Newbie using 8g CO2 cartridge & pressure keg

[redhousebrewing]

Decided to try the Wherry that has been conditioning for 2 weeks in a pressure barrel last night and wanted to check I'm doing things right...

It glugged drawing air up from the tap on the first pint so I changed the barrel top to the one with a brass injector valve and discharged an 8g CO2 cartridge which caused the barrel to visibly balloon, I opened the barrel top just a touch to let a little gas hiss out (hopefully expelling oxygen), tightened the cap back up (seal had vaseline on it) and then it poured vigourously - all sounds ok.

On the 3rd pint it glugged again

Just checking I'm doing things right...
1. After discharging the cartridge I unscrewed the red holder so there was nothing attached to the valve - correct?
2. Is it normal to need to re-pressure after 3 pints? I'm thinking there was very little headspace and I did release a little pressure trying to purge out.
3. Planning on getting some more CO2 cartridges today - do I need to do anything different a 2nd time?

Thanks in advance
Stuart

PS Barrel top & cartridge holder are this type:

 

[bobsbeer]

It sound like you had little conditioning to start with or your barrel is leaking slightly. Most likely leaking. What you are doing sounds right but you should not need to add co2 at the beginning. You should get a few pints out before any need to add gas. The budget barrels do tend to bulge a bit, but they have an overpressure relief valve so assuming that is working you should be fine.

 

[redhousebrewing]

Thanks Bob!

I'll try again later today - I guess I'll have to sample each day to check its holding pressure :lol:

 

[Grumpy Jack]

I've found that about 3 pints of an evening is all that I can get out of a barrel without adding something, I am usually able to not use a CO2 for the first few days of drawing a couple of pints off. The pressure building back up in around 24 hours or so, but I don't tend to do much barrelling these days to be honest and have moved over to bottling most of my brews (I tend not to drink during the week due to shifts).

However, I have to agree with bobsbeer, it does seem that you might have had an issue if after 2 weeks conditioning it had not built up any significant pressure. Rather than check it each day, maybe try to leave it a couple of days to see if that helps at all on the pressure build up? Hang in there though, it's all a learning process...

 

[eggman]

I use these lids and gas bulbs, they should last longer than that.
How tight did you do the lid as gas leaks are most often from over tightening and distorting the washer.
Next time you use a bulb and have removed it put your ear to the valve and see if you can hear any gas leaking, I had one that had a very slow leak and the cause was that the rubber band on the pressure relief valve had slipped out of position
:

 

[BridgeBrew]

Easiest thing to do is fit a car wheel type Schrader valve to the lid of the Barrel. That way you can use a cheap tyre gauge to check the pressure in your Barrel.

 

[BridgeBrew]

Like this :)

 

[BridgeBrew]

Then you can also use these 16g cartridges with a bike tyre inflator, that has a tap on it, so you dont have to use the full cartridge. Very handy :)

 

[DSG]

LIKE THIS

 

[MarkBowie]

Didn’t leave it long enough conditioning so you’re playing catch-up with the cartridges. I wouldn’t touch it for a month at least with a kit in a pressure barrel.