Just a note (if you’re keeping track) that the beer was racked at the weekend (put into a barrel) and proofed with about 80g of fairtrade cane sugar.  I use cane sugar as it leaves less flavour changes in the beer.

When you rack beer, you’re basically taking the beer off the trub.  Trub is spent yeast that settles at the bottom of the primary fermentation vessel.

Usually I either wash it down the sink or compost it, however this time round I tried an experiment (see next blog post)

There is still some yeast in suspension in the beer – this is often seen as a clouding effect or haze on the pint.  By adding the 80g of sugar in the keg I’ve racked to the yeast will reactivate and produce a little more alcohol and more carbon dioxide.  This CO2 will ensure that infection doesn’t sit on the top of the beer and will give it a very slight fizz.

After racking it is left in place for a couple of days in a warm location and then transferred somewhere cooler – in my case the dark corner of the garage for as long as possible.  Mine will now rest in place for about a month or so.