Few Q's Re: Kegging/fwt/safale Vs Cpa Reculture

[ben_sa]

Hey guys,

Ok well, its been about 3 years since i put down a brew, back in the day, i only got as far as kit and booster packs, but this time around, ive decided to do it properly, have ordered my kegs, which will be here tuesday (5 days) and just went out and bought a FWT (only cos im lazy and need a brew to be ready ASAP lol)

a couple of questions though as i want to put this brew down ASAP

1: If i brew this down and transfer to my keg before i have my CO2 bottle, will i run into any probs? I mean transfer into keg and place straight into about 2.C, or should i simply wait until i have my gas here so i can gas it straight away?

OR

if, when fermentation is complete, should i rack and place into another fermenter to CC until my gas arrives,

OR

Should i simply place the main fermenter in the fridge once ferment is complete, along with airlock, thus not opening the fermenter until it is time to actually place straight into keg and gas..... only problem i could see here is yeast infecting the beer (is it called osmosis or soemthing? when you leave it on the yeast cake for too long once ferment is complete)

The GAS will be here on the 30th December, so that would mean about a week between ferment finishing, and gas going into the keg

2: I got Safale s-04 with the FWT (aussie pale), being a CPA/CSA drinker, i know yeast plays a massive part in the flavour profiles, but the FWT has to be made up to 20Ltrs, if i add 5 litres, then 1-1.5L of my recultured yeast, will i have any problems? or just lower alc content and an extra 2 litres to bottle? Also, whats your choice of the two? Saf or CPA Yeast?

I have been perusing back through the forums to try and find the answers but havent found any Direct answers so thought id post, sorry if ive missed an obvious posting in here.....


hope this isnt too confusing and someone can help

Cheers
Ben_sa

 

[Bribie G]

I ordered my kegs and racked two brews into them, primed with 80 g of sugar as if they were giant bottles, and they sat there for around 3 weeks until I got the kegerator. They sat quite happily at room temperature. Then a few days before the kegerator arrived I put one into my lagering fridge (only big enough to fit one) and chilled it, and it served perfectly 10 minutes after the kegerator was installed.


Re the yeast, I would definitely reculture some CSA if you have time. As for the beer being in prolonged contact with the yeast (autolysis) it's unlikely to occur in your time frame, the keg is just like a giant home brew bottle really.

Edit; after a few days of keg conditioning I burped out a bit of gas on a couple of occasions to flush the headspace of the keg.

 

[ben_sa]

being that youve added 80g or so of sugar, then when you gas them..... does that mean they took less gas than they would otherwise had you not added the sugar? No other issues?

Autolysis, thats the one

 

[ben_sa]

After reading another post regarding having a keg that wont fit in the fridge, I think i might just have to put it off until i get my gas

 

[tdh]

I've got gas

re autolysis, don't worry about it, it's an old Grumpys homebrew myth.
Unless you leave beer on a yeast cake for a very long time at warm temps then you'll risk autolysis.

tdh

 

[ben_sa]

does anyone else have any helpful info?

 

[ben_sa]

TDH: Should i leave it in the PRIMRARY fermenter and then put in the fridge? then when kegs and gas are here, rack into keg, gas, and away we go?

OR

Rack into keg, place in fridge and wait the week or so for gas?

What would you do?