Transporting pressure barrels

[thickodicko]

Evening all!

I have been trawling this forum for days trying to find an answer to my question and have decided to cave in and ask. If there is a post somewhere please just put me straight and if I have posted in the wrong place really sorry. Fingers crossed mods can move it.

I have been brewing on and off now for a few months and am totally loving it. I have quickly moved from bottles (PITA!!) to pressure barrel and then to corny keg set up. Ive only got one corny at the moment (which is in use and staying put) and as i have been reading, they have a tendancy to breed!

I have a birthday party at the end of this month to which I would love to bring a good homebrew. I reckon I have enough time to move my Woodfordes Wherry from its FV to the pressure barrel (this is still TBC depending on what you guys say) with priming sugar ready for relatively clear drinking by the 28th. Brew has been fermenting for a week now, not check ABV yet but its probably nearing that time. The PB has S30 valve and I have gas to top it up and keep it nice.

My question:

Once secondary has completed in the PB how can I transport the beer to final location without stirring up all the sediment in the bottom?

My thought was to let secondary do its thang and carbonate in PB and then add gelatine finings to drop the yeast in a nice set at the bottom and then transport it. I've not used the gelatine before and tbh not used the PB that much apart from a clearing barrel before moving to bottles.

Is my idea going to work or does anyone else have any suggestions to how I can move the PB safely? Or am I just thinking into it too much and it will be fine to transport?

Thanks in advance and I am sure I will have some more questions as time goes on.

[mozza]

Not a fan of the gelatine idea, as it forms an un stable yeast layer and would make it worse when transported. I think you would have to leave your pb for a day or two before drinking if you've driven it somewhere. Would be cool if someone does have a trick to it though!

[subfaction]

You could just force carbonate with the s30 instead of adding priming sugar. This would allow you to leave in fv for longer, so more drops out before it goes in the pb. Moving the pb will likely stir stuff up so best to get it as bright as possible going into the barrel.

[thickodicko]

Thanks for replies.

Reading around I was under the impression the PB is not able to hold a high enough pressure to force carbonate. It's only a cheaply youngs PB so I dont know what PSI it will hold.

If gelatine has bad review I think I will stay away from it.

Seems like for now, this is not an easy answer least I've not asked a daft one.

[mozza]

I force carbonated my sankey keg at 10 psi for a couple weeks. Works fine just takes longer

[thickodicko]

I will give that a go then and see what we get.

Thanks for the help!

[adman1966]

This method will work but requires a second PB.

Continue with your usual procedures of kegging in the PB and conditioning. Prime as you would normally and allow the beer to carbonate in the barrel.

Two days before the event cool the barrel as cold as you can get it. If you have a fermenting fridge put it on to the coldest temperature without freezing the beer. If not put it in your shed or garage to cool overnight and settle after being moved. You will need this on a bench to allow the siphoning of the beer into the second PB.

On the morning of the event, carefully vent the first PB and siphon the bright beer into the second PB, making sure you leave the sediment behind as much as possible. You may lose an inch of beer but this is preferable to making all the beer cloudy with the dregs of the barrel. Do this as early in the morning as possible as this is when it will be coldest and the beer will hold more absorbed CO2.

Once the beer has been transferred, seal the PB and pressurise the barrel with CO2 through the cap.

Now get it into serving position and leave in situ for as long as possible before drinking. This will stop it from being too lively when you pour it. A 6" length of food grade silicon hose will assist with the ease of serving, simply attach it to the tap and fill from the bottom of the glass to reduce unwanted fobbing.

I trust this is useful and hope you have a great party!

Adam

[gnutz2]

I only keg bright beer and never prime, this gives you a sediment free keg that you can take anywhere.

I chill the beer in a fridge to about 6c, then add auxiliary and isinglass finings and wait until it's bright, then rack off being very carful not to disturb the sediment. Someone mentioned storing at height so not to disturb the beer which is a good idea.

Theres no problem with doing that in a PB as they hold about 10psi and i personally think thats too fizzy for an ale.

[Anavrin]

I've been thinking lately about making a portable cornie to take on weekends away in the caravan,
I'm planning on putting the FV on the worktop in my garage (its cold in there) fining with auxcillary finings,
then 24hrs later Islinglass finings 24hrs before siphoning and force carbonating in a cornie, hopefully this
will produce the desired result, I'll find out on my next batch