Is there hope for my batch!

[PeteShamrock]

Hey new to the forum so hello!

Right here goes. I am currently brewing a Munton's connoisseur range Lager. I am using a KingKeg. I mixed the batch on the 4th on this month. I tried to keep it warm for the first five days but since the heating was not on all day the temp may have been lower then the 18c recommended when I was at work maybe as low as 13c. As I was of the belief that all fermentation can occur in the KingKeg i didn't siphon it but rather moved the kingkeg to a cool place in my shed after five days. When I got a hydrometer on Tuesday last (25th) and tested the brew. It had plenty of head without adding gas. It was however a very misty color and did'nt taste very crisp. The hydrometer read that it was just below the bottling reading, the black line on mine.

If I leave it can it come good or has the lack of tempature at the start really mucked it up?

Any advice welcome

 

[Wez]

Hello PS and welcome to the forum :thumb:

If you are getting the right hydrometer reading the yeast has done it's job and fermented out the sugars, whether the temperature changes have had an affect will be apparent when you drink it. Let us know how it tastes when it's ready :)

It should clear given time, this may take 3 or 4 weeks (or more) though.

For best practice though you would ferment in a fermenting bucket around £7gbp and then transfer to you king keg with some sugars (85g) for a secondary fermentation.

Brewing can be a - wait and see game most of us here, including the experienced AG brewers are still striving to improve - thats what makes the hobby great :thumb:

 

[brewzone]

Quite a few round here leave their wort in primary for weeks on end.
This is basically what You have done albeit in a keg rather than a fermenter.
If You have another keg then You could syphon into it so long as everything is sterilised first.
This will leave the sediment behind.
If not then just leave it and use a co2 cylinder to gas it up.
When moving it prior to drinking be careful not to disturb it too much and leave for at least 24 hours to settle.
You may or may not get a perfectly clear beer by Xmas.

 

[PeteShamrock]

Thanks for the help I guess I'll give it more time and ask Santa for a very merry christmas :drink: !

 

[EskiBrew]

The cold in the shed should help it to clear more quickly as this time of year the yeasties will all die off or go dormant and should settle out without much effort.

Presumably your KingKeg is a top-tap design where there is a float that 'errr floats' on the surface of the beer where it can be drawn off through a tube. Being near the top, it should be clearer more quickly.

If you have a bottom tap KingKeg without a float then you are in trouble because every time you open the tap, you will be sucking beer through the yeast and will get a very cloudy pint until you have sucked out enough yeast so that it does not foul the tap. If this is the case, you really ought to syphon it to another keg (or into something else while you clean the keg) otherwise you are unlikely to get nice beer out of it.
Have you thought of bottling it? - it's a right PITA to do but could get you out of a hole.

All the best and welcome to the forum :thumb:

 

[PeteShamrock]

I have got some minikegs. If I transfer the beer into these will it help? Why? How much longer should I wait?

Thanks for everybody's help!