too early to keg?

[jsr__]

Hi guys,

First of all, well done: first class forum.

Did my first extract brew last week as a preamble to my first AG attempt!

My (barely calculated) recipe used 3kg LME and 1kg light spraymalt, which after 60 mins boil with ~1oz Amarillo (9%) and ~2oz Amarillo at 15 mins yielded approximately 25 litres of wort at 1058 SG. Fantastic cold break I presume as chiller did its job well, crashing temperature to below ideal pitching temperature for the yeast. Pitched pre-prepared Fermentis S-04 into 1.25l malt extract starter. The starter was pitched into cooler than optimal wort with slight lag to fermentation start I guess for that very reason and also as I didn't make much of an attempt at aeration beyond a bit of sloshing (at 4 hours there were signs of activity). Poor racking to keg though as siphon broke mid-way ...grrrr... and had some air bubbles come through.

I have photos! How do I include them?

Also, I have racked to keg after 5 days and I saw ~1016 SG and I read on this forum that typical FG for this yeast is 1012. Is four points too much for conditioning? it's been in keg for one day now and I've vented it partially a couple of times just to check progress. Was it too early? Fermentation slowed noticeably after about four days at ~15-18 degrees celsius and there was much trub.

Any opinions on what I should have done, done better, welcome.

J

[garwatts]

I find its best left in the FV for 10-14 days. When kegged for secondary don't vent it or you will lose your conditioning pressure. Give it a 2/4 weeks then it should be ready for quaffing

[guidomax]

Agreed with the above. I'd always leave it in the FV to ferment right out (as much as it's going to, check a few days in a row and if it doesn't change, you're fine, I give between ten days and two weeks aswell) before racking into the keg. This way, most trub (dead yeast etc) gets left in the FV.

Then rack into the keg with a small amount of boiled and cooled sugar solution. 80grams of sugar in half a pint of water is good. This will get the yeast that's still in suspension back working, generating CO2 and adding the sparkle.

Note that this way you have a very precise way of varying the sparkle in the beer - just add more or less sugar.

That said I'm sure your beer will be fine! Just make sure it doesn't generate so much CO2 the keg bursts - venting good plan in this event

[jsr__]

Cheers garwatts and guldomax...


Yeah, sounds like a plan. I racked due to a combination of paranoia about the yeast autolysing and oxygenation, i.e. that I needed to rack off the trub but reckoned secondary carboy would be one rack too many in terms of oxidation so I opted for a half way solution I suppose with the drawback of increased sediment in keg. Sounds like 10-14 days is a general consensus so I'll go with that for the latest batch (AG attempt this time...not looking as promising).

Can anyone point me in the direction of some derivation of volumes of CO2 produced per point volume (or even just weight - I reckon I can get that far)? Don't the yeast produce equal _masses_ of CO2 and alcohol(s) which sum almost exactly to the mass of sugar taken in...? I know what headspace is in the keg so I can work out, at least in principle , if the keg would burst without me venting on the first couple of days :-S

Re: posting images, I read on the FAQ that if attachments are switched on then use those but I think they are switched off. Signed up for a flikr account to post pics, is this correct? How do I get the links to the individual images to place in the img tag?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

J

[leedsbrew]

Signed up for a flikr account to post pics, is this correct? How do I get the links to the individual images to place in the img tag?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

J

J, flikr, photobucket etc are all good for posting images. Once the images are uploaded to flikr or PB you want to copy the image address (2. grab the photo's url) that you can see at the bottom of the screen


go back to Jim's and click the button that says "Img" above the post window and paste the URL [img]HERE[img]


Hope that helps Look forward to seeing your snaps

LB

[garwatts]

Cheers garwatts and guldomax...

Can anyone point me in the direction of some derivation of volumes of CO2 produced per point volume (or even just weight - I reckon I can get that far)? Don't the yeast produce equal _masses_ of CO2 and alcohol(s) which sum almost exactly to the mass of sugar taken in...? I know what headspace is in the keg so I can work out, at least in principle , if the keg would burst without me venting on the first couple of days :-S

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

J

At times one can tend to worry too much I just rack of into the KK after about 14 days (sometimes up to 21), add the 80g of tate & lyle dissolved in 200ml of hot boiled water. After a couple of days just run a small sample from the tap to see if the keg has sealed properly, ie is there pressure there? Obviously in colder weather ensure the keg is kept warmish to ensure the conditioning kicks off OK (I brew and ferment in the garage outside) In 40 years I have never had a keg burst yet

[jsr__]

Thanks! The links didn't appear until I clicked on the 'all sizes' button.

Here goes:



and with chiller in place



closer



the final Pale Ale @1058




The latest all-grain attempt I'll post next door...

[badgerdan]

Wow! I want a boiler like that; a super jet powered beer boiler

[garwatts]

That set-up would frighten me
It's definitely one that I haven't seen before.