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Please critique my first Brew recipe


Guvna

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You may find the sweetness isn't as prominent when it's carbonated fully as it will offset it a bit more. I've had a couple of kegs like that where I've tried them not fully carbed and they were a bit sweet but we're fine once fully carbed. 

I also find it's better to leave it on the pressure it was carbonated at, lowering it for a pour won't make any difference as the pressure in the keg won't have changed but leaving it lower for any length of time will lower the carbonation level if you empty the keg enough.

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On 8/27/2018 at 5:49 PM, Otto Von Blotto said:

You may find the sweetness isn't as prominent when it's carbonated fully as it will offset it a bit more. I've had a couple of kegs like that where I've tried them not fully carbed and they were a bit sweet but we're fine once fully carbed. 

I also find it's better to leave it on the pressure it was carbonated at, lowering it for a pour won't make any difference as the pressure in the keg won't have changed but leaving it lower for any length of time will lower the carbonation level if you empty the keg enough.

Hey Otto, when i purged and lowered to 8psi, the pour was very good. Upon resetting to 11-12psi, it jets out and foams up a lot more. Could a longer beer line be the answer?

I have approx 1.5mtrs of line and use a picnic tap at the moment.  have not tried for a couple of days so hopefully getting closer to full carbonation.

I understand when you say to leave the presure at the serving psi of about 11-12 to maintain the desired co2. LHBS reckons line length doesnt matter, but I'm not so sure, I think its not 'balanced' 100%. fairly sure my line ID is 8mm but I never asked at the time i bought all the gear.  Thoughts appreciated?

cheers all Guvna

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1 hour ago, Guvna said:

 LHBS reckons line length doesnt matter,

LOL. Obviously never had much experience in kegging. Unless you have flow control on your taps then line length most certainly does matter, as does the inner diameter of the line. These are the two things that provide resistance so that the pressure coming out of the tap is a lot less than what's actually in the keg; if you just connected the tap straight onto the keg and tried pouring at 11psi you'd also wind up with a heap of foam, but if you attached a 3 metre long line between the keg and the tap then you would get a much better pour. That probably explains why it pours better at 8psi as well.

To make things easier so you don't have to keep fiddling with the regulator every time you want a beer, lengthen the lines. You're better off going too long to start off with because that way you can just trim it back until it's right, which is a lot easier (and cheaper) than buying more length if it's not long enough. What is the inner diameter of your beer lines? That will help figure out how long to start from.

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Hi Guvna.

+1 to what Kelsey said.

The following article might help you understand everything a little better. It was what I learned from.

BeerSmith Blog: Keg Line Length Balancing - The Science of Draft Beer

In most cases, 10-12psi gives a nice carbonation level for a home brewed keg beer setup. To be able to pour a beer at that pressure without excessive foaming you need a certain length beer-out line to create resistance slowing the speed at which the beer pours. Increasing the length of your beer-out line should fix your issues.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,

Lusty.

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Derp, I missed the 8mm ID at the end of the post. If they are that wide you'd need about 4-5 metres. If I was you I'd switch to 5mm ID line and go for a length of 3 metres for each tap as a starting length. It may be the right length but it's probably a bit longer than necessary; you can snip off 50mm at a time or something until it pours nicely with the pressure on 11-12psi. 

Edit: early in my kegging adventure I had a few overcarbed kegs and used the same method as you are now to stop them foaming, except i just gave them a quick spurt of gas so the beer basically dribbled out of the tap. It looked more like post mix soft drink  coming out but I'd get a full glass with a normal head and it wasn't flat. I did this each glass until the carbonation level dropped sufficiently to put the gas back on serving pressure.

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9 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

Hi Guvna.

+1 to what Kelsey said.

The following article might help you understand everything a little better. It was what I learned from.

BeerSmith Blog: Keg Line Length Balancing - The Science of Draft Beer

In most cases, 10-12psi gives a nice carbonation level for a home brewed keg beer setup. To be able to pour a beer at that pressure without excessive foaming you need a certain length beer-out line to create resistance slowing the speed at which the beer pours. Increasing the length of your beer-out line should fix your issues.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,

Lusty.

+1 to the BeerSmith blog too. I don’t keg but I found it helpful to understand what all you Keggers were talking about

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My keg is now pouring very nicely thanks to the correct advice given above. Solved with a longer 3.4mtr - 5mm ID hose. 

And... the beer has now carbed to a lovely level. Its my best ever brew .... and my first ever...lol.  Based only on my own honest feedback, I must say its turned out to be suprisingly good,  and now gives me the faith to continue with brewing.  I must remind myself to call myself a 'Craft Brewer' given the sometimes poorly understood stigma attached with the term 'Homebrew'

thanks to all so far

Guvna

 

 

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