Ale totally flat 1 month on...

[Drink To Odin]

Hi everyone, I've been a member for a month or two but this is my first post- nice to meet you all!

I've got a problem with my first batch (Scottish Heavy Ale)- it tasted good for the first week or so (although a wee bit flat), but around 1 month on the ale is completely flat! Is it natural for kegged ales to lose their carbonation like this, or is there something I've done wrong, or a keg leaking air? I followed the instructions word for word. I've read a wee bit on the forums about "forced carbonation"- would this save my ale, or is it better just to move on to batch #2 ( there's only about 1/3 of the keg left now anyway).

Also, whilst making my ale, before adding the yeast&nutrients, I had to leave the mixture to stand for a couple of hours before the temp was below the 25 degrees required- would this have been detrimental at all to the brew?

Finally, I was wondering if the sediment left at the bottom of the fermenting bin is important at all, or was I right to leave it be and then dispose of it once I'd finished siphoning?

Cheers for any help you can give!

 

[BlightyBrewer]

Hello DTO, welcome to the forum.

What did you prime the keq with, and what quantity / Litre of ale? Also, what temp. was the keg living in for the first few days after kegging the ale? You need to leave it in a warm location so that the remaining yeast don't go dormant thus preventing the production of CO2. After that, it can be moved to a cool location for clearing / maturing.

If all of this is okay, it sounds like you may have a leaky keg there. What type of keg is it?

On your second Q, as long as you kept the lid on the fermentor / brew pot while the beer cooled, you shouldn't have a problem over two hours.

Finally, your 3rd Q: that is the trub (spent yeast, cold break etc) and yes, it is good to leave it behind as it can affect the flavour if left in contact with the beer for too long a period.

Hope this helps.

BTW, what part of the UK are you from?

BB

 

[luv2brew]

Hello DTO,

I haven't "bottled" in a keg , so I can't offer any thing there but, I have brewed the Scottish Wee Heavy before not one of my favorites, but anyway I have found that when cooling the wort fill the sink with cold water and immerse the brew kettle to start the cooling down process , several water changes my be necessary to continue the heat transfer process.
Then after the wort cools to say 100 F. start filling the sink with ice ,I have found a small bag 2-3 lb will do the trick to get the wort down to the 75 deg F range for pitching. careful stirring will circulate the wort as the cool wort will be on "outside" of the brew kettle.This will reduce the cool down time and the possibility of contamination. Charlie P. it should be down to 100deg F in 20 min.

Good Luck

 

[david_42]

Force carbonating would work. Kegs do leak some of the time. Generally an empty keg will hold pressure for months, fill it with ale and THEN it starts leaking.

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

Hi everyone, I've been a member for a month or two but this is my first post- nice to meet you all!

I've got a problem with my first batch (Scottish Heavy Ale)- it tasted good for the first week or so (although a wee bit flat), but around 1 month on the ale is completely flat! Is it natural for kegged ales to lose their carbonation like this, or is there something I've done wrong, or a keg leaking air? I followed the instructions word for word. I've read a wee bit on the forums about "forced carbonation"- would this save my ale, or is it better just to move on to batch #2 ( there's only about 1/3 of the keg left now anyway).

Also, whilst making my ale, before adding the yeast&nutrients, I had to leave the mixture to stand for a couple of hours before the temp was below the 25 degrees required- would this have been detrimental at all to the brew?

welcome aboard!

sounds like the keg didn't seal well. may need to replace the gasket and o-rings on the posts (depending on how the UK keg is set-up). i always pop some CO2 through the in-post prior to force carbonating to make sure the lid sets and isn't leaking. make sure too that you force carbonate down through the pick-up tube of the keg, that way the CO2 travels up through the beer, and not stuck on top of the beer.

you did right. all the trub should be left behind in the fermenting/secondary vessel.

try to submerge the kettle in an ice bath and put a lid on it in a large wash tub or something. add ice as needed to keep the water cool. maybe swirl the ice water around the kettle too. the quicker you can cool the wort, the better it is for the brew. maybe even try to buy or make an immersion wort chiller out of some copper tubing. you can do a search on the forum and you'll see some posts on how some of the gang made them.

 

[Drink To Odin]

Cool thanks very much for the tips everyone!

Is there an FAQ anywhere that explains the forced carbonation process?

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Check out this recent thread...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=5008
I especially like tnlandsailor's page (MY suggestion in the last post...)

 

[Drink To Odin]

Cheers that's exactly what I was after!

I'm from Glasgow BlightyBrewer!