Something gone wrong... help!

[Beerguy]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to homebrewing and have just completed my first 2 beer making kits. However after leaving the beer in the pressure barrels for a few weeks, I tried pouring some out today through the taps and both of the taps are running very slow, and sometimes stop running completely, then a bubble will shift and some more will come out but hardly anything. Only one of the barrels has a gas canister attached as I completed the second barrel only about 2 weeks ago and thought I should let it settle before putting the gas in.

Also, the beer that I did get out of both barrels seems to be a little bit cloudy - is this normal for homebrew?

Cheers!

 

[The Baron]

sounds to me like it has not carbed up fully and the glug will be it sucking air back through the tap to displace the beer which makes it more likely that it has not carbed up. What amount of sugar have you used to prime the barrel and yes it will be cloudy until it has had tilme to carb and all the yeast etc to drop out to the bottom ( the first few pint will generally always be cloudy as it has the dropout material in it)

 

[xozzx]

Never used a pressure barrel but read alot of comments about them leaking. Have you tested for leaks?

What have you set the pressure to in the one with the gas canister? Did you prime the other one? What temp are they at?

 

[MarkBowie]

It’s not conditioned and therefore not carbed up. Stick some CO2 in it as the bubble you mention is oxygen going in. Then you need to be patient and try again in a couple more weeks.

 

[Dutto]

Welcome to the Forum. :thumb:

BE PATIENT.

Kit instructions are wildly optimistic so take your time with everything.

As a general rule I allow (as an absolute minimum):

o Two weeks for fermentation (and then do an SG to check that it has finished).

o Two weeks for carbonation in a warm place. (This is after adding priming sugar. When using a keg I check that it isn't leaking after two days.)

o Two weeks for conditioning somewhere nice and cool before tasting.

Enjoy! :thumb:

 

[Beerguy]

Okay so I worked out that the barrel with the gas in has run out of gas. So how many gas canisters should I be putting in at a time?
Also, after it completed fermenting in the fermentation barrel, I siphoned it into the pressure barrel and put it straight into my pantry which is actually quite cold in there - should I have kept the pressure barrel in the warm place I had my fermentation barrel in for a couple weeks and then moved it to my pantry?

Thanks for your replies all!

 

[Dutto]

I only very occasionally force-carb a beer and usually use sugar for the initial; carbonation.

The small CO2 capsules are usually used to top-up the pressure in a keg to produce enough pressure to keep the beer from going flat, protect it from infection and force the beer out of the keg after the initial carbonation CO2 has been exhausted.

I suggest that you use the Calculator at the top of this page.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

It tells you how much sugar per litre of beer you will need to carbonate a brew. (My advice is to start off small to avoid blowing anything up!)

If you have already added priming sugar then just move the keg to a nice warm place and WAIT. In three days time, check that there is an increase in pressure inside the keg by running off an eggcup full of beer. If it comes out okay then leave it for another week before checking again and then yet another week before tasting it. :thumb:

Please persevere. It really is a great pastime once you get to grips with the essentials. :thumb: