Flat beer!

[adamzworld]

I've recently brewed the Coopers Australian Pale ale kit for the first time. I brewed it pretty much to the instructions using 1kg of Brew Enhancer. Its now sitting in the pressure barrel, having been given plenty of time to condition, but the issue is when I draw a pint it seems well carbonated to begin with, but within minutes the head as gone and it does taste pretty flat. I know it shouldn't be gassy but I was hoping for better head retention.

I'm wondering if the pressure barrel had a small leak and the beer went flat whilst it was conditioning? The reason I was thinking this was when I gave it a blast of Co2, I could hear a slight hissing from the lid. I gave it a slight turn and the hissing stopped.

Can anyone give me their verdict on as to whether I can do anything to save the beer? I've still got over 30 pints left and it's not going down as well as my past home brewing efforts!


Cheers,



Adam

[Manngold]

Hi Adam.

Did you prime with sugar before adding to the pressure barrel? If so, how much? If not, that is probably your issue.

Manngold

[adamzworld]

Hi Manifold, I used about 100g of brewing sugar to prime so it should have been fairly lively.

[adamzworld]

I did wonder about taking the lid off and adding more sugar to re-prime but I'm guessing there wouldn't be any yeast left in the barrel at this stage?

[rpt]

There will still be yeast in there so adding some more sugar should work. It sounds like the CO2 from your priming escaped.

[adamzworld]

Thanks rpt, I've got nothing to loose by giving it a try. How much would you suggest I add? Would 85g be enough, or should I use more?

[Manngold]

80 to 85 grams should br fine.

[adamzworld]

Thanks for all your comments. I mixed 85g of brewing sugar with boiled water added it to the beer, replaced lid, gave it a bit of a shake, then gave it a blast of Co2 and couldn't hear any hissing. Will leave it somewhere warm for a few days and update as to whether its worked.

[adamzworld]

Just to updae; I tried another pint today and its improved slightly, but I'm still not that blown away by this kit. I've done a few single can kits and they never seem to turn out as well as double can kits. looks like next time i'll go back to doing Wherry again as it seems pretty hard to do a duff brew, even for someone like me!

[Jocky]

Double can kits turn out better because you're getting closer to the ingredients of all grain beer. An English bitter uses 90-100% malt and 0-10% sugar. With a single can kit you're at 50% malt and 50% sugar. A double can kit is more like 100% malt, depending upon how it's been created.

There's a good reason why so many move on to BIAB or all grain - and for me it was mostly down to mouthfeel and the malty tastes I could get.

For kit brewing, if you notice the taste, stick to two can kits. If you care what you're producing a lot, look at doing a mini mash.

[adamzworld]

Double can kits turn out better because you're getting closer to the ingredients of all grain beer. An English bitter uses 90-100% malt and 0-10% sugar. With a single can kit you're at 50% malt and 50% sugar. A double can kit is more like 100% malt, depending upon how it's been created.

There's a good reason why so many move on to BIAB or all grain - and for me it was mostly down to mouthfeel and the malty tastes I could get.

For kit brewing, if you notice the taste, stick to two can kits. If you care what you're producing a lot, look at doing a mini mash.

Sorry for the delayed response Jocky. I think you're right and I had a spare Wherry kit knocking around with a best before date of end of Aug, so I thought what better excuse!

The Coppers PaleAle has definitely improved since adding the extra sugar. I gave some to my wife to try and even she said it tasted nice and she's my harshed critic!


Cheers,



Adam