What to do with my lager, now its in a keg?????

[Rob Morgan]

Hello fellow piss heads! :grin:

This is my first, of hopefully many posts on this forum.
I have recently received a youngs u brew kit for my birthday which was aug 9th. I'm telling you that for factual reasons, which will help explain what i've don so far. but any belated birthday wishes/gifts are stil being accepted :thumb:

as soon as i got home on my birthday, i opened the big box, and got cracking! i brewed my very own lager for the first time ever. the one that comes in the kit.
during my haste, i used normal sugar, as i didn't have brewing sugar. i mixed the ingredients, as described on the box.
the following day, a friend gave me a heating strap, which i started to use, as the weather was a bit up and down. after 2 days, the lager calmed down, and looked dead (which i beleive is correct?)
after 5 days, i tested the SG, which came out at 1.003, which is bang on according to the instructions. so i left it 24hrs, and checked again. it was still 1.003. so on wednesday 15th i transferred via siphon from my VF to a keg, whilst adding 100g of normal sugar to the keg. the instructions said 85g, but i'd heard you should add a bit more.
it has since sat in a warm-ish bedroom for 4 days. i think i've read that it should be kept warm for a few days, to allow the extra sugar to take effect. but what do i do now?

I've heard it should be kept cold? should i put the keg in the fridge in my shed???
keep it warm???

i'm not expecting my first brew to taste that great, but i would like to start drinking it next Sunday (bank holiday weekend) i intend to buy a co2 canister to fit in the top of the keg, so that it last longer, as i don't think i'll drink it all in one night! :drunk:

so what should i do?

 

[oldstout]

Hello fellow piss heads! :grin:

This is my first, of hopefully many posts on this forum.


as soon as i got home on my birthday, i opened the big box, and got cracking! i brewed my very own larger for the first time ever

STOP!!

This is the spelling police :hmm: :hmm: :whistle:

It's L A G E R

Welcome to the forum

Someone who knows what they're on about will be along shortly to answer your query(s) :thumb:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:



:

 

[Davybarman]

Hi and Welcome to the club.

Hope your larger does ok. Dont use kegs, but somewere dark n cool should do. I condition mine in the roof space then under the stairs.
:

 

[Rob Morgan]

.

 

[Rob Morgan]

STOP!!

This is the spelling police :hmm: :hmm: :whistle:

It's L A G E R

:whistle:

Hi and Welcome to the club.

Hope your larger does ok. Dont use kegs, but somewere dark n cool should do. I condition mine in the roof space then under the stairs.
:

i only have a very small under-stairs cupboard, but its full of crap. so i'm going to have a clear out.
am i being a bit optimistic with bank holiday????

 

[Davybarman]

Might be drinkable but wont be anywere near the best. Now I am speaking about bottles. Kegs may be different. Have you co2 for it. Someone with experience with kegs should be able to help you more.

Im the same here very limited space.
:

 

[edwardss]

Just a heads up - i made a Youngs brew buddy lager the same way as you a few weeks ago now, must be coming up to 5/6 weeks in the bottle and has only really turned into a decent pint in the last fortnight, after 2 weeks it wasn't that great but don't be put off - another couple of week and it really is decent when its chilled well.

Welcome to the forum :

 

[Rob Morgan]

thanks for the replies.
i have just spent the last 1.5hrs sorting out the crap under the stairs! so it now contains nothing but home brewing stuff :thumb:
its currently 22°c on my stick on thermometer.

i'm still curious as to whether it would condition quicker/better i colder conditions???

 

[Andyhull]

you leave it for around 1 to 2 weeks in the warmth (18dgrs to 21dgrs) to alow the yeast to do it's thing then move it somewhere cool/cold for 2 weeks+ to alow the co2 to be absorbed into the brew.
As previousely stated, within reason the longer you leave it the better but you should have a decent pint within 4 to 6 weeks.

Andy

 

[gilesstow]

(hello everyone, my first post!)

Rob
I'm relatively new - I started with a Xmas gift beer kit and am now on my 7th brew :-) - using only kegs.

I don't know about lager but the general guidance for the keg is this:
- having primed the keg with sugar it will gas itself in the warm place for a week or so (assuming no leaks of CO2 at the seals - my first keg had no pressure which led me to realise that I hadn't checked the rubber seals on the brass valve! )
- then put it somewhere cooler (or cold!) to condition it and when you run out of patience (anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks ;-) ), start drinking it...
- once you take out you first pint or two it will ferment a little more and continue re-gassing itself for quite some time. I haven't pushed it to the limit but I suspect that if you have only a pint per day it will regas until say half way down the barrel? (my current brew - a Di & Danny's Golden Ale - awesome by the way - is probably 3/4 drunk and I've not added any CO2 yet... but I'm probably only taking 2 pints out on a saturday and 2 on a sunday).
- clearly if you have mates round or just want to drink 4 to 6 pints on you own in one go ;-) then the beer can't ferment quickly enough to keep gassing itself and then you need to inject CO2. beware that you need to know whether to get 8gm little sparkler CO2 cylinders (there's a pin sticking up in the brass valve on the barrel) or the bigger S30 valve CO2 cannister (only available from a homebrew shop).
-you'll know when you need to add CO2 as your beer will stop coming out of the keg :-( (or you've drunk it all!)
- if it is a bottom tap keg, don't allow air to 'glug' in through the tap (which is tempting because it allows beer out) as you don't want oxygen oxidising your beer in the keg :-). If this happens, inject some CO2 immediately... being the heavier component in air it will sit like a blanket on the top of the beer and stop the oxygen getting to it.
- the warmer the place you store your keg the easier it will be for it to keep fermenting and re-gassing itself... but who wants warm lager?

As for Bank Holiday? I think it's optimistic in terms of having a nicely matured pint... but it certainly won't kill you to sample it heavily!!
Enjoy!

Giles