Presure Barrel

Bacon

On my second brew which is now in the barrel , I was woke up last night by a loud whistle and found that gas was coming from the valve on the barrel , have I put to much sugar in and caused to much carbonation, or is the relief of pressure normal

HBO_Staff

The barrel sounds like it is doing it's job and venting any excess pressure which is important so that is good news, if there is too much it should vent out. This is a safety feature, as a general guide you usually prime a barrel with around 80 to 100g of sugar for a 40 pint batch, if you have used more than this or it is less than a 40 pint batch then it may be too much and will produce a fizzy brew, as long as any excess pressure is vented though it should be safe. If you have priems with more sugar than this then it would be best to use less next time, just in case the vent is not working properly

Bacon

Thanks for the reply , I put in 100grams of sugar for 40 pints so that is spot on it was just that the last brew did not vent any excess pressure so was just checking . I didn't want the wife going nuts about beer all over the place

Cheers Guy's

HBO_Staff

Hi Bacon, wise precaution, spilt beer upsets the whole family. 100g for a 40 pint batch sounds OK, one thought is if it is somewhere particularly warm it may have made it rapidly secondary ferment, so pressure built up quickly and was released, in cooler conditions it may vent more gradually and slowly so you might not even notice it happen, but releasing a little pressure is no bad thing as long as it is only any excess CO2