Bought a Micro Brewery kit today

[shaunmarrison]

Thanks Daab - I didn't add the glucose as you suggested (now I wish I did) but I have just tested the vavles and there is a leak in the needle valve.

As the needle vavle has dropped again, I poured a little soapy water in the hole and a tiny bubble rises every 10 seconds.

Is this then a faulty valve, or is it supposed to leak a little for safety?

I'd like to leave it until saturday as I have no idea how much pressure is in the barrel and don't want to mes about with it until the beer is drunk!

Thanks in advance

P.S. Daab - you are truely the master! :beer

[shaunmarrison]

Okay, called the Homebrew shop, but the chap to help is not there (he's at the wholesaler's getting the beer Daab Recommended for me to buy next!)

Oh well, I'm sure the beer will be fine over the next few days (it's survived this long). I'll get some advice from the shop, and probably buy the S30 as you recommend DaaB.

I've had a couple of pints now and they're fine as far as I'm concerned, so I'm sure it will get drunk (even if it does use up loads of CO2 Bulbs in the process!)

If I only get 1 pint per bulb, can I take the top off and bottle the lot and put in the fridge at the beginning of the party? I'm guessing oxidation takes a few hours???

[IanRMartin]

Just a thought but from the picture (Valve down) it looks like there is an o-ring right at the top, I would check it is in good condition and that none of the red shards of plastic have got in there plus maybe a light smear of grease on it as well.

I assume once the valve has dropped down it has become depressuried and when the valve is up it is pressurised (The pressure keeping the valve up and maintaining the seal) If this isn't the case then ignore my ramblings above!

Ian

[matti]

When i got the king keg it had one of them valves for the sparklet. The ting inside is supposed to move up and down. The position it is in has nothing to do with the pressure inside though. You probably just pulled it up when removing the bulb and it stayed there and then just fell back down later on with gravity. You can get a pair of pincers and pull the needle part out, its connected to a circular shaped piece of metal. It this comes out as well, make sure that you have removed the pin properly (it should now have a little hole going through it) and push it back into the valve. By doing this you will then be able to use a big s30 cylinder.

[shaunmarrison]

I removed the lid last night, washed & played about with the value to see if I could see anything wrong with it, but I didn't really know what I was looking for. The only thing I noticed was that the middle bit moved freely up and down I then put some vaseline in the top bit, fitted it to the keg and gave it another CO2 Canister.

Thanks Matti - it's re-assuring to know that the middle bit it is supposed to move freely - at least I know that part of it is okay. I'm going to have to leave it until the Party and see if the Pressure is okay. If there is a leak, I'm guesssing it must be in the Thread & O-Ring in the lid?

Great news that it can be converted to use an S30 Cylinder - I will do this for the next beer.

My only question is "how do you check that the keg is sealed properly when you rack the beer in?" I'm guessing it takes a day or 2 for CO2 Build up, so does a soap solution hold bubbles over that period of time? I'm thinking that giving it a blast of CO2 is not a good idea especially if you've added priming sugar

[TELEDU]

My woodfordes is in the garage atm, its quite cool in ther especially behind the chest freezer, should be cleared up around the 15th of august, anyone know if its true that it will clear after a month in cooler temp?

[shaunmarrison]

If you want it to clear faster, you can add Finings.

I started my Kit on the 5th July and it was slightly cloudy yeasterday (25th), but it tasted fine & was perfectly fine to drink.

[TELEDU]

should i add finings though ? its a pressure barrel so i thought it shouldnt be opened, i'm sure it will clear though

[shaunmarrison]

As you may have seen in the Kegulator Post, I put the Keg in the fridge and managed to get 4 pints or so out before the pressure stopped it flowing.

I've brought it back into room temperature until the BBQ at the weekend now and hope it builds up more pressure, otherwise I'm going to be cooking the burgers and siphoning beer into glasses at the same time on Saturday!

[shaunmarrison]

The beer went down a treat & all got drank at the party on Saturday Night. I only used 2 CO2 Cylinders for the whole thing which was good considering It went in about 3 hours!

I have cleaned the keg out with thin bleach & sodium Met, but have that strange smell again that I mentioned about the Primary Fermenter.

DaaB, would Sodium Bicarbonate help remove the smell???

Looking forward to putting the next kit on (hopefully getting one for my birthday on Sunday!)

Thanks for all your help on this forum, I know the beer wouldn't have been such a sucess without you all!

[shaunmarrison]

Thanks for that DaaB. I am hypersensitive to the smell of chlorine (worked with it during my PhD). I'll get one of my mates round to have a sniff and see if they can smell it!

I think for peace-of-mind, I'll try the Oxi stuff.

[shaunmarrison]

Use Asda's Own "Oxi Action" Tablets - soaked for 2 hours, rinsed and the smells have gone!

[TELEDU]

ok guys, its finished fermenting, now letting it clear, its already had 2 weeks to clear but i disturbed the sediment by moving the keg so i'm gonna give it maybe a week or less, i ran off about some, although being cloudy i still had a sip (well i say a sip ) and its got some power in it, cant wait B)