I've been on a contract job for the last year so I havent brewed much beer. I finally came home and brewed my first batch, I was so excited! I had one/two hiccups while brewing (took a phone call and the beer boiled over thus resulting the propane burner going out, this resulted in the boil cooling for maybe 10 minutes). I had brewed before and all of the beer came out pretty good with a decent head. Finally tapped the keg the other day and it had ZERO head. I don't understand why though: -Everything was sterilized (starsan) with 3 flush washes after -2 oz of priming sugar -Had one blow off during fermentation but i figured positive pressure would have kept any air from going back in and infecting the beer. The fermentation lock was going like crazy when I pulled it off to clean it. -Boil went well and had great yeast, So what happened? Any ideas?
It has quite a bit of carbonation, maybe not fully carbonated I guess. One additional note is that I tried to filter all of the hop residue out with a 5 gallon paint strainer hung over the end of the siphon (it was sterilized). Could the air entrainment into the beer have affected it that bad?
Head on your beer doesn't really have much to do with those issues, FWIU. Others can talk more about it, but it comes to the malts used, mash temps, and a bunch of other factors. Probably not infected, Probably nothing to do with the blow out. Actually, in looking again, it may have to do with your priming. 2oz sugar is probably not really enough - almost every recipe I've seen is at least 4 - 5 oz, when it's not measured as 3/4 cup.
For 2.3 volumes in a 5 gallon batch, calculators tell me about 3.75 oz. It's a bit dependent on fermentation temps though. But I agree that 2 oz is too low, unless it is a small batch. Good point. Is there any force carb going on? I've heard it is tricky to do natural priming in a keg. I never tried, but IRC, kegs require pressure from the get-go to maintain a tight seal, and pressure build up during natural priming is slow, allowing CO2 to leak. Could this be the problem, or am I in Fantasy Land?
I think that is a fair assessment. If you don't seat them first, they could be leaking. Hell, even if you do seat them, they can sometimes leak.
Is is a *foam* problem? Or a *lack of carbonation* problem? Separate issues. If it's carbonated but won't form a head? Number one thing I would question is whether or not the glass you poured it in went through your dishwasher. Dishwasher rinse-aid might as well be called DESTROYER OF FOAM. I wash all of my beer glasses by hand (and rinse with HOT water) for this reason. But, every once in a while, someone will run one through the dishwasher. I can tell *immediately* whenever I grab one of these. The first beer to hit the glass just 'fizzes' like soda. No head whatsoever. Second pour? Normal. Too long a protein rest can have a similar effect - but even that's not as pronounced. If you mean your beer is FLAT? Lots of potential causes for that. Let us know more about how you primed, packaged, and stored the beer if we need to go down that road.
If priming in a keg (or adding fruit), I have always sealed the keg with ~20psi and then released pressure periodically. Even if the keg leaks slightly, you shouldn't unseat the lid.
I'm really interested in your procedure... I've kegged a lot of beers with priming sugar. But you have to keep the beer under some pressure until there is enough natural carbonation to keep the keg sealed. If you don't, you won't pressurize the keg enough for a seal. So if you just added priming sugar to the keg and nothing else I suspect that was your problem. If you did keep the keg under pressure, I suspect the issue is more head retention related than kegging procedure. Many of the prime suspects have been listed above (e.g. grain bill, mash temp rest, cleaning procedure, etc)
Sorry for the delayed response, none of these showed up in my inbox. So I kegged the beer at 20 psi and left it pressurized for 4 days. Tired the beer and it was carbonated but had no "foam" or head. I then repressurized the beer to 14 psi and left it until today. When I poured a small glass today, there was some foam, but it didn't look like your typical head. Instead the bubbles were fairly large but the beer did have some head to it now. I will try with a hand washed glass tomorrow night and check back in. As for the priming sugar, I filled the keg and left a couple of inches (4 maybe) from the top. Therefore, with a 5 gallon keg, I figure i put in about 4.7 gallons of beer. Its been pressurized in my kegerator at 38 degrees. Based on this, I calculated the priming sugar to be around 2.1 ounces. Is this wrong?
Seems to be some instability on the BA website......but since I can't seem to reply to the OP, my thoughts are this: was the keg primed at 38*F? If so, that is your problem
No the keg was not primed at 38*F. I primed it at probably around 62. It was kegged at the same temp for 3 days before shifting it to the kegerator before day 4.
I'm not sure how carbonated your beer is because of your unconventional hybrid of priming and force carbonating. Either you haven't given it the right combination of sugar and time under pressure, to carb the beer in the first place, or else your beer is not retaining a its head. Or both, I suppose. What was your grist and what was your mash like? These are the things I think to look at when head retention is the issue.
It's actually carbonated just fine, two of the books I have read, they say to use priming sugar even when you keg, just a lesser amount. Then force carbonate at the typical 20 psi. I think it was a time under pressure thing because I cranked the pressure back up and now I have about a half of a finger width head. I think the grist was my problem honestly. I did a combination (Crystal 75L and Crystal 30), I don't think I got the quantity I wanted when I bought it from my local LHBS and didn't realize it until I had already set up to brew.
Not knowing what you were expecting, nor any kind of schedule under which it was being produced. I suspect 2 ounces of sugars would diminish whatever you returns you were hoping for in cracking one open by quite a bit and since what you still experiencing is large bubbles. I don't really know what to say other than that it's quite confused about what you expect of it still. Don't rush things. and also... You're mixing streams and expecting solid answers. DON'T.
This is very confusing on a number of levels. There is no 'typical' pressure at which to force carbonate. 20 PSI is too low to do it rapidly, and too high for normal long term storage and dispense at 38F. I've filled and carbonated hundreds of kegs and have never once added priming sugar. *If* you're going to prime and 'keg condition' - you need to presurize the keg ONCE to ~ 15 or 20 psi to seal the lid. Then you need to store the keg at ~ 70F for WEEKS (not a few days) while it's not connected to a gas line. If you just want rapidly carbonated beer? You need to chill the full keg first. When the beer is cold, connect the gas line and set the regulator to 40 psi. Hold the keg horizontally (or, even better if your gas line is long enough - lay it on the ground) with the gas post at the 12:00 position. GENTLY roll the keg back and forth slightly (i.e. so the gas post stays between 10:00 and 2:00) with just enough vigor so the gas begins flowing into the keg (you'll be able to hear it). DON'T GO CRAZY rocking it like mad or shaking it unless you want to end up with a keg full of foam and even worse head retention! GENTLE agitation is absolutely key. Continue doing this for 2 minutes (set a timer). Stop. Stand the keg upright. Disconnect the gas line. Place the keg back in the fridge and leave it alone for an hour or more. Even overnight if you want to. When it's time to test it, dial back the pressure on your regulator to normal serving pressure (~ 12 psi). Connect the gas. Slowly bleed off any excess pressure remaining in the keg until you notice gas flow from the tank starting up. Let the pressure equalize and pour a sample. If you do it 'correctly', this will net a good level of carbonation for most styles in minimal time. That said, it takes some trial and error to get a feel for what's 'correct'. I've done it this way more times than I could tell you, and it works great. If you don't want to risk doing it the 'fast' way, just set the beer to serving pressure and leave it alone in the fridge for ~ 3 weeks. Save the priming sugar. You don't need it. Just set & forget. Since most of my batches are either 10 or 15 gallons, I usually force carb one the 'fast way' and do set & forget on the other one or two.
I think the fact that I just didn't wait was my killer. I finally got the head I wanted. Didn't come out with the flavor profile I wanted but, beggars can't be choosers.
