Did I make beer?

[Howareya]

Here's my Milestone IPA:

It's not very bubbly (but you can see there is some). It was fermenting for four weeks, and in the barrel for three weeks. I added 80g of glucose when barreling the 20 litres.

When pouring this glass, there was pressure. But by the time I had poured this small glass, air bubbles were going back up the tap. You can see there's no head on it.

I do have small CO2 capsules (the compressed gas cylinders), although I haven't used any yet.

Did I make beer? I mean, it tastes quite malty as far as I can tell, so I hope it really did ferment.

Here's a pic of someone else's beer of the same type:
http://jimshomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=184341&sid=b1c58237290056642f2e6e214296412c#p184341

 

[JonK331]

Did you take gravity readings? A drop in density is really the only way to tell.

 

[H-ost]

Yeah, you can brew without taking gravities but this is really why it isn't good to do so. If you have a hydro and use it you eliminate a lot of guessing when things don't go as planned.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Did you hit the keg with gas to ensure a proper seal when you put the lid on? What may have happened is CO2 created by the yeast for carbonation escaped because there wasn't an airtight seal.

 

[JonK331]

If you didn't take an OG you can at least check now. If the OG is low, say around 1.015, you've most likely made beer. Another way to check is to have a few and see if you can feel the effects of the alcohol

 

[Howareya]

Did you take gravity readings? A drop in density is really the only way to tell.

Yes, but as a noob I didn't take the initial one when putting it in the fermenter.

Six days after starting to ferment, the gravity reading was 1.020.

Four weeks after starting to ferment, the gravity reading was 1.010, which is when I barreled it. The recipe says 1009 is the optimal. BTW, my readings were at 18 celcius.

 

[Howareya]

Did you hit the keg with gas to ensure a proper seal when you put the lid on? What may have happened is CO2 created by the yeast for carbonation escaped because there wasn't an airtight seal.

In retrospect, this would have been a good idea

Should I inject one or two of those 8g CO2 injection bulbs now?

 

[JonK331]

With a reading at 1.020 and then at 1.010 I would say yes, you have made beer. your OG was most likely higher than that. Did you use extract? if so how much?

 

[Howareya]

Did you use extract? if so how much?

Extract, hmm are you referring to the base ingredients from cans that I started the fermentation with? I used 3kg (two 1.5kg tins).

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Yeah, those cans would be the extract

 

[Reno_eNVy]

In retrospect, this would have been a good idea

Should I inject one or two of those 8g CO2 injection bulbs now?

You could go ahead and do that... but most of your carbonation gas has already escaped if this is indeed your problem. Do you not have a CO2 tank and regulator?

 

[Howareya]

You could go ahead and do that... but most of your carbonation gas has already escaped if this is indeed your problem. Do you not have a CO2 tank and regulator?

No, I don't have other equipment.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

You could purge the gas, open it up, add some more sugar (boiled first, of course... though not sure how much since I don't know how carbonated it is now) and then seal it up properly

 

[Howareya]

You could purge the gas, open it up, add some more sugar (boiled first, of course... though not sure how much since I don't know how carbonated it is now) and then seal it up properly

Thanks for the suggestion!

Does sealing it properly mean injecting with a canister after tightening the lid?

Does it sound like i just failed to add extra pressure when barreling? I thought I had tightened the cap enough manually.

FYI the barrel cap I had wasn't even one with a valve for injection. But I bought one since.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Wait are you serving from an air tight container? Is "barrel" colloquially Irish for "keg"?

 

[Howareya]

Wait are you serving from an air tight container? Is "barrel" colloquially Irish for "keg"?

Sorry, it's a keg I guess

This is it:
http://www.balliihoo.co.uk/balliiho...r-keg-with-lcd-temperature-indicator-p-8.html

This is the cap that came with it:
http://www.balliihoo.co.uk/standard-2-pressure-barrel-vent-cap-p-31.html

But this is the valve cap I since bought but didn't put it on yet since I didn't want to lose pressure (so much for that):
http://www.balliihoo.co.uk/2-pressure-barrel-cap-with-s30-valve-piercing-pin-type-p-11.html

 

[unionrdr]

I remember one showed recently that said the seal on the cap has to be lubricated to seal. Try using the proper lube on it.

