My first ever home brew, 2nd fermentation failed

[ChrisPDuck]

I got a homebrew kit for Xmas (Young's U-Brew)

Short version
Beer was a kit "Festival, Premium Ale - Spiced winter ale"
It appears the secondary fermentation failed (no pressure in vessel, sweet and "tangy" tasting beer)
A bit disappointed, any ideas why this could have happened as I don't want the ext one to also fail?

Detailed version
Followed the instructions very closely.
Primary fermentation started on 29/12/16 with a starting gravity of 1.054.
I left the bucket in a water bath set at 23 degrees (which seemed to keep the beer between 22 and 23 degrees) for 10 days.
At 10 days the airlock had slowed to less than one bubble every 5 mins, the gravity was 1.014 (which was the same as when I took a reading at day 8). The kit quoted a gravity of 1.016.
At this point I syphoned it to my keg, added the priming sugar and put the keg in the water bath (again set to 23 degrees). I then left it for 14 days after which I moved it to the garage (which is probably between 10 and 5 degrees).

I knew it wasn't finished but couldn't resist a taster so After 5 days I poured a pint (or tried). There was zero pressure in the keg, to the point it "bubbled" out the tap and worryingly sucked air back into the keg to replace the beer that had come out. Not sure if this will let infection in?
I knew it wasn't going to be as good as if I left it longer but it was gross, way too seeet and had a chemical type and tang to the taste. No head or carbonation at all.
This makes me think secondary fermentation failed which confuses me as primary fermentation went without a hitch and the conditions were identical.

Other info, I was anal about the cleaning and sterilising, made sure I rinsed thoroughly after the sterilising. I also made sure the beer was sub 25 degrees before I added the yeast for the primary Fermentation.


Any advice would be welcome as I don't have enough kit to kick off more than one batch at a time but don't want to spend another 2 months ish on another failed batch if I done something wrong :-?


Ps I haven't chucked the first batch yet as I still have a glimmer of hope but it seems unlikely to change that much once it's at the cold stage?

 

[Razor]

Not sure if it's the same but I made this kit before Christmas. I can't remember off hand what my OG and FG were, but there was a kind of chemical taste to mine and I was worried I somehow f**ked the batch but now after a couple of month the bad taste has gone and its conditioned out nicely. Also I bottled mine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sandimas]

Your pressure barrel wasn't sealed - it's a common occurence, they take a bit of getting used to.

Have a search on the site here, this topic seems to come up every week. There's sticky posting on pressure barrels somewhere but I can't seem to find it at the mo.

 

[terrym]

Try this
Guide to a Standard Home Brew Pressure Barrel

I'm sure your beer is fine, it just the PB that needs a bit of investigation chances are the cap is not sealed properly.
You only chuck beer away when things are really really bad. You haven't got anywhere near that yet. :thumb:

 

[wfr42]

Have you got the top with the cO2 injector?

I have had issues getting one of my two pressure barrels to seal at the top.

I was going to suggest you inject a cO2 bulb, to check the seal. BUT if you definitely don't have any carbonation you'll need to reprime any way.

If you have somewhere that sells home brew supplies it may be worth getting another o ring for the lid. As these can warp if over tightened. You can boil it to reshape if you can't replace it. If you have a spare lid out this on while fixing the other if not some cling film should stop any nasties getting in.

While checking/reshaping the other o ring I would check the nut on the co2 valve (if you have one is) tight enough - be careful not to twist the valve as they are not circular and you will create another leak.

To reprime dissolve 80-100g (I would match the amount of provided priming sugar if you know it) in 100-150ml of boiling water. Then vaseline the cap threads on both sides and hand tighten, with may another 1/4 twist.
I know inject a co2 bulb and listen for a hiss and tighten until it stops...

There's a video on this thread which is a good tutorial.

