Kegging and Priming Day!

***Sunday 07/17/2005***

We have finally reached week 3 for Howies Celebration Bier and it is time to rack the finished beer into a keg and prime it! After gathering the equipment and sterlizing everything, the transfer commences. The picture shows the brew(Howies' Celebration Bier) being siphoned off into the 5 gal corny keg. I usually just keg the beer then force carbonate it with my CO2 system, but this time I wanted to prime the keg with 1/2 cup of corn sugar which is boiled in 1/2 pint of water for 10 minutes. Before adding the priming sugar to the keg, it is cooled off to 70 deg F. While adding, the brew is stirred and the primer is mixed very well. The keg is then sealed with 10-/12 lbs PSI and purged of atmosphere, then allowed to carbonate for a minimum of 3 weeks. (I like to wait at least 5 weeks before I try a pint) During each week I find it necessary to add some CO2 to the keg to maintain the 10-12 lbs of pressure while carbonating.

After inspecting the New Castle Nut Brown Ale clone for clairity and FG (final gravity), I decided to keg this brew today as well and save myself some work and time. I primed this brew with 2/3 cup of M&F Extra Light Dry Malt Extract, boiled for the usual 10 minutes in 3/4 pint of water, then cooled to 70 deg F before adding to the kegged beer. Then the same procedure will be followed as for the carbonation and addition of CO2 when needed.

The photo above shows the beer being racked into a keg. You can also see the triple manifold gage setup on the pegboard, the CO2 tank on the bottom right, the temperature controller on peg board to maintain constant cooling temps and the custom kegerator that I built from a freezer, to dispense the brew with 4 taps. Now all we have to do is to wait until it is time to "pull a pint".

The peach wine is still fermenting out and should take a few more weeks to get the SG (specific gravity) down to the required level in order to add more sugar syrup. It smells awesome, but has a long time to go. (about 7 months)

I am now planning the next 2 brews to be made soon. An IPA and a Scottish Red Strong Ale. I will be ordering the ingredients this week and getting things ready to go! When I get close to another brew day, I will post the exact receipe's that I will be using.

Well, thats all for now. Cheers!