When do I inject co2 into the barrel

wakenshaw123

Hi

As as newbe to home brewing it is unclear when I should inject co2 into my pressure barrel. My first brew Woodfordes Wherry.Please help?

HBO_Staff

The Wherry is a great beer and very popular, and a good starting point. As a general rule, onc barrelled and you add the priming sugar and seal it up, it now needs to be left to 'secondary ferment' for a few weeks - this is when the priming sugar dissolves and produces CO2 within the barrel which creates the pressure needed within the barrel to dispense the beer, and carbonates the brew. It is whilst this happens that the beer will also clear and it's full flavours develop.

It varies when you need to add CO2, sometimes it is not needed. As a guide if you drink a few pints at a time then the beer does not get the time to re-pressurise the barrel, so it may slow the flow down and start to 'glug' as it tries to draw air into the barrel. This is when you would use the bulb holder to inject one CO2 cartridge in to the barrel, to top up the CO2 and make sure it keeps the air out. If only drawing off the odd pint it may not be needed to add any, as it may keep sufficient pressure in the barrel. How much CO2 a brew creates on it's own varies form brew to brew and on temperature etc, too.

If the flow slows or it tries to draw air in, simply add one CO2 bulb as and when needed to keep it flowing nicely.