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

That's an interesting set-up. Sounds like you made beer, but it's a tad flat.
I'm not familiar with how much co2 those small cylinders add, but you could probably just add more sugar, as a previous poster said. Add boiled sugar, seal it up, and wait a while.

Is there much of a homebrew scene in Limerick? I lived in Cork and Tipp for a while. Definitely miss it.

 

[Howareya]

I remember one showed recently that said the seal on the cap has to be lubricated to seal. Try using the proper lube on it.

That's interesting. I lubed it with water, but now I'm guessing that's the mistake. What's proper lube?

 

[Howareya]

Is there much of a homebrew scene in Limerick? I lived in Cork and Tipp for a while. Definitely miss it.

I know one person who has done it. But speaking with others in Limerick there are always more stories of people who have done it. It seems like there's a dedicated shop in Galway. And there are Irish sites online, so you don't always have to order from the UK.

 

[Hang Glider]

there is a food-safe keg lube made for o-rings online and at local stores. Water won't really work.

As you remove beer from your keg, you'll "add" headspace at the top. The carbon dioxide will come out of the beer to fill this headspace to maintain an equilibrium between the beer and the airspace. You MUST top off the keg with your CO2 after every couple of pints or you will continually have a lack of carbonation.

 

[RM-MN]

Someone should check my math but 80g of glucose seems pretty low for carbonating 20 liters. I would have expected to use twice that much to get to the carbonation that Americans like.

 

[Howareya]

Someone should check my math but 80g of glucose seems pretty low for carbonating 20 liters. I would have expected to use twice that much to get to the carbonation that Americans like.

The extract said "no extra sugar required" but then in the instructions it said to add 80g boiled glucose. Maybe this time I'll add a further 80g. I'm worried that it might turn out too sweet if using more.

 

[Howareya]

I'm thinking it will be hard to find food-safe lube in the local supermarket. I've never heard of such a thing until now.

 

[Brew_Force]

It may be a long shot, but if you frequent a pub, they might be able to give you a finger full of keg lube if you ask nicely!

 

[RM-MN]

The extract said "no extra sugar required" but then in the instructions it said to add 80g boiled glucose. Maybe this time I'll add a further 80g. I'm worried that it might turn out too sweet if using more.

Some extract kits will have you add sugar directly in the boil to increase the alcohol content. Your kit apparently used enough malt extract to get the desired alcohol so they said "no added sugar'. The 80 grams of sugar was for priming, to get carbonation in the bottles. The amount of sugar you add when fermentation is completed just before bottling is not considered an addition to the beer. Since I'm in the U.S. all my measurements are in pounds, ounces and gallons. Check my math because I'm pretty rusty on conversions but it seems like 20 liters should be pretty close to 5 US gallons and I would use 5 ounces to prime that amount. How many grams are there in 5 ounces?

 

[H-ost]

I hope I'm not breaking any rules here by saying this if so... please educate me...

BUT if you guys are looking for Food-Grade lube for your kegs my work sells this http://pollardwater.com/pages_product/P67750_lubricant.asp The stuff in the spray can is good for putting gas and serving lines together and the other 2 in the brush cans are a fairly thick consistency. This stuff is really no different than what you would buy anywhere else for this purpose except it has our own label on it.

*I would like to mention that I am a grunt in the warehouse and really in no way benefit if you guys buy this or not, I just wanted to put it out there.*

 

[Hang Glider]

or here, at Northern Brewer

not to s*** in your cereal, H-ost, but it's a lot cheaper at the online HBS's

Howareya, Somewhere in Ireland, they sell this kind of stuff to pubs...

 

[H-ost]

or here, at Northern Brewer

not to s*** in your cereal, H-ost, but it's a lot cheaper at the online HBS's

Yeah that is much better, and like I said I wouldn't have profited anyway. I've never looked for it anywhere else, I guess I'm just spoiled from getting to buy some brewing things at company cost. I got my SS ball valves for 15$ each

 

[Howareya]

Some extract kits will have you add sugar directly in the boil to increase the alcohol content. Your kit apparently used enough malt extract to get the desired alcohol so they said "no added sugar'. The 80 grams of sugar was for priming, to get carbonation in the bottles. The amount of sugar you add when fermentation is completed just before bottling is not considered an addition to the beer. Since I'm in the U.S. all my measurements are in pounds, ounces and gallons. Check my math because I'm pretty rusty on conversions but it seems like 20 liters should be pretty close to 5 US gallons and I would use 5 ounces to prime that amount. How many grams are there in 5 ounces?

