pressure barrel help

[Jabberwock]

Hi,
having had great success and lots of fun making my own wines thanks to this site, I decided to try my hand at making lager for the first time. Everything was going fine and ferment went well enough however instead of bottling my lager I thought it would be easier to transfer to a pressure barrel and used 90gr of sugar for priming. I left it in the warm for 1 week and transferred to a cold bedroom to condition. After 2 weeks my nose got the better of me and I decided to have a little taster and whilst the good news is that it actually tastes fine, the bad news is that it is totally flat and even worse the tap began to make gurgling noises after a few seconds making me think that it is actually sucking in air!
I used plenty of vaseline on the rubber seal and was fairly sure it was on tight enough but I reckon I must have a leak.
Can anyone advise what do, I hate the thought of losing my first lager
Any help will be much appreciated
Cheers
Jabberwock

[lockwood1956]

was the lager carbonated at first and then went flat?
or did it not carbonate at all?

do you have a co2 cylinder and a means of injecting it?

[Jabberwock]

Wow, now that's what I call a quick response, thankyou
The lager as far as I know didn't carbonate at all although I did make sure that I scooped up a little of the yeast when I transferred it to the pressure barrel.
As for a co2 cylinder, I'm working on it!! I tried the lager on Tuesday and realised I had a potential problem so ordered a replacement cap (no local shop) for my barrel with an s30 fitting on it, I'm happy to say it arrived today and because my hubby is working away from home today he has managed to find a shop and phoned to say that he has got his hands on an s30 cylinder so have just got to wait for him to get back now. But sorry if I sound completely clueless I have no idea how these things work and am beginning to wish I had just stuck to making wine

[lockwood1956]

Dont worry about it

this episode will make you a better beer maker


if it didn't carbonate to begin with you need to get the temp of the barrel low (outside will work or in your garage) and then pressurise the barrel (not too much though) and each time you walk past it give it a little shake to get the CO2 into the beer.

there is information on force carbonating in the beer section....give me a mo and ill find it.

regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

Here you go

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/downloads/carbonation.html

[Jabberwock]

You are an absolute star
Right I'm off to read that now, I'll keep you informed how I get on.
To be honest I bought the kit and equipment for my hubby in an effort to
no1: save money and
no2: prove that homebrew can actually taste good,
but he showed no interest after the primary ferment and ended up leaving all the rest to me and I could probably have coped with admitting failure with my first lager but would never have been able to live with the "I told you so" look on my hubby's face!!
Thanks so much for this again
Jabberwock

[rjb222]

There are a few things we need to be aware of when lagering.Temperature is most important as this is a bottom fermenting yeast you need to be below 45 F for true lagering temperature. These are very aggressive yeasts and it is the lagering time that makes the beer smooth. After the priming of a lager you should keep the beer just abouve freezing for a couple of months to allow it to mature. If this kit contained ale yeast substitute then the temperature will need to be higher to prime and aging will be shorter.

[Jabberwock]

Hi,
well I now have pressure in my barrel and will continue to give it a good shaking, it has been re-homed in the garden shed and temperatures are hovering around or just under the freezing mark so I shouldn't have any worries about keeping it cold although I must admit to loosely wrapping it in a blanket just in case it gets too chilly!!
Thank you again so much for your help I really am most grateful.
Cheers
Jabberwock

[Her Lushness]

...and the best bit is that you won't have to suffer the "I told you so's" from Hubby...

Well done!

[plonky]

Have been given a plastic pressure keg can anyone tell me there is a rubber washer to seal the tap against the body of the keg does it go inside the barrel or on the outside .There is a plastic nut for tightening.

[Pyrosfx]

All mine are outside, firstly your not exposing it to an acidic environment, and assorted chems secondly the inside tends to have a slight curve, where as the exterior is usually flater from the mould. Also its easier to check. Out of sight out of mind.

[plonky]

All mine are outside, firstly your not exposing it to an acidic environment, and assorted chems secondly the inside tends to have a slight curve, where as the exterior is usually flater from the mould. Also its easier to check. Out of sight out of mind.

many thanks.

On tightening the the tap to the body (washer outside)I noticed the inside nut will not allow tightening past a certain point it slips and will not tighten further!
Have checked the threads and nothing is damaged only been used twice I think is this normal or should it tighten fully?

Ps it is a Boot's pressure keg.

[Pyrosfx]

I can only think to ask, are your sure its the correct tap, or washer?

Fill with water and test I suppose, its the only answer I can come up with.

[benarnold]

Does anyone know what kind of pressure a standard plastic barrel (i.e. young's or boots) will take? I put some champagne in one at 1.020 and the pressure caused it to leak out of the tap. When I released the top cap it stopped leaking, so pressure is the only thing I can think of.

I know 1.020 is probably too high, but I was impatient . At least it took a lot longer to start leaking than the time I put wine in at 1.040! Maybe I'll learn that lesson this time.

[Duffbeer]

Easiest way is to let it ferment down to 1.000 and add 1 tspoon per pint to the barrel