The good ,the bad and the ugly!

[gareth90]

Had my 1st proper sampling session tonight Have been conditioning the barrels in the garage after about 5 days in the house.
1st brew(sheratons) has turned out flat and a sour smell but is just about palatable and it wasnt like that before it went into garage.2nd brew(almondbury old) is flat but tastes heavenly and I type with heavy eyes after several more samples and my turbo cider is gorgeous and as fizzy as a fizzy thing from fizzyville.
In the falt brew barrels i have removed lids and retightened everything but still after only one glass im having to reintroduce gas to get a reasonable flow.
Is it due to low temperatures or have i done something wrong?
Do i need to take it back into warm for another few days to waken the yeast to introduce some fizz?

All thoughts appreciated.

Gaz

[J_P]

How tight are the seals on your barrels? Some folk apply Vaseline to the rubber seals to ensure they get a tight seal.

What temperatures have you been conditioning them in and for how long? I generally leave mine for a week in the warm (16-20C) and then stick them in the beer cave for a month or so.

[gareth90]

Hi JP,thanks for the reply.
The one barrel(sheratons) is an old boots barrel and ive had my doubts about it since barrelling.The seals are as tight as i dare and all sealed with vaseline.
The almondbury barrel is a new brewmaster ,the one with spill tray on side.I think ive got the barrel side of things covered but im wondering if i done something wrong as in moving it to 'the cave' before it was ready???
The almondury is definately going to get drunk but 2 mates who sampled the sheratons both gave the same answer.......YUK!!!!!
Temperature wise they have been in living room at about 22-24 deg Cfor 5 days then to garage and into cold.
I just cant get my head round why its flat when ebbadgers similar brew(our 1st brews) fizzes out the barrel like mad with no gas needed.

Yours confused,

[incapete]

Doesn't sound good - I'm sorry to hear that.

Did you prime the barrels at all? How much did you add?

I brewed the same Sheraton's kit and bottled it early last week. It's sat being warm in my spare room at the moment and will then be moved out to somewhere cool for a while before drinking. It seemed surprisingly fizzy when I tasted it while bottling - no idea how it's going to be in the bottle!

[gareth90]

Hi Incapete,
I got my fingers crossed for your Sheratons mate!
I primed the barrels with 100g of tate and lyle.
Having just awoke from an almondbury old ale induced stupor I think my sheratons may have got infected in some way due to me messing about with it too much.....new toys and big kids!
Im going to let it stand for a while longer and take a sample every day to see if it improves at all and if not put it down to experience.
Good job ive the almondbury to drown my sorrows
Hurry up and get your almondbury on the go and let me know what you think


Cheers!

[incapete]

I'm delayed due to lack of equipment... or more accurately, something to put the damn stuff in once it's brewed. I think I may have to invest in a barrel of some sort! What are you using?

On a different note, the wife is sounding much happier about all of this now that I've mentioned cider to her!

[gareth90]

Ive got the almondury in a brewmaster barrel,sheratons and TC in old boots barrels and my homewrecker and cerveza are in beerspheres.
Invest in a pressure barrel of your choice and pick up a demijohn to do a TC to keep the mrs happy.

Try an ad on 'freecycle' ,ebay or your local free ads paper.

[ebbadger]

I too am at a slight loss.... the only difference with mine apart from the kit is that i primed with 160g of moscovado in the beersphere and left it for a week before moving to the garage,

I did bleed a fair bit of gas off for the first couple of days before moving to the garage to make sure any air trapped during barreling was definately gone and only CO2 was left (advice I found whilst trawling the forum)

But as Gaz said Ive needed no gas and the beer 'gushes' out and gives a pint of froth unless you are very slow n careful with the tap

Holds a lovely head and is very well carbonated..... ???

Cheers Steve

[gareth90]

Due to the flatness and noticing i could get a turn or so on the valves nuts would it be an idea to bring it back indoors and add some more priming sugar to restart it and build up some pressure?

Thoughts please.

[oxford brewer]

Due to the flatness and noticing i could get a turn or so on the valves nuts would it be an idea to bring it back indoors and add some more priming sugar to restart it and build up some pressure?

Thoughts please.

If the lids take a s30 canister then get one, and force carbonate the brew with that.

[gareth90]

Due to the flatness and noticing i could get a turn or so on the valves nuts would it be an idea to bring it back indoors and add some more priming sugar to restart it and build up some pressure?

Thoughts please.

If the lids take a s30 canister then get one, and force carbonate the brew with that.

I have been trying that since last night.......how often can i blast and for how long as it recommends no more than one second blasts.

[oxford brewer]

I tended to give 1 second bursts until the ruber PRV started to blow,leave for 10 mins then drain all the pressure to purge the o2,regas until the PRV starts to blow again,move somewhere cool for 4 weeks* then serve.

Be careful with the canister as sometimes the valve freezes and will inject loads,if this happens unscrew it and run it under warm water,its worked for me in the past



























*or days

[incapete]

My Sheraton's kit is pretty flat once it's poured out of the bottle - slightly sour smell but tastes ok.
I'm taking all this advice you're getting and hopefully when I barrel my Almondbury Old it will be ok...

[gareth90]

The almondbury will be fine and if like mine probably wont last long

Ive blasted a couple second blast into both barrels.
The almondbury took it fine but the sheratons seemed to be pressured up ok.
I intend to leave the sheratons alone for at least a week but will definately sample a few almondbury's later


Cheers