Ok, that's almost twice the amount of glucose I used, you're at about 140g.

 

[Howareya]

I hope this little leak wasn't partly to blame. It was a very small leak from this sealed area where the tap comes out of the plastic keg. During the whole three weeks in the keg only a very small bit leaked out, and a little more dripped when I poured this first glass I posted in the first post.

Here's the leak (out of focus; there is a tiny bit of bubbling at the top of this "sealed" area)

 

[Howareya]

I can't even find keg lube on the Irish or UK homebrew sites. Perhaps Vaseline is the answer for the cap....

 

[Hang Glider]

no, NOT vaseline! that's petroleum based, not food safe.
Try searching for some kind of brewery or restaurant supply store

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

There's also plumber's grease. It's a silicone based grease, used for faucet parts. It should be food safe if it's used in faucets. It wouldn't necessarily be my first choice, but it may be your only choice at this point. Check a plumber's shop or you can get it here, but it's pretty pricey:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leading-Sapphire-Silicone-Greases-ROC12251i10/dp/9801700769/ref=sr_1_9?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1327615530&sr=1-9

 

[Howareya]

There's also plumber's grease. It's a silicone based grease, used for faucet parts. It should be food safe if it's used in faucets. It wouldn't necessarily be my first choice, but it may be your only choice at this point. Check a plumber's shop or you can get it here, but it's pretty pricey:
Video Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leading-Sapphire-Silicone-Greases-ROC12251i10/dp/9801700769/ref=sr_1_9?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1327615530&sr=1-9

Thanks, I found plumbers grease.

When I add more sugar, should I give the beer a stir, and leave it in a warm place for another couple of weeks?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Thanks, I found plumbers grease.

When I add more sugar, should I give the beer a stir, and leave it in a warm place for another couple of weeks?

If you boil the sugar in some water first you can add it and then give a very gentle stir to make sure it distributes evenly

 

[Howareya]

Ok, so I won't mix it all up again. You're awesome, thanks for the advice.

Should I keep it in a warm place, I guess?

I'm just asking since I moved it down to a cool room before starting this thread a few days ago and it's been there since.

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

Do you know what yeast you used? If so, you should be able to look up the temperature range of that yeast. At this point, just keeping it in that range is probably your best bet. It's probably going to be somewhere between 64-72* F. I'm lazy, so I'll let you do the conversion to C. The warmer end will give you more active fermentation, but can increase additional flavor from the yeast. But I wouldn't worry about it too much at this point as long as it's in the range.

Next batch, get it sealed up good and find that spot in your house that's the right temp for the yeast. Also, fermentation generates a lot of heat, so I'd shoot for the cooler end of the range for the next batch.

Also, before your next batch, I'd pull apart that spigot connection. Clean it up and lube the gaskets to see if you can stop the drip.

 

[Howareya]

Excellent, thanks for the detailed advice.

I have the instructions, it says minimum 63F (converted from 17C). Are you saying that it's typically best to stay at the lower range of the given temperature range?

 

[ClarnoBrewer]

In your situation, and with an IPA, I'd say yes. That's the simple answer. Primary fermentation will generate a fair bit of heat, so if you're using the ambient temp of your storage space, I'd go with the cool end of the range.

The real answer is that it depends. Fermentation temps effect the flavor of the beer. Different yeasts respond to different temps in different ways. Typically for ales, the lower the temp, the less flavor is added by the yeast. Higher temps typical add more yeast-based flavors. These can come off as fruity, spicy, estery, depending on the yeast. For example, a lot of Belgians are fermented at higher temps, which brings out that banana flavor of the Belgian yeasts.

I find it's safer as a beginner to ferment cool. It'll give you a more neutral contribution from the yeast. Once you're more familiar with what your malt and hop contributions are, then it can be fun to play with fermentation temps.

That's my opinion, for what it's worth. It also depends on what style you prefer. If you want really banana-heavy Belgians and have a warm spot to ferment, you're all set!

Excellent, thanks for the detailed advice.

I have the instructions, it says minimum 63F (converted from 17C). Are you saying that it's typically best to stay at the lower range of the given temperature range?