Last Sunday I decided to transfer my first batch of Woodeford’s Wherry to its pressure barrel for secondary fermentation. Here’s a picture of the barrel when I opened it up.
Whoodeford's Wherry after primary fermentation
The beer smelled really floral and exciting. I took a sample of it into a plastic test tube with my siphon. Here’s a photo of the equipment and the sample:
A sample of Woodforde's Wherry in a test tube with siphon
I noticed that the bubbles in the sample were no longer rising, so I placed the hydrometer in the beer. It read about 1010 degrees, which is acceptable. I’d rather have it stronger but I was worried about leaving it becoming infected after having breached the airtight seal. Of course, at this point I had a taste. I liked it but couldn’t help thinking that it is weird that having something that has literally just died in your drink could be nice.
This hydrometer reads about 1010 degrees
I decided at this point that as the conditions were good to start secondary fermentation and that it was time to transfer the beer to the pressure barrel. Before I could do that, however, I had first to sterilise the barrel with some more of the powder from the kit.
Sterilising a pressure barrel
After sterilisation, I washed the barrel thoroughly to remove any trace of the sterilising agent. I am making 40 pints so before adding the beer, I added about 100g of sugar to kick start the secondary fermentation process.
Acquired it from the kitchen
I set the beer on a chair in order to enable a proper siphon action and transferred it into the pressure barrel:
Siphoning on top of the bathroom.
I capped it. I had spilt loads of sugar around the cap. It was annoying and I had to clean it off, so next time I will be using a funnel. Then I transported it off to a warm room for a couple off days.
Here it is in the "brewdoire..."
Finally I put it in the workshop where it’s a bit chillier than the rest of the house.
Chillin' in the workshop
I’m leaving it there for five weeks. What will probably happen, though, is that I’ll forget about it in a bit. It will be a nice surprise when I find it again. Woohoo!
