Hoping to save my Coopers Dark Ale!

[twentyfootwilf]

Oh bugger, seems I've got a dodgy budget keg, maybe a faulty seal or something but after 10 days my dark ale is not pressuring the keg. I've put a co2 cylinder into it and within a few minutes the pressure is gone. So in order to try to save the brew (which tastes fine) I've syphoned it back into a bottling bucket,(managed to keep 18.5 litres after sampling for the past week) and I'm going to bottle it in the hope that it'll be okay. Do you think that it will still be able to pressurize the bottles after all this time. It's had about 10 days in the FV and 10 days in the keg and I intend bottling it tonight and priming each bottle with light brown sugar. Experts advice very welcome!

[Ditch]

I'd have just left it in the BK. I don't pressurise my kegs in any way and it's grand. Never a problem.

[twentyfootwilf]

Trouble is I wont get through it very fast, well 3 or 4 weeks anyway, so not sure how well it will keep when not under pressure.

[Ditch]

Mmm. See ye point, Wilf .....

Ooh! Saying that though; I gave a BK of my stout to a mate, at xmass? I thought I'd never see the f**king thing again! It was well into the new year when he finally gave it back.

He wasn't a great drinker, see? In the end, he roped his son in, to help finish it. But, they both enthusiastically agreed that it was great, to the last drop.

So, there's a precedent for it being able to stay good without gas. I know that example's my stout. But, I also get to make my fair share of CDA as well ~ drinking one as I type, as it happens! ~ And it's very similar.

Up to you, I s'pose. Go to the trouble of bottling it and hope. Or just ..... well, I would have said 'Leave it in the keg and enjoy. But, of course, ye've took it out. And now we see the risk of f**king it by f**king with it .....

Tough one

[adman1966]

Hi Wilf

Assuming that you have been sanitising at each step, there is no reason for bottling not to work. There will still be plenty of yeast in suspension to devour the priming sugar and produce CO2 for carbonation.

A couple of weeks in the warm and then the same at a lower temp and your beer will come nicely into condition.

The usual culprit with budget kegs is the seal in the cap. A smear of vaseline and not over tightening is the key. Also check to make sure the top of the keg opening is level all the way around. You can do this with a ceramic tile, mirror or piece of glass just placed on top and look for gaps.

Hope this helps

Adam

[twentyfootwilf]

Just got it bottled up and I've been careful with sanitising, I always use bleach these days as it's fairly cheap stuff. The beer is nowhere near clear so I'm guessing there'll be yeast enough to convert the priming sugar. The beer itself tastes fine so I think I should be okay. Usually with my budget kegs I don't need to put any co2 into them till they get to about halfway down depending on how many people are drinking from it at one time.
I feel certain it must be the cap seal that's the problem, I'll have to get a replacement.