Hope that made some sense and helps.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

I got a homebrew kit for Xmas (Young's U-Brew)

Short version
Beer was a kit "Festival, Premium Ale - Spiced winter ale"
It appears the secondary fermentation failed (no pressure in vessel, sweet and "tangy" tasting beer)
A bit disappointed, any ideas why this could have happened as I don't want the ext one to also fail?

Detailed version
Followed the instructions very closely.
Primary fermentation started on 29/12/16 with a starting gravity of 1.054.
I left the bucket in a water bath set at 23 degrees (which seemed to keep the beer between 22 and 23 degrees) for 10 days.
At 10 days the airlock had slowed to less than one bubble every 5 mins, the gravity was 1.014 (which was the same as when I took a reading at day 8). The kit quoted a gravity of 1.016.
At this point I syphoned it to my keg, added the priming sugar and put the keg in the water bath (again set to 23 degrees). I then left it for 14 days after which I moved it to the garage (which is probably between 10 and 5 degrees).

I knew it wasn't finished but couldn't resist a taster so After 5 days I poured a pint (or tried). There was zero pressure in the keg, to the point it "bubbled" out the tap and worryingly sucked air back into the keg to replace the beer that had come out. Not sure if this will let infection in?
I knew it wasn't going to be as good as if I left it longer but it was gross, way too seeet and had a chemical type and tang to the taste. No head or carbonation at all.
This makes me think secondary fermentation failed which confuses me as primary fermentation went without a hitch and the conditions were identical.

Other info, I was anal about the cleaning and sterilising, made sure I rinsed thoroughly after the sterilising. I also made sure the beer was sub 25 degrees before I added the yeast for the primary Fermentation.


Any advice would be welcome as I don't have enough kit to kick off more than one batch at a time but don't want to spend another 2 months ish on another failed batch if I done something wrong :-?


Ps I haven't chucked the first batch yet as I still have a glimmer of hope but it seems unlikely to change that much once it's at the cold stage?

What make of keg is it?

 

[ChrisPDuck]

thanks all. Chuffed with the speed and helpfulness of the responses.

The tap is definitely not leaking so I assume it's the lid. I have a spare seal as the kit came with one "normal" lid and one to add CO2.
I'll steal the seal from that, put some Vaseline on and swap them over.

When re-priming can I use normal household sugar? I assume I should bring the keg back into the warm to allow the re-priming to work?


Final question is this all makes sense but would a leak in the keg explain why the beer is so sweet tasting?

 

[johnnyboy1965]

If it tastes "sweet" it may have not been fully fermented.
What were your hydrometer readings?

 

[ChrisPDuck]

If it tastes "sweet" it may have not been fully fermented.
What were your hydrometer readings?

All the details I can think of are in my first post.


I've done what was suggested and added some dissolved sugar and changed the seal. Used a Co2 canister and it seems to be holding pressure so will move in back into the house for a while and go from there. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[terrym]

When re-priming can I use normal household sugar? I assume I should bring the keg back into the warm to allow the re-priming to work?
Final question is this all makes sense but would a leak in the keg explain why the beer is so sweet tasting?

Yes table sugar if fine. You will need to put the PB back in the warm to recarb. I suggest when you have boxed it all up with sugar, resealed the cap etc etc you give the PB a swirl to redistribute the yeast.

No idea on sweetness. 14 days in the warm should have consumed the priming sugar, and FG 1.014 shouldn't come out too sweet. maybe it's just the kit.

 

[ChrisPDuck]

Yes table sugar if fine. You will need to put the PB back in the warm to recarb. I suggest when you have boxed it all up with sugar, resealed the cap etc etc you give the PB a swirl to redistribute the yeast.

No idea on sweetness. 14 days in the warm should have consumed the priming sugar, and FG 1.014 shouldn't come out too sweet. maybe it's just the kit.

Thanks, yeah I did wonder about the kit. It was just epithet one that came with the equipment. Not my usual tipple which is why I thought I'd use it to pop my home brew cherry.