Loss of pressure in pressure barrell - re-prime?

[aroundthefur]

Hi folks,

I've trawled around a bit through past posts but couldn't quite find the answer to this question - but apologies if I've missed!

I transferred an all-grain brew to my pressure barrel a few weeks ago and after a couple of weeks in a warm place, gave it a sample. It came out the tap with a good force so obviously had conditioned/second-fermented the priming sugars etc. I transferred to a cooler place and have tried again after a week and barely managed to draw off a pint as all the pressure in the barrel seems to have gone. Probably to be expect the pressure to drop now it's a little colder but I'm wondering if the CO2 injector cap has leaked. Should I just whack a CO2 bulb or two into it and see if the same happens again? Would there be any loss of condition doing that? Or would anyone risk taking the cap off, replacing, and would you re-prime?

Cheers for your opinions.

Jon

[Jocky]

To sort out the pressure problem if you think the cap is leaking, you can remove the cap and replace it and then inject some CO2 to get it back up to pressure. If you didn't do it first time, add some petroleum jelly to the rubber seal in the cap, it will help it go on tight without distorting. It won't harm the beer.

If your beer has gone flat due to lack of pressure you may need to re-prime with some more sugar, but I've not done this before personally, so I'll defer to others knowledge on this.

[aroundthefur]

Thanks. I did do the petroleum jelly trick but then I know I do have a tendency to over-tighten! Not sure whether or not to re-prime or just be patient and see if it perks back up.

[Eric]

I think you know what happened, that the colder beer absorbed the CO2. Give it a blast of CO2 or move it back into the warm and you'll be back drawing a pint.
Consider changing the cap or valve to S30, that will eventially be more cost effective. Google S30 CO2 cylinders for more information if necessary.

[aroundthefur]

Thanks Eric. It's back in the warm now and I'll dig out the CO2 bulbs I have kicking around. If the pressure goes again after that, then suspicion will be redirected at the cap leaking! I'll avoid taking the cap off and any messing about with re-priming if I can help it.
Thanks for the S30 tip.