Micro brewery and admirals reserve

[kererra]

Hi Im new to "Home Brew" I have a micro brewery (king Keg with a tap at the top)and at present using woodford`s admirals reserve it says to add sugar to each bottle after 4-6 days but obviously Id like to keep it in the barrel, I take it I just add sugar to the barrel after that time and seal it up.

ps has anyone had problems with easybrew I bought the kit from them but it turns out the valve was faulty Im unable to contact them now by phone or e-mail

[roger the dog]

Hi kererra & welcome to the forum

When kegging my kits I dissolve 80 grammes of brewers sugar (normal sugar should also be OK) in about 300mls of boiling water, zap it in the microwave to bring it back to the boil then add it to the empty sanitised barrel before carefully syphoning the beer into it to minimise splashing. I put a smear of Vaseline on the lid seal before screwing the cap on as tight as I can by hand.

I've only ordered form easybrew once but I had no problems with them.

Hope this helps

[kererra]

Thanks for your replies, the micro system says that I can just pour all the ingredients into the barrel and forget about it until I want to pour a pint because of the float system.
The beer kit I recieved with the barrel etc. said just to pour everything in and basically forget about it for two to three weeks it would ferment and pressurise itself.Unfortunatly the valve on the kit was faulty ( the rubber sleeve was perished) and the keg didnt pressurise.
Anyway Im now starting again with the admirals kit ,which easybrew said was compatable with this system, but the instructions differ slightly by adding sugar after 4-6 days, rodger do I have to decant the mixture into another barrel before adding the sugar or can I just add the sugar to the mixture close the top again and wait the 2 weeks or so
Rearding easy brew I managed to contact them over a week ago and was promised replacement rubbers etc for the valve as the kit was just over two weeks old, they were very helpfull and pleasant but nothing arrived and since then I have left three messages on the answer machine, phoning between 10.00 and 4pm the e-mail link has also been disconnected The main reason for wanting to contact them apart from the seal parts was to get an answer to this question

[Glamrox]

My advice would be if you haven't started the kit yet, dont. Get yourself a fermenting bucking and do the primary in that. There is plently of comments about the microbrewery on this site, not all favourable but in my opinion (I bought one) its a reasonable way to pick up the bits you need, as I say if you add a fermenting bucket to it life will be a little easier.

You wont go far wrong using Daab's instructions here

[Garth]

pick up a tap for your fermenter while you're on, much easier than siphoning

[kererra]

Thanks for the help unfortunatly I started the kit yesterday, and after checking the replies to my question spent the whole morning looking for a fermenting barrel the closest place I could get one is a two and a half hour drive away, at the moment it looks like ebay and a week for delivery .
Would it be possible to decant it into a cheap (sterlised) rubbish bin from the co-op, clean the barrel and then decant it back after the intitial fermentation period or is their anything else I could use a fermentation barrel.

[kererra]

Thanks for the replies I take it the consensus is I persevere with what Ive done and add the sugar after 4-6 days and hope for the best

[markbatten]

Hi, I had one of these kits for my birthday in April (with the Wherry kit) and had no problems with it except I had to bin the bottom quarter of the beer when it took a dead yeast flavour from sitting on its own detritus.
A fermentation bin is essential but I now have three, a corney keg, co2 cylinders, full bottling kit and now mini-mash on the cooker!
My missus wishes she had never bought me the ******* thing (her words!)
Keep reading the forum (as I do at work most of the day) and you will pick up tons of good advice and info.

[kererra]

Thanks for that Ive asked nicely for the fermentation bin etc( well dropped a few hints for fathers day)

[kererra]

Well Ive managed to get another keg(and a fermentation bucket and yes its got a tap at the bottom)Im ready to transfer the mix into the second keg, the instructions say 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle, do I add 20 teaspoons to the keg(mixing it with hot water first) or add the 80 grammes of brewers sugar etc as in Rodger the dogs post.

Also anyone tried the Hambleton Bard kits yet?

ps thanks for the help so far

[kererra]

Will do thanks for that