It's been a week since the beer was left to ferment, and now
looks this this ======>It smells good, has kind of a flowery aroma to it. If I was going to bottle this beer, I would check that fermentation has finished using a Hydrometer, thus avoiding burst bottles. Seeing as I'm going to barrel the beer, it's not really necessary as the barrel has a pressure release valve.
The Hydrometer can also be used to define the strength of the finished beer but:
a) I don't really care, it's usually strong enough to do the job and
b) it's a whole heap of sterilising and grief to use.
I have got one, can use it, I just choose not to for most of the time.
It is now time to siphon the beer from the fermenting bucket into the barrel.
Warm up a cupful of water and add to it 2oz of sugar, stirring until dissolved.
This is for priming the barrel ie adding pressure. Basically, the still active yeast in the beer will ferment on the new sugar (secondary fermentation), which creates Carbon Dioxide, which will build up pressure in the sealed barrel, allowing the beer to flow through the tap under pressure, giving the beer a good head in the glass and also a bit of fizz on the tongue.
Add the sugar to the sterilised barrel, then, using a sterilised siphon tube, siphon the beer off the sediment. Note clever use of a clothes peg in the top of the picture.
Once all the beer is in the barrel, stick a bit of Vaseline round the O-ring of the lid, and screw up tight, sealing the barrel. Give it a bit of a shake and put in a warm place for about a week, checking periodically that no beer is leaking from either the lid or tap.
This Is A Picture Of My New Float
It connects to the tap on my barrel, and the float stays on top of the beer,
so waiting time is reduced, as it's drawing cleared beer from the top (rather than waiting for all the barrel to clear, as bottom tap barrels do). A word of warning : Be very careful when rinsing out your barrel. See the little see-through plastic thing on the far right? That has a habit of coming loose, and if you empty the sediment from the barrel down the toilet, as I do, and don't realise that it's not attached anymore, well, bye bye, it's through the water and over the bend before you know it!!
A Handy Tip
It's a lot easier to have a straight piece of plastic tube in the beer when siphoning off, so well worth trying to get hold of one. They are usually available from Homebrew suppliers. A floppy tube in the beer is a right pain as it often curls round in a 'U' shape, comes out the top of the liquid and starts to siphon air, which means having to start the process over again. The straight pipe stays put, making the whole process a lot easier, and a lot less messy.
