressure cask now seems to be leaking around the tap. Does this mean that air is getting in and the beer is likely to spoil in the next few days, before it has even had a chance to condition? Any recommendations? Should I try moving it to another pressure cask ASAP and hope for the best? I've not had this happen before. The tap connection to the cask is in tight enough - the leak seems to be where the circle the tap is part of meets the barrel that screws into the cask. Help!
Help! Pressure cask appears to be leaking!
- Thread starter biggtime
- Start date
Help Support The Homebrew Forum:
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
No need to empty the barrel. Tip it on it's side, unscrew the valve, smear vasaline in the thread, and screw back in. That should sort it. You may need to reprime by adding a bit more sugar, as you will lose the pressure when you take out the tap. Do that via the tap hole, or the top cap. I would probably only add 40-60g as there may be some left from the original 80g.
bobsbeer said:
Thanks Bob. It's actually looking more like a fault that can't be resolved at the end of the tap/barrel, rather than at the cask end, if you see what I mean. I think I may have to transfer to a different pressure cask (fortunately, I do have one) instead, unless enough people tell me that's a bad idea. I could just replace the whole tap on the current pressure cask if that's a better way of minimising infection than transferring again.
bobsbeer
Well-Known Member
The less movement you have to do the better. But needs must sometimes. It's a common fault on pressure kegs. As the pressure inside increases with the carbonation they leak around the threads. Vasaline usually helps stop that.
winnywood
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
- Messages
- 98
- Reaction score
- 1
As long as you sanitize everthing and don't introduce oxygen by letting the beer splash around it will be fine moving it to another barrel.
Best doing it now as i because it still young it will regas all by its self so good luck.
Best doing it now as i because it still young it will regas all by its self so good luck.
![BREWING THERMOMETER STICKERS ACCURATELY MONITOR FERMENTING BEER & WINE LIQUID TEMPERATURES 5PCS HOME BREW SPIRITS WINE LCD ADHESIVE [US]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/311DDjo2X3L._SL500_.jpg)
My hand was played for me - left it for an hour and came back to find quite a lot of beer on the floor. Transferred to a new, sanitised pressure cask. Just hope that not too much air made contact and that the beer is not ruined. Also, presumably, it will have lost most of its carbonation, and again I just have to see if it manages to recarbonate. I'm wary of opening it yet again and adding any more sugar so I think I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Really frustrating as it is the first batch of beer I've made under a time limit and for a specific reason - my daughter's school Christmas fair! Now there's a good chance it will be either not ready, flat or off - or all three - thanks to faulty equipment. As I say, the issue wasn't the screw into the cask, it was at the tap end that it was leaking, so vaseline would not have made a difference. And not the tap itself either. Grrrr!
Kevin Wood
Well-Known Member
Yep, You'll need to top it up with CO2 if serving at an event, most likely, so let it rest now and, if it needs more condition, just add CO2. This will give you less sediment than priming too, which will be handy if you've got to transport it.
winnywood said:
That's what I asked them. They seemed to think it was fine. I'm donating it for free. They're selling it to raise funds for the school. So it isn't me selling it... That's if it turns out okay, of course. It may be off, or flat, or both. Not sure I have any CO2 to throw in if it is needed.
Runwell-Steve
Landlord.
winnywood said:
Assuming the OP is in the UK the answer is almost certainly no.
Beer to be sold must be brewed in a registered brewery and the appropriate amount of duty must have been paid on it. Home brew is for domestic use only. Definitely not allowed to be sold.
In order to sell any form of alcohol for consumption you require a licence, someone does anyway and I don't anyone would risk their licence by selling home brew.
Of course as long as no one finds out, none of the other parents work for HMRC or local council etc.. Then you might get away with it. On the other hand you might not..........
Runwell-Steve said:
I think it's up to the school. I'm donating homebrew for free so no issue there. I know of a now pro-brewery who gave their beer away free at a CAMRA beer festival before they'd gone pro, just to raise their profile, and CAMRA fully endorsed that. I suggested to the school that they might do better (legally) giving the beer away as a prize in a raffle instead. No legal issues for anyone that way. They decided to sell it instead.
oz11
Landlord.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2010
- Messages
- 539
- Reaction score
- 0
Ignore the advice from Runwell Steve by all means, but he is completely correct. Giving away homebrew/selling homebrew, it's not legal.
Well, I can ask the school again whether they're concerned. As I'm not a registered brewery, I don't really have any concerns about HMRC coming calling asking for duty on beer I donated for free for charitable purposes. I mean, has a non-brewery ever been chased for duty on 30-odd pints given away? Anyone know of such a thing? Have none of you ever given beer away to anyone?
(Different issue, but...) Schools, amongst other places, often sell acohol at events to raise funds, but don't have off-licences, as far as I'm aware. And such events are often attended by luminaries, councillors, etc...
(Different issue, but...) Schools, amongst other places, often sell acohol at events to raise funds, but don't have off-licences, as far as I'm aware. And such events are often attended by luminaries, councillors, etc...
I guess this where it gets a bit complicated. If a school has bought some wine from a cash & carry or tesco then duty has been paid on that alcohol. Potentially the alcohol producer has paid tax also. Home brewing has an alcohol duty exemption on the basis that its just for you to sup.
kentmark said:
True enough. My point there was more about schools and similar not being licenced for off-sales, rather than duty, but being allowed to get away with it. And then wondering whether such blind-eyes might also apply when donating beer to the school for it to make money from.
azzothegreek
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2013
- Messages
- 69
- Reaction score
- 1
If it helps the school raise funds so the council don't have to support it so much financially I'm sure they'll turn a blind eye.
