Hello All,
i've bought a micro brewery starter kit, which essentially consists of a king keg top tap keg. THe kit suggests brewing it all in the keg with no priming stage and just drawing it from the keg. Now what is the difference between using this method and drawing it from the bin to the keg. Would i get an increase in quality, should i look in to getting a bin in the future? Also can i still prime the keg for carbonation or will it not work, or be neccessay, given that it's an al malt beer kit and doesn't require sugar in the first place?
Thanks for any help,
John.
Why syphon from fermentation bin to keg.
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stevezx7r
Maybe i'm going against the grain here, but, any kit which asks me to leave my beer on top of dead yeast cells for possibly months is having a laugh.
Do yourself a favour, JF, get a fermenter and make the beer in that first. Once done (ten days) transfer to the King Keg and give it a few weeks to mature. Make sure your fermenter has a tap at the bottom and get some pvc hose to transfer it to the KK.
Make sure it's all clean and brew a beer which will be way better than the kit suggested instructions. Oh, and get some fresh hops and some decent yeast and and......
Do yourself a favour, JF, get a fermenter and make the beer in that first. Once done (ten days) transfer to the King Keg and give it a few weeks to mature. Make sure your fermenter has a tap at the bottom and get some pvc hose to transfer it to the KK.
Make sure it's all clean and brew a beer which will be way better than the kit suggested instructions. Oh, and get some fresh hops and some decent yeast and and......
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Madbrewer
Johnny, It's been a while since I brewed from a kit so apologies if I seem behind the times. However I can confirm that the £10 you would spend on a fermenting bin would (should?) improve your end product somewhat.
I.e. Basically you are going to put in your keg, a can of sticky goo, some warm water, some yeast, (maybe some sugar if it's not a 3kilo kit aswell!) And as the yeast does it's thing it's going to multiply at least ten fold, rise to the top & sink to the bottom taking with it other solids you won't want in a glass of beer.
Most brewers recommend not keeping the finished product on the yeast 'indefinetely' & I would advocate that splitting the brewed beer off the sediment will minimise the clouding of the pint. That said you will still need a couple of weeks for it to clear down in the keg after transferring.
I've never thought of brewing in a keg as I have always been tought not to. That's not to say you can't of course.
If you fit a tap to the connector, you can open the tap rather than syphon though at the moment I syphon too. What you don't want to do is admit oxygen into the brewed beer by splashing or pouring when you put it into the keg hence the syphoning point. I think the instructions that came with your kit may have oversimplified somewhat and clicking on some links of this website will give you a better picture of what you should be doing.
try this
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/kits.htm
Hope this helps??
Phil
I.e. Basically you are going to put in your keg, a can of sticky goo, some warm water, some yeast, (maybe some sugar if it's not a 3kilo kit aswell!) And as the yeast does it's thing it's going to multiply at least ten fold, rise to the top & sink to the bottom taking with it other solids you won't want in a glass of beer.
Most brewers recommend not keeping the finished product on the yeast 'indefinetely' & I would advocate that splitting the brewed beer off the sediment will minimise the clouding of the pint. That said you will still need a couple of weeks for it to clear down in the keg after transferring.
I've never thought of brewing in a keg as I have always been tought not to. That's not to say you can't of course.
If you fit a tap to the connector, you can open the tap rather than syphon though at the moment I syphon too. What you don't want to do is admit oxygen into the brewed beer by splashing or pouring when you put it into the keg hence the syphoning point. I think the instructions that came with your kit may have oversimplified somewhat and clicking on some links of this website will give you a better picture of what you should be doing.
try this
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/kits.htm
Hope this helps??
Phil
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Ditch
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Fermenting in ye keg??? That's just like ..... I dunno; Wrong! It's a bit like drinking tea out of the tea pot. It's just not done that way.
Actually sounds to me like a sly selling point. They waft it under ye nose that brewing decent beer can be as easy as making a cup of tea with a tea bag. Then they take ye money and leave ye to find out .....
As the guys are telling ye there; Get a bucket. Once ye drain ye beer into the keg and see the horror left in the bottom of the FV, then ye'll know!
Actually sounds to me like a sly selling point. They waft it under ye nose that brewing decent beer can be as easy as making a cup of tea with a tea bag. Then they take ye money and leave ye to find out .....
As the guys are telling ye there; Get a bucket. Once ye drain ye beer into the keg and see the horror left in the bottom of the FV, then ye'll know!
