Home Brew Forum

I started a Mild a couple of months ago and it was lively in the bucket but once transferred to the barrel it went dead. Possibly due to me having to change the tap twice . I thought it was a gonner but I added 50g more cane sugar and wobbled the barrel a bit and it is very slowly coming back I think but when I pour some to taste it starts off fine and then dribbles from the tap and bubbles/gurgles up top in the barrel hmmm . Co2 block somewhere?

I started a Geordie Lager off thinking the Mild might have died (1040) and have just tested it (1008) and it tastes lovely too. I will take another reading today to make sure and barrel asap after. I'm thinking of splitting the sugar for the barrel with half DME? Any thoughts on that? I really don't want to mess this one up!

Hmmmm Lager has been 1008 1012 1010 over last three days. Should I hold off barrelling?

Jimbro wrote:when I pour some to taste it starts off fine and then dribbles from the tap and bubbles/gurgles up top in the barrel hmmm . Co2 block somewhere?

It sounds that due to insufficient carbonation there is not enough head pressure of co2 above the beer in the keg. If you are not venting the barrel by letting some air (or ideally CO2) into the top of the barrel, this will stop the beer from flowing freely from the tap. Your beer won't last long if have let air into the keg though.

Jimbro wrote:Hmmmm Lager has been 1008 1012 1010 over last three days. Should I hold off barrelling?

A beer will not go up in gravity during fermentation, so I'm guessing you are not adjusting your hydrometer readings to account for temperature changes.

Barrel the beer, and carbonate as normal with sugar, using more expensive DME has no benefit.

Thanks for your replies.