Transporting a barrel

MikeH

Hello,

I was hoping to get some opinions on this...
I want to transport a barrel of beer (I know this would be easier in bottles but I need to use a barrel) nearly 300 miles by car. It's guaranteed to get shaken up and sloshed around over that trip and the sediment will be fully mixed again. Any one any idea what the best method of doing this is? I will have no time at worst and about 24 hours at best for settling once I get there before it will be drunk. I have a few ideas, would welcome others and comments on these:

Open the tap and decant the beer into another barrel and then pressurise with CO2, leaving the sediment and a few pints in the first barrel.

Filter the beer from brewing bucket to barrel - but wouldn't that remove all the yeast so I'd get no secondary fermentation so no head and no pressue to dispense with?

I'm sure I had another idea but I can't for the life of me remember what it was!

Any way, any thoughts on this issue would be most welcome.
Cheers, Mike...

HBO_Staff

There is no easy way when transporting a long way in a keg, as you say bottles would have been the ideal way, we have found after a short distance in a keg and then leaving to settle for a day it cleared with no problem. If you haven't already brewed the beer then we would recommend you taking some extra steps in the early stages when you ferment which could make a difference with the finished result. Depending on what you're brewing, discard the original yeast that comes with the kit and in its place upgrade to a yeast that compacts the sediment better, we find Danstar yeast such as the Nottingham produce a really thick sediment which really sticks to the bottom of the fermenting vessel and is not easily disturbed when syphoning.

In addition to this we also use a two stage fermenting process which drastically reduces the amount of sediment in the finished brew. After the initial fermentation is finished in the fermenting vessel, syphon the whole brew over into a second fermenting vessel leaving as much sediment behind as possible, and stop before or as soon as the sediment begins to be disturbed, always syphoning from the top so it is as far away from the sediment as possible at all times. Then leave the brew in the second vesssel for a couple of days which will allow it to settle again, and you will often be suprised just how much more sediment settles. From here you can then syphon over into your barrel, again syphon from the top first and leave any sediment undisturbed, prime your barrel in the usual way and seal it up.

As soon as possible once you arrive, get your barrel into a position where it can then stay and not be moved again, preferably somewhere cool, and leave it to settle. Just have some CO2 on hand to re-pressurise your keg as the beer is consumed to ensure a continuous flow.

MikeH

Excellent, thanks for the info.  I haven't brewed yet so I could use the two stage fermenting process you mention.  Doing that's not going to remove all the yeast is it?  I don't want to end up with no secondary fermentation, that's my only concern.

One other question that comes to mind is to speed things up, would it be acceptable to transfer into another fermentation bucket before there's been two consecutive days of the same reading, ie when primary fermentation is still underway?  Or is it best to be patient and wait for primary to finish then decant and leave another day or two?

Cheers, Mike...

HBO_Staff

There will still be yeast present in the brew which will secondary ferment with the priming sugar, we use this two stage process on lagers too which then turn out nicely carbonated. You could transfer over it into the second vessel early to save time, although we're not sure if you would gain anything as sediment would still be suspended in the brew, the benefit of doing it when it has just about finished fermenting is you leave all the sediment behind, and then leave it another couple of days which then removes even more, part of the extra sediment will come from the extra time to settle, and by moving it into a second vessel you are leaving all the dead yeast and sediment behind so it is not sitting on it any longer than needed. Moving it over early shouldn't cause a problem though as the yeast will still be present in the liquid and continue to work

MikeH

Ah, excellent news.  Thanks for clarifying that.  I will definitely try this next brew I do.

Cheers, Mike...

MikeH

To report back, I have now tried this twin stage primary fermentation method...

I stirred my wort every day for about the first week - primary fermentation was very lively due to this - and then left it for two days to settle, I'd had a couple of days the same hydrometer reading, may even have been three due to a weekend.  I used the rigid syphon tube with it's anti-sediment device at the end, it caused approx. 1l to be left in the bottom of the first bucket after I transferred it.

Two days in the 2nd vessel (this one had a little bottler tap on it) and then I bottled.  There was so little sediment in this 2nd bucket that I was practically pouring the last of the wort into bottles the bucket was tipped to such a degree to get beer through the tap.  I think I lost about half a small fruit juice glass' worth at the bottom.

In about 12 hours from bottling I looked at the first and last bottles I filled (I used clear glass for these two) and they were both about 80% cleared.  At 24 hours in there's about 2cm at the bottom which isn't crystal clear yet.  I reckon another 24 hours and they'll be completely clear.  There's a light dusting of sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

Thanks for the tip, this method really works incredibly well.  I'm looking forwards to tasting it.  Not sure how long I should leave before cracking one open though, with it so clear already it's soooooo tempting to get stuck in now!

Cheers, Mike...

MikeH

P.S. I should have said, primary fermentation ended up being 11 days.  Using the Coopers ABV formula I get 5.33% and using the HBO formula that was printed on the instructions you sent with my original brewing kit I get 4.78%.  Either way, quite a strong lager.

HBO_Staff

It sounds like it's coming along nicely, it may well clear faster than usual, but don't be fooled, it probably wont be conditioned or carbonated! Because the brew is clearer, it has less yeast suspended within the lager, which can then mean that the priming sugar used for secondary fermentation in the bottles takes longer to carbonate the brew. The advantage with PET plastic bottles such as the crown cap version we use, is that you can feel the bottles to see how carbonated they are, if the bottles are still soft to the touch then you know they need to be left longer. It can help to keep the bottles somewhere nice and warm for the first week or so to help the sugars dissolve and ferment in the bottles, before moving somewhere a few degrees cooler. We'd love to hear a review on the lager once you try it!