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prolix
yeah get a fermenter and whilst your at it you will need to think about the co2 bulbs, those micro kits come with a pin in the s30 valve I took mine out turned it around jammed it back in and bought an s30 co2 bottle, though a widget world system would have been better imho as i could have then used the bulbs in emergancies (stuck fast) and gased via the widget world thing which I then could still be using on my cornies. I would have saved a bit of cash in the long run and the gear would run smoother
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JohnnyForeigner
Hello everyone thanks for the replies it's all been useful information and i do realise i have a lot to learn and have been reading a few books and sites etc. so i realise that the way the kit suggests is probably a pretty terrible way of doing things. I'll probably modify the steps of producing i.e boiling up the wart and warming up the yeast, purifying the water by boiling but i wanted to try and keep it as simple as possible for my first attempt. The keg just seemed i deal until it was pointed out that the dead yeast will cause the flavour to turn over time - i think. So thanks for all the tips if your lucky i may even let you know how it turns out
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Damfoose
I would advise against boiling the wort as it is usually hoped by the manufacturer and you could more than likley drive off some of the hop smells and flavors leaving a bland ish beer.
If it is a 2 can kit they dont require any extra sugar so warm the tins in some hot water to make pouring easier , then fill both tins with boiled water so you get the rest of the wort from the tins.
If you so desire get an Ale flava pack steep that in a litre of water for 20 min and bung that in for some more taste and hopy goodness I tend to on my kits these days, You could also add some hops to what you rince the tins out with and boil that for 10 min or so to get more hop flavour.
If it is a 2 can kit they dont require any extra sugar so warm the tins in some hot water to make pouring easier , then fill both tins with boiled water so you get the rest of the wort from the tins.
If you so desire get an Ale flava pack steep that in a litre of water for 20 min and bung that in for some more taste and hopy goodness I tend to on my kits these days, You could also add some hops to what you rince the tins out with and boil that for 10 min or so to get more hop flavour.
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adm
I just want to add that it was a Wherry king keg top tap kit that got me into brewing. No boil, no bucket, etc, etc....stevezx7r wrote:Maybe i'm going against the grain here, but, any kit which asks me to leave my beer on top of dead yeast cells for possibly months is having a laugh.
Do yourself a favour, JF, get a fermenter and make the beer in that first. Once done (ten days) transfer to the King Keg and give it a few weeks to mature. Make sure your fermenter has a tap at the bottom and get some pvc hose to transfer it to the KK.
Make sure it's all clean and brew a beer which will be way better than the kit suggested instructions. Oh, and get some fresh hops and some decent yeast and and......
Now, it's not really a patch on AG, but it did come out as a very nice pint IN THE END! It took about 6 weeks in the keg to get to a really nice condition - and it only got that amount of time because I'd pretty much forgotten about it as I was busy brewing all grain.
I was surprised that after 6 weeks sitting on the yeast it tasted good at all - but it came out lovely in the end!
Mind you - had I followed Steve's instructions at the time instead of the little instruction sheet, it would have been even nicer!
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Ditch
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JohnnyForeigner wrote:purifying the water by boiling
What?!? Just get some Camden tablets. Cut one in half with a knife and crush that between two spoons. Chuck that into five gallons of water before ye let anything else near that water and Bob's ye uncle.
This is why we're all so fascinated with five gallon Anythings that are water tight
Must be food grade and sanitised, of course.Now I, just the other night, simply forgot to add the camden. That means there's a horribly high chance my malt extract turned to liquid copper as it his that Chlorinated water
I screwed up. Maybe I'll let ye know how it turns out .....
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wetdog
All this talk of beer sitting on the yeast takes me back 25 years when I was a callow youth running the cellar in a Home Ales pub. The bitter and mild came in 36 gallon barrels, rolled and thrown around until they were mounted on the thrawls. They'd be left at least a week before being used and they were usually clear by then. Once the barrel was empty I had to tip it up and let the slurry of yeast and hops run into a bucket ready for filtering.
rarely had any problems with off tastes or haze in those days...
rarely had any problems with off tastes or haze in those days...
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JohnnyForeigner
Hello again,
Well i just brewed the beer, sadly i boiled it before checking back so i'll see how it goes but i'll probably leave it out next time - any idea why the book would tell me to do it? Is it some time a good idea?
I think i will take your advice and go with the tablets next time, good advice.
Anyway for a first time it seemed like a good effort so i'll see what happens.
Thanks
JF
Well i just brewed the beer, sadly i boiled it before checking back so i'll see how it goes but i'll probably leave it out next time - any idea why the book would tell me to do it? Is it some time a good idea?
I think i will take your advice and go with the tablets next time, good advice.
Anyway for a first time it seemed like a good effort so i'll see what happens.
Thanks
JF
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Danmet
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Ditch
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Johnny; I honestly don't know if boiling five gallons of water, for any given amount of time, will kill off its chlorine load. That's one for the Dark Side boys to sort out.
I Do know that I'd sooner squeeze half a CT between two spoons, turn round three times saying, " That water's sorted " and then get on, than boiling water.
