Polypin Management

[Invalid Stout]

Anyone have an idea what to use to bodge a hop filter for the tap, so I can dry hop in the polypin?

[Dennis King]

Don't put loose hops into polypins, tried it once and it blocked the taps. I believe you can buy small mesh bags that do the job but I've never used them. Just bought some pure hop aroma oil from Rob the maltmiller which looks interesting will use it on my next brew.

[bob3000]

i seem to loose all my carbonation once I put my polypin in the fridge. Any tips on how to get the beer cool and keep its condition?

[Dennis King]

I've never put a pin in the fridge, I prime with 80gms of sugar put it somewhere warm until it balloons then back to the garage which this time of year is very cold. What level of carbonation are you hoping to achive. You will never get it like a keg. My beers come out, via a hand pump, as you would expect a real ale in a pub maybe the last few pints are a bit flat but I can live with that.

[bob3000]

I'm just after the same level of carbonation you would get in cask ale. I'm not expecting fizzy. At the moment it's completely flat. It was in nice condition before i cooled it but all the carbonation seemed to drop out once it cooled down. There is a bit of head space in the pin above the beer and it is not very tight so I have decided to take it out the fridge and give it a bit more time in the warm. Just not too sure how far I can push it without getting a beery mess in my kitchen.

[Dennis King]

Polypins are more forgiving than you may think, as you can see by my photos its a case of experimenting what works for you. I have had an odd one spring a leak, maybe 3 or 4 times in 30 years and that is probably old pins so now I tend to replace them after a couple of years.

[Invalid Stout]

I'm just after the same level of carbonation you would get in cask ale. I'm not expecting fizzy. At the moment it's completely flat. It was in nice condition before i cooled it but all the carbonation seemed to drop out once it cooled down. There is a bit of head space in the pin above the beer and it is not very tight so I have decided to take it out the fridge and give it a bit more time in the warm. Just not too sure how far I can push it without getting a beery mess in my kitchen.

The carbonation hasn't dropped out, it’s been absorbed into the beer. This is what you want, the CO2 to be in the beer not in the headspace.

[stevetk189]

I've just read this this whole thread with great interest. I have some 10l and 20l BagInABox bags in boxes along with a couple of ViTop connector/adaptors so I can easily hook the (thumb press button on the bag) tap to a beer line running to an Angram beer engine.

I've been wondering about whether to prime or not in this thread and generally thought that as I was dispensing via a hand pull and sparkler there'd be no need for priming. I don't want fizzy beer, I can't bloody stand it hence the hand pull - the gentle carbonation I get in my bottled beers is more than enough. I don't need any pressure to aid dispense so... what do?

Granted the baginabox bags are thinner than polypins but the claims on the site I got them from is that they're ideal - and reusable - for what I am aiming to achieve, ie cask style hand pulled real ale.

Wondering whether to bag some beer into 2 of the smaller bags and just prime one of them, then see the difference between the two.

[Dennis King]

Good to see this thread is still alive despite at least 2 former members deleting all their posts. I think you will find the combination of these pins and a handpump the closes you will get to a pub real ale in the home brew world. I've had my handpump for a few years and I've tried both priming and not priming and found very little difference really, the only thing is maybe the last few pints are a bit flatter unprimed. The action of the handpump adds life to the beer so even unprimed it will never be totally flat, also the fact you are going to use a sparkler, I have one but don't use it, I think you will be better not priming. I suggest you try it, if it's to flat add a small amount next time.

[Dennis King]

My set up with hand pump.

[stevetk189]

Good to see this thread is still alive despite at least 2 former members deleting all their posts. I think you will find the combination of these pins and a handpump the closes you will get to a pub real ale in the home brew world. I've had my handpump for a few years and I've tried both priming and not priming and found very little difference really, the only thing is maybe the last few pints are a bit flatter unprimed. The action of the handpump adds life to the beer so even unprimed it will never be totally flat, also the fact you are going to use a sparkler, I have one but don't use it, I think you will be better not priming. I suggest you try it, if it's to flat add a small amount next time.

Cheers Dennis, pretty much my initial thoughts, I was being steered away. Great pic too, nice set up!

[Dennis King]

As you can see there is very little pressure in the barrels. I certainly would not add to the pin totally bright. to keep it a real ale you should keep it on the yeast. Let us know how it turns out.

[stevetk189]

As you can see there is very little pressure in the barrels. I certainly would not add to the pin totally bright. to keep it a real ale you should keep it on the yeast. Let us know how it turns out.

Will do, so I guess rack off and make sure a smidgen of yeast goes through to the bag. If not being moved around and the bag in box is tipped back slightly there should be no deposits build up around the outlet.

[Dennis King]

I just rack into the pin when its reached the final gravity, normally after a week in the FV. I leave it at least 3 weeks to condition and by then the yeast has settled. But I'm not 100% sure of the containers you are using, are the the same shape as mine.

[stevetk189]

I just rack into the pin when its reached the final gravity, normally after a week in the FV. I leave it at least 3 weeks to condition and by then the yeast has settled. But I'm not 100% sure of the containers you are using, are the the same shape as mine.

They're more oblong along the length but square cross section.