Help with first time brewing kit

[Brew]

Hi
I have a Geordie lager 40 pint kit never done it before I have added the sugar and everything and its in a pressure barrel it says leave for a week before part 2 but its the next part of the instructions I don't understand

It says says dissolve 2.5oz of sugar into a pint then siphon in the remainder
So I pour one pint out of the tap put the sugar in then can I remove the cap from the top of the pressure barrel and pour the pint with the sugar back in?

 

[fbsf]

Hi, and welcome!

Normally you ferment the beer in an FV (fermentation vessel - the big plastic bucket) then transfer to the barrel with the priming sugar once the inital fermentation is over (10-14 days normally).

This avoids having beer sit on the yeast by-products (the lees or trub) for any length of time, which helps the beer stay fresher longer and avoids any off tastes.

Do you have access to a FV? You could syphon the beer into the FV, rinse out the barrel, and then do what the kit says regarding priming sugar.

For what it's worth, I just dissolve my sugar in 1/2pt boiling water, and bung it straight in.

 

[Brew]

Ok so do I leave it in the pressure barrel now to do the fermentation since I have already put it in there, then pour it out into a bucket then do the second part and put it back in the barrel is that right?

 

[fbsf]

Pretty much, yep!

I would leave it there for at least 10 days from the start of fermentation, then syphon (not pour - you want to get as little air in contact with it as possible to avoid oxidation) it to the bucket.

When it's in the bucket, pop the lid on to stop any flies getting in and swill out the barrel. Sanitise the barrel with whatever you have (VWP, Brucleanse, Youngs sanitiser etc) and rinse out a couple of times with cold water.

Then dissolve your sugar in 1/2pt boiling water, and put that in the barrel. Syphon the beer back into the barrel and keep it somewhere warmish (20° is great) for at least week so the yeast in the beer can eat the sugar and turn it into Carbon Dioxide and make the beer a little fizzy.

After that, try and keep the barrel somewhere cooler (10-15° is good) for a fortnight so the beer can properly absorb the CO2, and you are good to go...

 

[Brew]

Ok thank you very much for help will get a pipe and a vessel just one more thing won't I need to take cap of pressure barrel to siphon out will this be ok?

 

[fbsf]

Yep, that's fine at this stage. In fact, if it's still fermenting, then you *need* to loosen the cap or you might end up with an explosion

If you have a Wilkinson's near you, then see if you can get it there - all their brewing stuff is half price at the mo. You can also order it online and get it delivered to a local store.

 

[Brew]

Yeah there is a wilkinsons near me that's where I
Got it from at half price they didn't have allot though but they did have a bucket there then
So i will go back and see if they still have some
There is a a way bubbles can come out of top it was doing that allot yesterday and was also leaking from the tap but has stopped both now do I still need to loosen the cap

 

[fbsf]

Sounds like you are already past the most vigorous part of the ferment, so up to you, but I would probably loosen it a little. Too much pressure will slow the ferment and could halt it completely. At this stage it doesn't need to be airtight - all you are doing is to try and stop dust and flies getting into it.

 

[Brew]

I will loosen it a little then better to be safe I will have to take the cap off anyway after fermenting finished to siphon it out like u said into the vessel to do next stage then back into barrel