Tested my first brew after one week in keg

Hi guys. Just couldn't resist a little test of my first brew. It's been sitting in the keg (king keg top tap) for a week now and when I poured a bit off two things happened that I wasn't hugely pleased about:

1. It was very very cloudy with some white bits floating about in it.

2. It was very very frothy - 2/3 froth, 1/3 beer.

It tasted ok but flat.

Are these things normal for an immature brew like this one?

Froth is normal since it is still warm and fermenting. The cloudiness it due to yeast that hasn't settled completely. Another couple weeks and a quick chill should take care of both problems as well as getting the CO2 dissolved properly.

The hardest thing for me as a beginning home brewer has been patience in waiting for my beer to be finished. My first batch has been in bottles for about three weeks now, but I started tasting it after about a week in bottles and have finished over half a case now! I am afraid I may never know how good the batch could have been because I may drink the whole bunch before it is really ready

Ochre said:

1. It was very very cloudy with some white bits floating about in it.

2. It was very very frothy - 2/3 froth, 1/3 beer.

It tasted ok but flat.

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As mentioned before, the cloudiness will subside with time.

On to the carbonation issue. A few questions:

1) At what temperature is the keg being stored?
2) What is the psi setting on your regulator?
3) Is your kegging system properly balanced?
4) When you pour, are you fully opening the tap?

I've often thought that the main reason homebrewers make ales instead of lagers is time! We just don't want to wait. Barley wines can make you crazy, they take years to mellow out.

One of the great things about wet/fresh hop ales, is you have to drink them young or you lose the unique flavor elements.

vtfan99 said:

As mentioned before, the cloudiness will subside with time.

On to the carbonation issue. A few questions:

1) At what temperature is the keg being stored?
2) What is the psi setting on your regulator?
3) Is your kegging system properly balanced?
4) When you pour, are you fully opening the tap?

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1. Laundry room separated from the main house - haven't checked the temperature.

2. Standard King Keg with top tap - not sure on regulator psi.

3. How does one balance a kegging system?

4. When I poured I just opened it a bit, it came out very fast.

Not sure that's at all helpful but suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Ochre said:

3. How does one balance a kegging system?

Thanks.

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In a corny keg-type system, you need to balance the pressure in the keg with the resistance in the tubing used for serving. Typical beverage tubing provides 1.5 to 2 pounds of resistanct per linear foot, so if you are running your kegs at 12 PSI, you'd need about 6 foot of line.

If you aren't using beverage tubing on your keg (and I don't think King Kegs have the tubing) then you don't have to worry about that part.

Ochre said:

1. Laundry room separated from the main house - haven't checked the temperature.

2. Standard King Keg with top tap - not sure on regulator psi.

3. How does one balance a kegging system?

4. When I poured I just opened it a bit, it came out very fast.

Not sure that's at all helpful but suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

The temperature of the keg is pretty important as CO2 doesn't like to remain in solution at higher temperatures. Check here for a chart. You will notice that the warmer the beer is, the mor pressure you will need. You really need to keep the keg in the upper 30s to low 40s.

Go to kegman for the balancing formula (based on tube diameter, length, psi, etc)

I've always found that opening the tap fully yields less foam. The beer does come out awfully fast, but any "partial" opening causes it to foam more (in my case anyway).

Having said all that....I'm not completely sure what a "Standard King Keg with top tap"...so this all may be worthless information (except for the temperature part).

I guess it's like this.

Thats the one orfy but no idea how to gauge the pressure (can you get a pressure gauge that fits a king keg?). Thanks for your comments.