However, having just turned round once. Said, " Now, WTF was I doing here? " and so Forgot the CT ....? We'll see.
Danmet; There are NO 'Stupid Questions'. Just a few half arsed answers! Here comes one
Chances are ye'll have guzzled that keg before oxidisation of ye beer becomes an issue, mate. Just be sure to get the Injector (buy two, or three ~ one's always a nice spare to have put by, for that 'Free Keg' ye pick up, with a green chunk on the lid!) Second of any such three will be to put straight onto the next 'Basic Barrel' ye buy.
Seriously though: Try to let as little air into that keg as ye can. Either play the game of drinking only as much as its tap'll send, without glugging in air. Or else loosen the cap to allow it to suck in top air. Mate of mine used to serve great beer that way ~ but, I guess he Was popular!
Just get it drunk and, as ye drinking it, get a second keg in stock and a screw for both of them.
Oh; And then ye next question will be ..... Well, a HB Canister, one second burst is 'Industry Standard'. " Widget World ", with their guages etc, sound great, but cost. I'm sure you and I can live - and drink - without them, for now
I Do know that I'd sooner squeeze half a CT between two spoons, turn round three times saying, " That water's sorted " and then get on, than boiling water.
However, having just turned round once. Said, " Now, WTF was I doing here? " and so Forgot the CT ....? We'll see.
Danmet; There are NO 'Stupid Questions'. Just a few half arsed answers! Here comes one
Chances are ye'll have guzzled that keg before oxidisation of ye beer becomes an issue, mate. Just be sure to get the Injector (buy two, or three ~ one's always a nice spare to have put by, for that 'Free Keg' ye pick up, with a green chunk on the lid!) Second of any such three will be to put straight onto the next 'Basic Barrel' ye buy.
Seriously though: Try to let as little air into that keg as ye can. Either play the game of drinking only as much as its tap'll send, without glugging in air. Or else loosen the cap to allow it to suck in top air. Mate of mine used to serve great beer that way ~ but, I guess he Was popular!
Just get it drunk and, as ye drinking it, get a second keg in stock and a screw for both of them.
Oh; And then ye next question will be ..... Well, a HB Canister, one second burst is 'Industry Standard'. " Widget World ", with their guages etc, sound great, but cost. I'm sure you and I can live - and drink - without them, for now
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Danmet
Cheers Ditch - was thinking of buying the injector, and starting off another, so that's that!
And thanks for the advice on whether to loosen the cap - I was wondering about that as when I was sterilising it & sending some through the tap to sterilise & rinse that too I could see the massive difference when loosening the cap, & how much this would affect the brew. Though at the moment I doubt it'll get the chance to go off
And thanks for the advice on whether to loosen the cap - I was wondering about that as when I was sterilising it & sending some through the tap to sterilise & rinse that too I could see the massive difference when loosening the cap, & how much this would affect the brew. Though at the moment I doubt it'll get the chance to go off
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maxashton
You'll be priming in the keg, so after say a week there will be quite a lot of pressure in there to serve the beer. I would recommend getting an injector though, otherwise what will happen is there won't be enough pressure to dispense the beer and it will pull air bubbles through the tap!
This will cause your beer to go off.
You'll be fine for at least the first half of the keg, though.
Loosening the cap will stop the beer from being bubbled, but will still expose it to the air and go off quicker.
You don't need to boil five gallons of water to make up a kit. And you don't need to boil the kit itself. To treat the water for Chlorine, just add half a crushed campden tablet to the full five gallons BEFORE you mix in the kit.
I use two buckets when i brew a kit. The first bucket holds the water. I put half a crushed campden tablet in there and stir it like a madman until it's dissolved. Then i take a couple of kettlefulls from this and boil it, this goes into the bucket with the sugar (or into a saucepan if i'm using beer kit enhancer or dry malt extract, which i will then bring to a boil), the kit then goes in and i stir in the rest of the water with a paddle and pitch the yeast once its topped off as i need it for the kit in question.
This will cause your beer to go off.
You'll be fine for at least the first half of the keg, though.
Loosening the cap will stop the beer from being bubbled, but will still expose it to the air and go off quicker.
You don't need to boil five gallons of water to make up a kit. And you don't need to boil the kit itself. To treat the water for Chlorine, just add half a crushed campden tablet to the full five gallons BEFORE you mix in the kit.
I use two buckets when i brew a kit. The first bucket holds the water. I put half a crushed campden tablet in there and stir it like a madman until it's dissolved. Then i take a couple of kettlefulls from this and boil it, this goes into the bucket with the sugar (or into a saucepan if i'm using beer kit enhancer or dry malt extract, which i will then bring to a boil), the kit then goes in and i stir in the rest of the water with a paddle and pitch the yeast once its topped off as i need it for the kit in question.