Finished my first brew....

[Tidyguy]

Finally reaching the bottom of my first barrel of beer - a coopers ipa. Have learnt a lot from doing this, and an excited about buying my next kit! The beer was a bit flat and didnt have much head, but im putting it down to the fact i had a leaky seal on my barrel. With help from the guy at the Abbey homebrew shop in leeds and from some of you guys on here i managed to get my keg repressurised...any tips on rescuing a beer thats gone flat like this? I bought a co2 cylinder to re-pressurise the barrel but it didnt seem to make much difference to the beer. Any suggestions on good kits i should be trying next?

[softlad]

you'll not get 'pub level' fizz in your barrel - your best bet to increase dissolved CO2 is to get the brew cold (store in a fridge if possible)

what sort of beer did you have in mind ? theres loads to go at - its all about taste and how much you want to pay for the kit (although none are really expensive per pint)

[JayBee]

I bottled my Coopers IPA and it has a good head and fizz. I think bottled tastes better anyway but thats just my preference, its just a pain on bottling day but worth it in the long run, especially as I like mine well chilled.

[Tidyguy]

Already decided that with the next kit i buy im gonna fork out for a few bottles n all the necessary tat...would love to keep one or 2 bottles back from each brew to see how it tastes after a year or so. I know i wouldnt get the same level of carbonation as in a draught beer in a pub, and this isnt what i was after. before I sorted the leak on my barrel the beer i did manage to get out was completley headless....after the addition of a bit more priming sugar and carbonating with co2 i got a bit of white froth on top, but it could hardly be described as a head...im assuming this was to do with the leaky valve seal.

Think im gonna go for a woodefordes beer...maybe the wherry as its one everyone seems to rave about. The initial outlay of kit cost about £2.30 a pint....with this brew i should be down to about 60p a pint including all the bottling equipment

[alefric]

you'll not get 'pub level' fizz in your barrel - your best bet to increase dissolved CO2 is to get the brew cold (store in a fridge if possible)

what sort of beer did you have in mind ? theres loads to go at - its all about taste and how much you want to pay for the kit (although none are really expensive per pint)

Softlad is right about dissolved CO2.......now you've sorted out the seal problem you should find that the next beer will condition properly although kits do vary. Be careful regarding very cold conditioning as this can cause a haze (this does clear as temp. increases) but the beer does absorb CO2 better at lower temps......10 to 14C is fine..........Another kit to try is Brupaks Fixby Gold......I had good results with this when i was doing kits although i used the boil method......worth trying with a different yeast as well.

Good luck

Andrew