Home brew newbie living in lincoln

Cloughie001 · Oct 5, 2015

Hi all,
Newbie looking forward to brewing a f beers of my own. Been itching to try it for ages and now got one on the go. It's St. Peter's cream stout, hopefully good just in time for the long nights. Just been put in a bottom tab King keg for conditioning. Could anyone give me tips on tempreture? Instructions are bit vague. Says keep in keg/bottles in warm environment ( took this to be around 20-22'c) and then cool environment for 14 days (took this to be around 16'c). Am I correct with the tempreture said? And if so, any tips on how to keep it around these temps, (16'c). Keeping it under stairs at the moment. Thanks for any tips. Looking forward to a good few pints :drink:

ericmark · Oct 5, 2015

To ferment I keep at 19.5 degs C. After bottling at what ever shed is at. Before I have temperature controller it was kitchen temperature. 40 pints will not warm or cool quickly, so with a kitchen at night at 16 degs and day at 20 degs the average was just a little too low. So I would put a body warmer on the fermentor that was normally enough. I have heard of people using a builders tub with some water in to transfer heat and a fish tank heater, told it works well and is cheap. Depends on room temperature. Stick on thermometers are good keep between 18 and 24 should be OK.

Cloughie001 · Oct 8, 2015

Thanks for the pointers Eric, feel a bit more confident with this brew now. It's not it really carbinating yet but tastes okÃ°Å¸âÂ (Couldn't resist). Think a little more time and maybe also somewhere warmer. Also thinking of vasoline trick on the keg cap to get a better seal, is this worth trying? Thanks for any help.

Racinsnake · Oct 8, 2015

Hi Cloughie
A warm welcome to a fellow Imp (I'm in exile up here lol)
Your pretty much bang on with you ideas. I keep my in the house to condition, 2 weeks ish. The cool temp is serving temperature so under 10 ideally. I keep mine in the fridge, but this time of year a garage/shed should be ok, obviously the longer you can resist the better your brew will be, up to a point.

Rob.

Racinsnake · Oct 8, 2015

Forgot to mention the cap, smear of Vaseline on the threads is fine but the actual airtight seal is made by the rubber O ring. My routine is a light smear under the seal so it's free to spin inside it's recess but none on the side in contact with neck of the barrel. Go easy with the cap, tighten like a girl

or you'll have problems.
Hope this helps.

Cloughie001 · Oct 9, 2015

haha, oh crap! when you say problems what exactly do you mean. As I've vase'd the cap but gave it a good tightening. Added a little more sugar too. Just checked after about 6 hrs and its already gassing away nicely, far ahead of where it was before. Its a king keg top tap with new S30 so should vent ok, I hope.:shock: Thanks again Racinsnake!

Racinsnake · Oct 10, 2015

Chill there young cloughie :grin: if it's all gassed up you'll be fine, some people over tighten the cap thinking it will make a better seal only to find a gas leak. Yes your valve will have a prv. Enjoy.

Cloughie001 · Nov 2, 2015

Thanks again racinsnake, it's been in shed for couple of weeks now. Actually tasted ok before it went in. So looking forward to gstting it out. :drink: