[peggygate]

hi all, my lager homebrew kit is ready to drink  it looks fizzy but tastes flat, plus it is slightly cloudy, any ideas  thanks

[mike1987]

sounds like it hasnt finished conditioning leave it another week or 2 and try it again even tho the instructions may say ready in x amount of days they normally take longer

[sion01]

sounds like it hasnt finished conditioning leave it another week or 2 and try it again even tho the instructions may say ready in x amount of days they normally take longer

  :lol:Bet you wish you'd never asked now

[mike1987]

i ussally have no patince and end up drinking some before its ready aswell and always wonder why the last few bottles are the best lol

[Runwell-Steve]

Is your lager in bottles or a pressure barrel?

If it's in a plastic pressure barrel it will never be really fizzy as pressure barrels can't withstand the pressure required to carbonate lager.

If it's bottled there are 2 real possibilities.

1, You under primed (didn't put enough sugar in each bottle).
2, It's not ready yet, minimum 1 week in the warm to produce the CO2, then a minimum of  week in the cold so it all gets absorbed into solution.

If it's kegged there isn't really much you can do as them kegs are no good for lager.  If you want to keg lager you need to invest in some Cornelius Kegs.

[peggygate]

my homebrew is in a pressure barrel, gonna leave it another week or so, it had the right amount of sugar put in it, more patience needed  lol

[Runwell-Steve]

The plastic pressure barrel is your problem unfortunately.

They can only really take a maximum pressur of 10psi, which is not enough to carbonate lager.  Fo lager you need to be nearer 20 psi.

If you did manage to get your lager carbonated in a plastic keg, which is possible if you keep it cool, about 2C, for a week and keep squirting in CO2 from an S30 cylinder you could get fizzy lager, the problem would then be that the taps on the kegs would just produce froth.  You need to dispense lager through a long beer line to reduce the pressure gradually, which in turn reduces the frothing when it hits the glass.

For lager you've only really got 2 options if you want it fizzy

1. Bottle it.
2. Invest in some Cornelius kegs and a pub CO2 bottle and regulator, some beer line and some taps.

Heres my set up

Beer fridge in garage, empty kegs along side, and the brew kettle



Inside are the full kegs connected up to a gas supply (small gas bottle in the bottom which is actually a CO2 fire extinguisher)

[CaesarM]

Wow - Runwell Steve, thats a mighty fine setup you have there - just started brewing lager and was looking for something a bit better than the plastic kegs I've inherited. Have you adapted a standard fridge with the taps, or is that off the shelf?

[BobE]

That is an incredible set up.
Beer does need to be in bottles, but I do not like putting sugar into each of 40 bottles.  I rack the beer of into a container, barrel or FV, with 100g sugar in it.  Stir it around and then syphon it into the clean bottles.  This gives me an extra rack and a much better and even sugar distribution.  Each bottle can come to pressure and when I open one I don't get squrts of beer, just a hiss with a slight overflow. 

[Capt Zero]

Wow - Runwell Steve, thats a mighty fine setup you have there - just started brewing lager and was looking for something a bit better than the plastic kegs I've inherited. Have you adapted a standard fridge with the taps, or is that off the shelf?

You have to make it yourself Caesar, find a tall fridge on ebay, gumtree, or local papers for next to nothing.  Get hold of a Co2 cylinder, some beer taps, beer pipe, hey presto one keggerator .

[Asherweef]

One word: amazing.

I'm always fascinated by the various weird and wonderful contraptions people have in their houses... Would love to make one of these!

[CaesarM]

Thanks Capt Zero... Feel like I should tell you how you just saved my life I'm happy that I'm not missing out on a superb section of Amazon "Kick Ass Fridges". Don't laugh - I've searched.

Well, there's my challenge. I'm a definite newbie to home brew, but there's my target. I bet you all have one of these in your garages and you're all really secretive.

Thanks for being so friendly and not making me feel like an outsider.

C

[Capt Zero]

No problem Caesar...at least you gave me a chuckle... pickup a cheap tall fridge..this is what I found for £20, it was only 2 years old, the lady was having a new kitchen. This photo is the first day, within a hour or so it had a tap & drip tray fitted



Buy a beer tap.. Like this one

Then you need a couple of ... These but don't buy from the USA, stay in the UK.

Pickup a Co2 supply....and away you go.  NOW!!! do you want to go down this road if you are new to home brewing??
You maybe better off buying just the Cornelius Keg as above, make a brew, bang it in the corny, gas it and put it somewhere cold (if poss wet towel around the top) for a couple of weeks. Work your way up from there.

[BobE]

my homebrew is in a pressure barrel, gonna leave it another week or so, it had the right amount of sugar put in it, more patience needed  lol

Move it to bottles.  Get bottles from Asda, 6 500ml water bottles for a pound.  £5 for 40.
Syphon it to the bottles.
Week in the warm.
Week in the cool.
three into the fridge for 24 hours.
Testing day.

Larger will never condition in a keg.
( I know the others said all of this, but it kind of got lost if the fantastic gear )

[CaesarM]

Just out of interest, why will the lager ferment better in a small plastic bottle but doesn't do so in a keg made out of plastic? I think what I'm asking is actually, is it ok to use plastic bottles, rather than glass... won't they explode?

I've had my first brew in a keg now for a week - is there anything I can do - can I put it in bottles now, or is it too late. If I put it in bottles, do I need to use priming sugar?

Thanks again for your help

C