English yeast...wy1469 or A09

[Northern_Brewer]

NB the difference between northern and southern bitter recipes I’ve looked at make a lot more sense now. Definitely need to “build” your recipe to accommodate the sparkler.

As I said - it's one factor, but even in the glass, northern bitters tend to be more bitter. Some of that is down to attenuation and water minerals though.

 

[Merkur]

When you say bags, are you referring to the 1 gallon plastic ‘bladders’ I have seen in some British brew-pubs? I haven’t seen them in use in the states. It’s all growlers although in the past year I have seen some ‘beer boxes’ which work the same as a wine box.

What about key kegs? I saw a lot of those in use in Europe a couple of years ago and think the concept is great. I haven’t seen them used for Homebrew though but there’s no reason they can’t.

 

[DuncB]

Yes they are a variant of wine bags, some double skinned to reduce oxygen entry, yes 5 litre or one gallon are available ( i bought mine online from china), but quite small for a brew pub unless for off sales. I have some 20 litre ones as well.
Key kegs are good, need a different connector for them and filling a bit tricky I think from watching the videos.
I find them good with some surgery to the top and the bag ripped out as a 30 l or 20 litre keg. I just modify the top so that a triclover ball lock adapter fits on. But this works as a normal keg not bag being pressurised. OR as a secondary ferment vessel with a bung in the top and an airlock. I get them for free.
Key kegs also make great stools in a bar area with a cushion on the top but don't depressurise them and take the bag out they lose their strength and will collapse.
I was thinking these might be the best

Mini Kegs | 5l Craft Beer Kegs | Buy Online | The Wild Beer Co

Buy 5L mini beer kegs at Wild Beer Co. Filled with 9 pints of your favourite Wild Beer to enjoy. Grab your favourite whilst stocks last. Free Delivery Over £50

www.wildbeerco.com

small batch and they are reusable, can be bought with beer in drunk and then sanitised or bought new, lots of youtube showing how to do this. Not going to dry hop in one of these though as probably difficult to clean out.

 

[Merkur]

I like the idea of buying a mini-keg, drinking the contents and re-using the container. These empty mini-kegs are available here. Good plan?

Mini Keg with Tap

Mini keg with tap can be found online at Adventures in Homebrewing along with other keg system hardware, equipment, components, accessories and kegging supplies.

www.homebrewing.org

 

[DuncB]

Well if it's good enough for the pros!

Trouble is I can't find these in New Zealand at all, filled with beer or empty. Saw some a while ago but now can't track them down, they were or our ebay equivalent here.

Might have to make some mini casks out of HDPE container I think, and get a cask widge.

 

[rmr9]

I’ve used both the mini kegs and a polypin - just a plastic cube like you mention though mine was 5 gallons instead of 1 gallon, but I have 2 1 gallons that I haven’t used.

The mini keg was ok, I definitely under primed and under filled because I didn’t want it to burst after having read horror stories. Also used it for a hefeweizen which honestly was pretty poor at lower carbonation. The polypin worked alright, collapses as you draw off the beer. I think they’re oxygen permeable so you have that to consider as well. Honestly the polypin isn’t a bad investment at all for having “cask ale” at home. The smaller sizes allows for some experimental dry hopping as well.

 

[Merkur]

Good inputs. Thanks guys.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

What about key kegs? I saw a lot of those in use in Europe a couple of years ago and think the concept is great. I haven’t seen them used for Homebrew though but there’s no reason they can’t.

Trouble with keykegs is that they're expensive (around US$20 wholesale last time I looked) and there's a bit of a kickback against them for being a lot of plastic that effectively gets used once. But modern beer industry in the UK at least would look rather different without them.

@DuncB, you're seeing the side-effects of the pandemic, which has caused huge demand among British breweries at least for mini-cask/kegs for takeaway/home delivery, they've been a huge success over the last year which means they've become like gold-dust. I'd assume supply will become much easier as the pubs reopen (currently planned for Monday week in England, albeit only outside).

 

[DuncB]

Trouble with keykegs is that they're expensive (around US$20 wholesale last time I looked) and there's a bit of a kickback against them for being a lot of plastic that effectively gets used once. But modern beer industry in the UK at least would look rather different without them.

@DuncB, you're seeing the side-effects of the pandemic, which has caused huge demand among British breweries at least for mini-cask/kegs for takeaway/home delivery, they've been a huge success over the last year which means they've become like gold-dust. I'd assume supply will become much easier as the pubs reopen (currently planned for Monday week in England, albeit only outside).

Yes agreed it's a covid effect re the supply of cans worldwide. Bizarrely they have a lot more bottled beer than cans down here, I think it's a bit of distance and demand thing as well. Small country not much demand.

I think these are good

Polykeg • Brouwland

www.brouwland.com

Have two of them that I have been reusing for 2 years now, got them from a local craft beer bar they had imported some italian beer in them.
Nothing wrong with them at all. Reusing the plastic kegs really does get eco value from them, same as reusing the key kegs.

I wouldn't bank on the UK coming out of 2021 without another lockdown even with the vaccine success.
Europe a poor example of vaccinating but New Zealand hopeless, only 27 000 so far in about 6 weeks and 450 000 doses on the shelf.
Anyway this is a beer thread so I'm climbing off my barrel.

 

[Merkur]

Trouble with keykegs is that they're expensive (around US$20 wholesale last time I looked) and there's a bit of a kickback against them for being a lot of plastic that effectively gets used once. But modern beer industry in the UK at least would look rather different without them.

A very valid point. Thanks.

 

[rmr9]

Picture from the batch. Came out clearer than many of my other beers, but not brilliantly clear, even with isinglass.

 

[DuncB]

Mine's not clearing well with Super F either, think there is still a bit of activity in the yeast bottle on the bottom of the fermentasaurus.
I need to take that off and reduce the yeast load.

 

[rmr9]

I’m wondering if I should chill the cask then roll it around to see if the isinglass will go back into solution and pick off some of the chill haze.

 

[DuncB]

Not sure that ISinglass works again and again. Surely wouldn't be chill haze at 12 celsius so it must be another haze.
I normally put clarity ferm in the fermenter which helps break down the chill haze proteins specifically without affecting other things. But I don't put it in ales that are at cellar temps or in dark beers unless I want them Low gluten.
Glad to see no sparkler on that Southern Ale.