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.