more advice for new brewer

[welshbrewer]

[/b]
recently completed a batch of woodfordes wherry,very nice it is,a bit flat,not much of a head possibly i am expecting too much..i am thinking of buying a pressure barrel(plastic) not sure if top or bottom tap is best..if the tap is at the bottom does it pull sediment through from the beginning?any help, ideas, etc ..also what does dry hopping mean?

 

[Muddydisco]

In my opinion I'd go for a top tap barrel, These allow you to sample the beer earlier When the beer is clearing it starts from the top, so you will have clear beer earlier than a bottom tap. Bottom taps may pull some sediment at the beggining, but you would have to wait for the whole keg to clear first before you could pull a decent pint.
Also if you use the cutdown turkey baster on a top tap you get a lovely head and pint.

P.s I take it you bottled the Wherry? If so how did you prime the bottles, (Amount of sugar used and did you put it into each bottle individually or into the fermentor prior to bottling)?

 

[welshbrewer]

yes i bottled the lot on 5th dec ,1/2 teaspoon of sugar in each bottle.do i need to leave them longer to condition?

 

[Muddydisco]

Did you leave them some were warm for a week so that the yeast still works on the sugar for a bit?
It's had just about enough time might be worth leaving for a week or two more?

 

[CptnCrackoff]

Hi, i had exactly the same question once, although i was advised top tap was better, i went bottom tap (basically the cheapest keg money can buy...£17 ish @ wilko) i had no problems regarding sediment from first pint to last. two can muntons kit, I primed it with spray malt, left it nearly two weeks in the warm kitchen, then in the cold for 4/5 weeks, it was spot on!!

I have bought another bottom tap cheapy keg now, nothin against top tap, just a little more money and i'm tighter than a ducks **** in water!!

sorry if i'm waffling, i had a party new years, someone left a case of carlseburgh - it taste like ditch water but hey its free!! - Off topic!!
:drunk:

 

[unclepumble]

kegs all depend on taste, and buget.

I have some rotokeg top taps @ about £48 each, very good build quality have had to play about with PRV valves as they were not fitted very well, but they do a good job.

I also have 6 youngs cheap kegs from wilkos £19 each, very thin crappy plastic, the std lids are *****, and dont hold hardly any pressure, however, if you shop around the HB shops you can pick up replacement lids with gas injection valves for about £8 as opposed to £15 from wilkos.

Once you put a decent lid on they blow up great like a balloon when you screw an s30 onto them, however, I like the cheapy tap on them cos i think they are easier to control than the one on the rotokeg,

& I would defy anyone to say out of two pints of the same brew which came out of a rotokeg and which came out of the cheap keg.

 

[Aleman]

Barley Bottom has some really nice 4.5 gallon Plastic Pins as well which are the Bees Knees as far as plastic kegs are concerned . . . might even get myself a couple or four

 

[ricardo]

This must be a good price..........
http://www.wineworks.co.uk/product/king_keg_bottom_tap/

 

[unclepumble]

Looks like a good price to me.

 

[welshbrewer]

thanks for all the tips,will have a good look on the net,can't find hb shops in north wales
iechyd da!!