flat lager

[rekab]

Recently returned to home brewing after many years, I'm using a Young's lager kit.The problem im having is that seems to be no build up of gas in the barrel as i remember before, I have fermented for 5 days and transfered to the barrel with priming sugar as per kit instructions, after 2 more days ( seconary fermention) transfered the barrel into my beer fridge. the beer looks ok and tastes ok but flat. Any ideas what i'm doing wrong?
Cheers rekab

[easty]

lager is best bottled than put into a barrel. i use 2 lt pop bottles less hastle only 12 per batch & cheap

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Apart from the fact that a plastic keg won't hold the sort of pressure to give you the high level of carbonation associated with lagers

1) you should have left it in the warm for about a week after priming
2) you should then put it somewhere cool for several weeks

[rekab]

thanks guys, i also put some in pop bottles but thats flat too but will try it longer in the warm on the secondary fermentation.

[staples]

thanks guys, i also put some in pop bottles but thats flat too but will try it longer in the warm on the secondary fermentation.

Something I learned in my first batch. I had a Youngs kit too.
Barrel was useless plusI kept it in colder conditions as I was a complete novice/idiot, let air out constantly, bottling really was the better option and made my Mexican Cerveza lovely.
I ended up keeping all bottles drunk, got friends to bring them round and raided a pub for a few more. Caps are 50 for £1 at Wilkinsons and the bottler contraption was £1.50.
I used the barrel I bought as a container to mix the sugar with the siphoned beer. Had to get my moneys worth somehow!

Also I found keeping a constant temp during the primary helped lots too. A beer belt helped with that.
When I bottled them I simply put all my bottles in a box, gaps filled with sheets and left them in a cupboard (my faced the sun) I think it really helped with carbonation (and not drinking them early)

I think you can get barrels that will keep the fizz but they are quite expensive.

[Providence]

I've never made Youngs Lager but have made many Coopers Lager kits. I have always used 500ml PET bottles.

I found that you must watch the gravity towards the end of the fermentation and bottle and prime it almost immediately it reaches the expected final gravity. If not, it seems to ferment down to a level where there doesn't seem to be enough live yeast in the brew to allow secondary fermentation in the bottle.

I had this problem with two kits until I realised. With bitter kits I was just bottling when the brew looked finished but with the lager I can see bubbles still rising. It seemed counter intuitive at first but I have had no exploding bottles although some have been very tight! You do need this though because when they are chilled in the fridge to 4 degrees they lose a lot of the pressure and come out just right.

The reference FG I use with Coopers (which may not apply with Youngs) is 1008, using 1kg 50/50 spray malt/brewing sugar and 1006 with 1kg sugar.

[gullarm]

You can put lager in a barrel BUT....................

The amount of carbonation required is dependant on the temp of the beer and that needs to be low.

So to cut a long story short it needs to be in a fridge ( or kegerator ) to get it down to around 2 deg C.

Also the tap on the King kegs is pants, so you really need to get a better one.

The pressure also has to be quite high - the king keg can just about manage 10 psi and if the temp is 2 deg you can just about mamnage it, but after you dispense your first or second beer the pressure drops so you get nothing but foam. So its beer time over till the next night.

If however you put another rubber pressure ring on the S30 tap you can get up to around 20psi. Which gives you far more beer to dispense!

But as the beer level in the keg lowers you need more C02 to replace the beer, in other words if you have 5 pints left you need to pump loads more gas in to keep the pressure up as apposed to there being 40 pints in there.

I tried this - it works - but is way too much hassle.

The pubs do it by measuring the amount of pressure in a keg and as the level drops it refills automatically with C02. So in effect there is no drop in pressure. And you cant do that with a KK, unless you are very clever at plumbing!

[Mogwyth]

I've never made Youngs Lager but have made many Coopers Lager kits. I have always used 500ml PET bottles.

I found that you must watch the gravity towards the end of the fermentation and bottle and prime it almost immediately it reaches the expected final gravity. If not, it seems to ferment down to a level where there doesn't seem to be enough live yeast in the brew to allow secondary fermentation in the bottle.

I had this problem with two kits until I realised. With bitter kits I was just bottling when the brew looked finished but with the lager I can see bubbles still rising. It seemed counter intuitive at first but I have had no exploding bottles although some have been very tight! You do need this though because when they are chilled in the fridge to 4 degrees they lose a lot of the pressure and come out just right.

The reference FG I use with Coopers (which may not apply with Youngs) is 1008, using 1kg 50/50 spray malt/brewing sugar and 1006 with 1kg sugar.

Not sure why the yeast should die, I ferment my Coopers Lager right out, prime and bottle leave 5-7 days in the house then out to the shed, in the fridge for 24hours before drinking and have no problem with the amount of fizz in them.

[Providence]

I've done a lot of the Bavarian Lager before it was discontinued and now do the Pilsner both of which use low temperature yeast. That might be the reason. The flat ones were done in summer and I paid no attention to temperature and did what you did, just let them finish. They did prime up enough to tighten the PET bottles but from the fridge needed to be poured extremely fast to get a head which disappeared virtually straight away.

Since I've kept an eye on the FG I haven't had this happen.

I should add that I haven't got anywhere cold to put the bottles so they have to prime and condition at room temperature. That may be a clue......