no secondary fermentation

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hartleys

no secondary fermentation

Post by hartleys » Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:00 pm

I am brewing a Woodforde's 'Nelson's Revenge'. Everything has gone fine after following the instructions to the letter, however, after two weeks in the barrel, I pulled off a small sample only to find there is no pressure at all in the barrel. the top and seals on the barrel are fine. Does anyone know what could have gone wrong? Or if indeed it can be salvaged?

mickhew

Re: no secondary fermentation

Post by mickhew » Fri Aug 13, 2010 2:48 pm

You've followed the instructions on the kit to the letter, good. What about the barrel? Did you vas up the seals? also, if it's one of the budget barrels, I've had no end of problems with the so called "pressure relief" valves.

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Beer O'Clock
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Re: no secondary fermentation

Post by Beer O'Clock » Fri Aug 13, 2010 5:36 pm

Before looking at the Barrel's integrity, let's eliminate the obvious first.

Did you PRIME the barrel ?
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TC2642
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Re: no secondary fermentation

Post by TC2642 » Fri Aug 13, 2010 5:52 pm

Beer O'Clock wrote:Before looking at the Barrel's integrity, let's eliminate the obvious first.

Did you PRIME the barrel ?
It should still have some gas coming off it even if it wasn't primed. I'm thinking along the same lines as mickhew, vasaline on the cap threads is required to stop gas escaping.
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thedeckking

Re: no secondary fermentation

Post by thedeckking » Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:31 am

If secondary fermentation has taken place then there should be a nice layer of spent yeast at the bottom of the barrel, in which case it's the barrel that's leaking. If there is no yeast then you either forgot to prime, didn't use enough priming sugar or the temp was right for 2nd ferm to take place.

hartleys

Re: no secondary fermentation

Post by hartleys » Sat Aug 14, 2010 10:22 pm

Cheers guys. I did prime the barrel but alas, it is a budget barrel, although I have used it before without problems. It is possible the temp was a factor, if so, where do I go from here?

bungle666

Re: no secondary fermentation

Post by bungle666 » Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:01 am

hartleys wrote:Cheers guys. I did prime the barrel but alas, it is a budget barrel, although I have used it before without problems. It is possible the temp was a factor, if so, where do I go from here?
if the beer is clear, then force carb with a bottle after checking the seals, and drink from there. if its still murky then do the seals and re-prime.

HTH

B..

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