Using pressure to transfer from Carboy?

bduane · 02-03-2012, 01:37 AM

Anybody have any info on using pressure to transfer from a carboy to a keg?

I'd like to be able to purge the keg of O2 (easy) and seal the carboy and purge it of O2, and attach the two together and apply a few PSI to the carboy to transfer to the keg. This would avoid aeration/infection risk, and i was also thinking i could clean/sanitize/fill sanke kegs without ever taking the spear out.

Anybody have part numbers? Is there a "Cap" for a better bottle with the two ports? Will a racking cane fit into one of the ports snugly to act as the pickup tube? What kind of connectors would be needed to hook up gas to one of these caps?

**cl330b** · 02-03-2012, 01:48 AM

I love this method of transfer. It doesn't take anywhere near 14 PSI in my experience unless my regulator isn't accurate. I use a racking cane pushed through one of the nipples on the carboy cap. I have a beer out ball lock connection attached to a hose on the end of the cane and a regulator fitting on the other nipple of the carboy cap. It works great!

bduane · 02-03-2012, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cl330b

Attachment 46289

I love this method of transfer. It doesn't take anywhere near 14 PSI in my experience unless my regulator isn't accurate. I use a racking cane pushed through one of the nipples on the carboy cap. I have a beer out ball lock connection attached to a hose on the end of the cane and a regulator fitting on the other nipple of the carboy cap. It works great!

nice! do you use this with a better bottle or glass carboy?

**Golddiggie** · 02-03-2012, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bduane

nice! do you use this with a better bottle or glass carboy?

Orange cap for Better Bottles, red cap for glass carboys. The orange also works for sanke kegs. I've been using a slight variation on this for anwhile now. I'm taking it another notch by fitting my fermentation kegs (sanke kegs) with gas ball lock posts. I'm working on making a Tri-Clove cap made specifically to do this too. I'll be meeting with a couple of machine shop people (two different shops) either this weekend or before next. I hope to be able to get them to do the machining for me without busting my wallet.

bduane · 02-03-2012, 02:27 AM

Also, does anyone have success cleaning kegs without opening them? If i could clean sanke kegs without opening them, it would be much less hassle than using corny kegs.

I'd like to fill a keg with a hot PBW mixture, let it soak, drain it out, run a couple batches of water through it, then run a little bit of star san into it an shake it up and drain it out. This would clean and sanitize my whole system, assuming I can trust the PBW to do a good enough job!

Anyone clean kegs this way?

**cl330b** · 02-03-2012, 02:33 AM

Glass carboys. This method is real easy on the back though! No lifting to siphon. I did have to put a hose clamp around the nipple with the cane because the cane would tilt and gas would escape. As you can see, the silicone tube is what i used to join the beverage tube to the carboy cap nipples. This is one of the most useful pieces of gear I use. It really doesn't take a lot of pressure to get it going.

**FSR402** · 02-03-2012, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cl330b

Attachment 46289

I love this method of transfer. It doesn't take anywhere near 14 PSI in my experience unless my regulator isn't accurate. I use a racking cane pushed through one of the nipples on the carboy cap. I have a beer out ball lock connection attached to a hose on the end of the cane and a regulator fitting on the other nipple of the carboy cap. It works great!

Same setup I have. Orange cap with a racking cane thru the center post and a small band clamp to hold cane at the height I want and to seal it up. A 3/8's gas line slid over the other post (makes a tight fit so no clamp needed. On the other end of the gas line is a Quick connect so it just snaps onto my CO2 system and it's ready. I use a band clamp on the cap to make sure it seals and stays on the carboy also.

**cl330b** · 02-03-2012, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSR402

Same setup I have. Orange cap with a racking cane thru the center post and a small band clamp to hold cane at the height I want and to seal it up. A 3/8's gas line slid over the other post (makes a tight fit so no clamp needed. On the other end of the gas line is a Quick connect so it just snaps onto my CO2 system and it's ready. I use a band clamp on the cap to make sure it seals and stays on the carboy also.

I like the quick-disconnect idea and the clamp around the cap. How much pressure does it take for you to transfer?

**TomSD** · 02-03-2012, 06:08 PM

Similar setup except on the gas side I have a spear from a bayonet that I just push into the outlet on the cap and on the other I use a tube without the fitting so I can fill my sample tube first. The spear is a safety valve of sorts if pressure builds up it gets spit out before anything else fails.

**FSR402** · 02-03-2012, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cl330b

I like the quick-disconnect idea and the clamp around the cap. How much pressure does it take for you to transfer?

2 - 10 psi depending on how fast I want it to move.

I have 2 CO2 tanks. One is in my kegerator and the other I use for everything else. I have it setup with QC's and everything I do with it has hoses setup with QC's so it's just an unplug and pug in the hose I need. One for pushing carboys, one for carbing thru the out post of a korny (purging too) and one for purging/pushing my conicals.