lud

Recipes 

I've tried to find that podcast, but couldn't....thanks though!

MalFet

Recipes 

It's one of the BrewStrong Q&As, though I can't say for sure which one. I wouldn't look too hard. It's like an 8 second answer, the entire content of which is: "don't see the point, but no harm to it; less ester production".

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lud

Recipes 

Thanks man...

kpr121

Recipes 

Okay, I’ll come clean…

I have to say that after my experiences with SV fermenting I somewhat agree with Jamil’s “Why bother” comment. I did about 8-10 pressurized ferments in cornies (even raved about the cool new approach on this thread!) and while I didn’t have a bad batch (at least not specifically due to the pressure ferment), I can’t say that my beer was any better. My last 5 or 6 batches I’ve gone back to regular fermenting. To me I felt the only advantage was being able to carb the beer naturally and essentially have a quicker beer. But if you have a good enough pipeline you generally don’t need a quick beer. I can still rack over to a keg after a week, add some sugar and let the yeast carb it up naturally if I want.

I am happy that I experimented and may even pull the setup back out sometime whenever I need a grain to glass beer in 14 days, but the majority of my primary ferments will only see the pressure of an inch of water in my airlocks from now on.

Here’s the major reasons why I stopped:

-I used corny kegs. It was difficult to ferment a batch that I could end up with 5 gallons of drinkable beer. This meant that kegs were kicking slightly more often.

-When I pushed the limits of volume, I got blowoff that I had to then clean out of tubing, filter housing, spunding valve, etc. Fermcap-S and a little bit of head pressure helped, but if for whatever reason the pressure dropped to zero in the first few days, I had blowoff to deal with for the next week. Which leads me to the next point:

-Pressure was tough to maintain with my cheapo spunding valve. One day it wouldnt regulate any pressure and with a quarter turn of the adjustment valve it would shoot up to 20 psi. Since I already spent the money I wasnt going to buy a better one after the fact.

-Cornies with crusty krausens and break material are a PITA to get completely clean. I can have a used bucket fermenter completely clean in 5 minutes with hot water and a soft rag or sponge.

-I was using more CO2 (unnecessarily) to transfer from ferment keg to serving keg. My beers are generally consumed quickly enough that I don’t have to worry about oxidation from regular racking practices.

-Less cornies available in rotation for upcoming beers or long term storage of wines/meads/ciders. This wasn’t a problem at the time (I have 11 cornies available in rotation) but if that pipeline gets big enough I would be purchasing more.

Please note that these are the reasons why I personally stopped, and different people with different equipment and processes may not have the same issues. It mostly just came back to the added complexity of the process for me. Sure I could go out and spend $300 dollars on sanke kegs, triclamp fermenting adaptors, higher end valves and pressure gauges, but at the end of the day I would rather spend the money on my next bulk grain/hops purchase.

To each his own I guess....

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Primary: Two Hearted Ale (3/31/13 - WLP029 and Bells Strain), Elin (Blonde Pale) (2/23 - US05), Brown Trout Stout (2/23)
Kegged: Elin (Blonde Pale) (2/23), Brown Trout Stout (2/23), Miller Lite Clone (1/18), Apfelwein (12/31/12), Pliny Clone (12/28),
Bottled: Brown Trout Stout (2/23), Blueberry Brandy (12/31), Sterling Cream (12/1/12), Baby Day Mead 2012, Amarone 2011
Bulk Aging: Amarone 2012 (11/6/12), Grape Mead (2/12/12)
Up Next: ???? Suggestions?

WortMonger

Recipes 

I personally would not do this with small batches fermenting. I like the bigger Sanke I use for my process.

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MalFet

Recipes 

I dig it man. It's not for every circumstance, but ironically I've actually loved the process for many of the same reasons you cite.

I brew in a Manhattan apartment, and every square-foot of brew-stuff I keep may as well be paying $3/month rent. Plus, I was fighting a pernicious wild yeast infection that I couldn't for the life of me track down. I love the fact that my beer goes from kettle to bottle without exposure to air or contact with anything but stainless steel and sterilizable tubing. The fact that I barely need to refill my CO2 tank now (which is a PITA in NYC) is a bonus.

I ferment in cornys and get about 44-45 12oz bottles from a batch, which is just a smidge below standard. I fill to the weld line, use fermcap, and typically get about 2-6oz of blowoff. Cleanup is actually pretty easy with a water-trap between the keg and the spunding valve.

But, the benefits are only benefits if they solve problems. If the things that pressurized fermentation avoids didn't seem like problems in the first place, I probably wouldn't bother either.

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onederbrew

Recipes 

The new Onderbrew system released at the Aha conference ferments very well under pressure Chris White was very helpful and had alot of good things to say.

henryred

Recipes 

I have first and second batch going right now. First one should be ready for transfer to final keg this sat. we shall see how it tastes after 2 weeks

MalFet

Recipes 

It's a neat idea, and seems to be well implemented. If you ever make a steel one, I'll snatch it up in a second.

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E-Mursed

Recipes 

I initially brewed a Blonde Ale and everything went well. I do need a blow-off for the first day or two, even though I used Fermcap during the transfer from pot to keg. I have transferred the Blonde Ale to a second keg and was amazed at how clean the yeast was and enjoyed the taste of a carbed beer from the primary. It is now under gas and I will be enjoying it in another week.

My second beer under this system is an Imperial IPA. Big blow-off from this one even though I used Fermcap again, and the ferment was vigorous. Primary ferment has subsided and my spunding valve is set at 10psi. Gonna let it set for another week and then put it in keezer for cold crash of 2 weeks.

Both batches were done with Nottingham yeast, and in 5 gallon cornie kegs.

Not sure if I should be getting better result from the Fermcap, but it seems like it could work a little better. I know that I shouldn't expect too much from it when it comes to a 1.080 beer. Just seems other people get better results with it than I do.

Anyway....here is a pic of my Imperial IPA in the cornie keg.

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Closed-System Pressurized Fermentation - the future of homebrewing...!!!

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