Beer Engine setup conditioning etc

[Ralph]

Hi all, 

 

A friend of mine mentioned they have a beer engine sitting around which I could use. I really like the idea, but am unsure how I should go about setting it up. Is anyone able to help me out by letting me know what the easiest/best way to set up a home beer engine is? At the moment I am simply bottling my beer. For a beer engine what should I be putting the beer in to condition, how should I be conditioning it etc. What sort of vessel do you use to pump the beer out of, and how do you prevent the beer from getting oxidised etc.

 

I currently have a Bookbinder Clone in the fermenter, and it should be almost finished primary by the weekend. I am sure this would be a very suitable beer to have on the beer engine!

 

Thanks for any info!

 

 

[Pilgrim]

I bought a collapsible water container from the local camping supplier and after washing and sanitising, filled it with beer. With the tap at the top I made sure I got as much air out as possible and then the last air was sucked out by the beer engine. The bladder was put into a chilli bin and Ice added to cool it down.

After three weeks the beer was as fresh as the day I put it in.

I did think that I could detect a slight plastic taste but that could have been my imagination. I’m sure after a couple of brews and several cleans it will be right.

Photo of the empty bladder attached.

 

[Ralph]

Excellent idea! I will have a look at the collapsible water containers! I had thought of wine bladders, but did not know where I might be able to pick some of these up.

 

How about the half pint sitting in the beer engine and the stuff in the hoses? Was the first beer off the tap ok to drink, or did you need to pump this stuff out? I am just thinking that if I only have a couple of pints a night that I might end up throwing half the beer away... I guess I could always use this method for the evenings when I have a few people around and we would drink a few pints between us!

 

Also did you condition your beer before putting it into the water container? Interested in how you did this?

[Tom C]

I don't think you'd want to prime the beer before putting on the pump - would get way to lively when you pulled it.  The conditioning is simply continuing/secondary fermentation in whatever container you use.

 

I've been using 2L plastic bottles recently ('cos I find that a nice volume to drink in one sitting).  Easy to squeeze any air out when racking, chill as required, no problems with oxidation because of left overs and easy to swap between different beers.  Just open the bottle, slip the beer line down to the bottom and pull away!

[Ralph]

Thanks. 2L bottles sound like a reasonable option too. So I take it that you just bottle into the 2L bottles with no priming, leave them a few weeks to condition and you are good to go... and that the same would work for bladders or collapsible water containers.

 

Hmm the wine style bag in box seems like a reasonable option for this style of beer. I wonder if it is possible to find new wine bags. Anyone ever seen these around?

 

 

 

[Tom C]

Not even a few weeks, remember there's no carbonation to take place.  After two weeks in the fermenter and a chill it's clear as a bell.  I start drinking it on the pump straight away.

If anything I've noticed deterioration in the beer after about 6 or 8 weeks, so I think it pays to drink it fresh.

[Matt Smith]

Hey Dash,
Ive been thinking of making a DIY handpump, the 2L bottle idea sounds awesome. I'm curious though, are not cask ales primed with sugar with a target of around 1 volume of CO2? Whenever Ive had cask beer there is atleast a small amount of effervescence going on, or is there generally enough residual CO2 post fermentation when using your method ?

[Ralph]

I had been wondering that too. Maybe there is enough dissolved CO2 present in the beer from the fermentation (especially if it was fermented at a cooler temperature?) to give some impression of effervescence?

 

I guess if putting into 2L bottles it would be easy enough to prime with a very small amount to give low level carbonation. If in bladders/collapsible container I am unsure it would work so well as the CO2 produced would blow up the bladder??

[Ralph]

Sweet. I was thinking of conditioning for flavour changes over time rather than for carbonation. For example the Irish Red I bottled a month ago was not so flash when I first tried it a couple of weeks ago, but I am really enjoying it now 4 weeks later...

 

However the APA I bottled I was drinking a couple of weeks later and loving it, and it was almost all gone by 4 weeks later...

 

I guess it depends on the style of beer as to whether it will need conditioning? How long are people willing to leave a beer in a secondary fermenter to condition before being worried about the beer deteriorating?