Hello All,
I’m an all grain home brewer. I have always bottled my beers and then carefully poured into glasses leaving the yeast layer behind. I finally made a larger batch and am going to use these small one gallon kegs. I’m concerned though about that yeast layer. How do I avoid mixing it into each glass / mug of beer poured? Will that layer be left behind just by the way the keg is shaped and the tap fits or will the first couple squirts remove the yeast layer?
Thank you,
John
Pretty much the same way a larger keg works. Hook it up, let it settle and don’t move it around. The first glass will have some yeast in it and the rest will be clear. The glass you look at and go “WOW! That’s the cleanest beer I’ve ever poured!” will the second last glass in the keg. 8^)
Paul
Hey Paul,
Thanks for the quick reply. So if I got this right, the first glass (maybe not even a whole glass) will contain the majority of the yeast. After that the rest will be clear? Even the last glass? The only experience I’ve ever had with regular kegs is I just bought one, cut the top off and made a brew pot of it.
Thanks again,
John
As my kegs are carbing up, I’ll pour a small sample every day or two to check on carbonation. This has the added advantage of clearing out any remaining yeast/trub as it settles out in the keg. I have a bunch of 4oz taster glasses that work perfect for this - I usually have about 2 gallons in my kegs so I don’t want to waste a lfull pint each tine I draw a sample.
Hey Eric. Thanks for that. Yeah, the kegs I have are really small 1 gallon size. They have a pull-out type spigot at the base and a place for a tap on the top. I’m figuring the tap is going to be the best way to remove the yeast. It might seem like I’m really going a bit far with this topic, but believe me. A few years ago when I started brewing I wasn’t so careful about that yeast layer in the bottles and ended up with the sh*#$ pretty bad a few times. I just don’t want a repeat of that by any means. So thank you.
John
As long as your beer drops fairly bright in the fermentor before you rack into your mini kegs yeast shouldn’t be a problem. Even you first pour will be pretty clean if you are care on the front end.
The yeast that come out in the first glass or two is what has settled around the point of exit from the keg. Once that gets blown out (assuming the keg isn’t disturbed) should be pretty clean.
The last glass before the keg blows will normally be crystal clear. The next draw will be some beer, a lot of foam, a hiss of gas and the swearing from the brewer who just realized his keg is empty. ;D
Paul
Thank you all very much.