Pressure Barrel

[Gioginnelli]

Hi all,

I am about to decant my fully fermented IPA into my barrel about 24 hours ahead of bottling. However the barrel is a little smelly. A bit of a hoppy, sweaty, sterilise smell. Is that going to mess with the smell and taste of the beer, considering it's only going to be in it for 24 hours, while it settles and i get the bottles sterilised and ready for bottling?

The barrel's had a good wash with soapy water and sterilised, but still a bit of a pong. Maybe I give it another good wash out, this time with some warm soapy water.

Any advice would be good.

Thanks

 

[RoomWithABrew]

why bother decanting it? You'll just increase oxidation, infection risk etc.?

 

[Gioginnelli]

why bother decanting it? You'll just increase oxidation, infection risk etc.?

I can't get it to bottles from my fermenting tub.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

How do you get it into your barrel then? and then how from barrel to bottles?
Regardless of this if the barrel doesn't smell neutral then a further clean with PBW including taking tap off lid clean and then sanitise with starsan.

Do you have a tube to siphon with?

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Hi all,

I am about to decant my fully fermented IPA into my barrel about 24 hours ahead of bottling. However the barrel is a little smelly. A bit of a hoppy, sweaty, sterilise smell. Is that going to mess with the smell and taste of the beer, considering it's only going to be in it for 24 hours, while it settles and i get the bottles sterilised and ready for bottling?

The barrel's had a good wash with soapy water and sterilised, but still a bit of a pong. Maybe I give it another good wash out, this time with some warm soapy water.

Any advice would be good.

Thanks

I agree with @RoomWithABrew - if you can transfer from FV to PB then you should be able to bottle from the FV thus eliminating the need for the PB.
Anyhow, as has already been said, an overnight soak with your cleaner of choice should do the job.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Hi all,

I am about to decant my fully fermented IPA into my barrel about 24 hours ahead of bottling. However the barrel is a little smelly. A bit of a hoppy, sweaty, sterilise smell. Is that going to mess with the smell and taste of the beer, considering it's only going to be in it for 24 hours, while it settles and i get the bottles sterilised and ready for bottling?

The barrel's had a good wash with soapy water and sterilised, but still a bit of a pong. Maybe I give it another good wash out, this time with some warm soapy water.

Any advice would be good.

Thanks

I agree with @RoomWithABrew - if you can transfer from FV to PB then you should be able to bottle from the FV thus eliminating the need for the PB.
Anyhow, as has already been said, an overnight soak with your cleaner of choice should do the job.

 

[Buffers brewery]

I give my plastic barrels a 3-6 hour soak in warm Wilko Oxy followed by a thorough rinse.

 

[Gioginnelli]

How do you get it into your barrel then? and then how from barrel to bottles?
Regardless of this if the barrel doesn't smell neutral then a further clean with PBW including taking tap off lid clean and then sanitise with starsan.

Do you have a tube to siphon with?

The fermenting tub has no tap for draw off, so I have to siphon to the barrel with an auto siphon.

The barrel has a tap and i connect a bottling valve to it and bottle from there.

Anyway I've given the barrel a real good clean with warm soapy water, let it sit a number of hours, throughly rinsed, and sanitised it for a few hours and now about to give it a real good rinse, the sweaty stale smell has gone, just a little fragrance of soap, hops and sanitising powder, but I'm sure a good rinse will sort it!

 

[crowcrow]

Just syphon into the bottles - I always did. If you have a dishwasher line the bottles up in the open door with the bucket above them, then any drips are cleared up by closing the door!

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I'd just siphon from ferment vessel into the bottles with the bottling valve fitted into that, no need to second vessel at all, just so many disadvantages to that.

 

[CD]

I give my plastic barrels a 3-6 hour soak in warm Wilko Oxy followed by a thorough rinse.

I give mine an overnight soak of diluted Antiformin followed by a good rinse, and can't understand why its not more popular.

 

[Buffers brewery]

can't understand why its not more popular.

Probably ease of purchase. I’d have to buy Antiformin on line and wait 3-4 days for it to be delivered at a cost of 14 quid plus postage for 5 litres whereas I can pop into my local Wilkos, 10 minutes away by car, and buy 3 1 kg pots of their Oxy plus for a fiver and have it same day.

 

[CD]

Right. I get mine from my local mini brewery, which is cheap and easy.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Basically the antiformin is bleach and caustic soda. So you could make it yourself if you wanted to. Or just use NaOH first to remove the debris and follow up with bleach afterwards. It's nasty stuff, over here in NZ surprisingly the main toilet cleaner type thing isn't neat bleach and is the same as antiformin but dilute.

It gives a much more severe chemical burn than just bleach.

I use homemade PBW, picking up 100% Sodium Percarbonate ( the active ingredient in oxiclean), Sodium Metaslicate and EDTA picked up in bulk from a local swimming pool and chemical supplies shop.
These are used 65% SP, 30% SM and 5% EDTA. Use 11g per litre of hot water and it works great.

A lot safer than NaOH .

 

[The Cat]

Well my latest brew was the final attempt to use a pressure barrel.

Last time I could hear gas escaping when I used the little bulb things and the beer was flat and difficult to pour so I went heavy on the vaseline at the top and guess what after 4 weeks it is pouring as I would have hoped - it lives to try again another day! Was from Wilco and has a nice large opening at the top for cleaning looks around 4".

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Trouble with those little gas cartridges is they are a bit all or nothing I remember. No pressure to loads doesn't give time for the orings to move and seal and all is overpressured. The sodastream cylinder and adapter for the hambledon bard gas post was a bit better. Do they still make those? I've got some adapters and managed to get an old rotokeg unfortunately with top tap and it's working okay. Not a replacement for Sankey kegs but it works well in it's role.

 

[Dilettante Brewing]

On a slight tangent, how long do people generally leave a PB to settle after moving it? I’ve put mine in the garden ready for some BBQ action but not sure how long to leave it for.

 

[dcbrookes]

Well my latest brew was the final attempt to use a pressure barrel.

Last time I could hear gas escaping when I used the little bulb things and the beer was flat and difficult to pour so I went heavy on the vaseline at the top and guess what after 4 weeks it is pouring as I would have hoped - it lives to try again another day! Was from Wilco and has a nice large opening at the top for cleaning looks around 4".

I have a couple of Wilco barrels and actually prefer them to my King Keg ones. Although the Wilco barrels are solidly made they are not very well finished IMHO, especially the rim of the neck. I have fettled mine to get them really flat: I marked the top with a felt tip marker and the used a random orbit sander to smooth the rim - the felt tip shows up any high spots. I used a 120 grit abrasive to start with and a 240 grit to finish and get a smooth surface. The barrels now seal well. The other rough bit with the Wilco barrels is around the inside of the recess into which the tap fits, but this can be cleaned up with a sharp knife.