If you don't need razor precision, You could always use an analog bathroom scale.
Edit: 1MadScientist beat me to it!
Edit: 1MadScientist beat me to it!
Have you guys been reading the yeast immobilization threads? I'm hopeful this could be a new thing in our closed systems. Very interesting stuff and of course suspect in the brewing world. So far the experiment produced a clean brew with low krausen and very low sedimentation. Check it out!
-MG- said:I know some people have had great success with long D-rest's of up to two weeks. Also during this D-rest should I start just allowing the pressure to build up a bit? It looks like if I was around 15-16 PSI overall that would get me around 1.7 volume co2, which isn't terrible far off the end result.
I would go ahead and set it to carb at what temperature it is at when you pull it out for a d-rest. Then again, I'd probably let it stay in the primary temps until I hit 70-75% attenuated, then pull and set for carb at my d-rest temps. That's just me though.
-MG- said:Thanks! Since fermentation is accelerated, by the time I took the next sample and let it degas I was already at 69% attenuation. At that time I took it out of the fridge and letting it rise to my basement temp around 66. I plan to leave it there for about a week and plan to ramp up the PSI to my desired carb level.
MikeSpike said:Using Beer Plugs® (15PSI gauge or 30PSI absolute) on 3-liter SODA bottles work great for pressure fermentation. They are special caps that vent pressure above a threshold with high quality, inexpensive one-way valves. Soda bottles (which will hold over 100PSI) make great pressure vessels. The Beer Plugs® were mainly designed to use in the racking/finishing stage for those who bottle prime. But you can get them for the 3-liter PET soda bottles #AND# you can get them for glass growlers. Both are much less costly than pin-lock or ball-lock cornies, which'll be around fifty bucks most anywhere. Here's how they work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrkRywBhuPM&feature=youtu.be
RoundKid said:Would one of you who ferments in an unmodified sankey be willing to detail your yeast washing procedure for me?
I have been making a larger starter and saving some of that, but I would like to be able to save larger quantities from my lagers to minimize the number of starter steps I need.
WortMonger said:Easy, slowly let out the pressure in the keg once beer is transferred. Then I used a coke bottle with bottom cut off for funnel on the beer port on the connector to fill with sterilized water. Once filled, shake keg and push out all the yeast you can into your collection vessel. Now wash as normal from this point on. Slowly releasing the pressure is key or the yeast will explode.
RoundKid said:What do you mean when you say slowly? Over an hour? A day?
How much water do you typically add?
Thanks.
How did the ramp go? Did you get up to wanted CO2 volumes? Just curious how well it worked for you.
...not sure how easy it would be to use with my immersion chiller.
haeffnkr said:Hi All,
I have read through this thread and the majority of the people do not cut the dip tubes, but I dont understand why?
I have about 1 to 1 1/2" of yeast and trub in my 6.5 gallon fermenters.
I usually scale up my recipes to finish at 6.75 gallons of wort in the kettle so that end up with 5 gallons of clear beer in my serving keg.
So with this pressurized system if I dont cut the sanke spear short I will get pint(s) of sludge any time I try to get a sample or when I transfer.
Please help me understand this process.
thanks Kevin
The type of chiller doesn't matter, how do you transfer from the kettle? Do you use an auto-syphon or do you have a valve?
I've read through most of this thread over the past few months and decided to give this approach a try on my next brew day. I've got one question (probably more later) on the process: what's the most effective way of pitching yeast? I've seen two approaches mentioned here:
1. Remove spear, transfer wort to keg/fermenter, pitch yeast, re-insert spear. Issue with this is you are not purely closed-system from kettle to fermenter; plus dealing with a sanke keg spear is a big unknown for me so I'm not sure if it will cause issues when trying to close it back up. Not sure if either is really an issue.
2. Pitch yeast into chilled wort in brew kettle (I use an immersion chiller), then transfer to keg/fermenter through tap's beer-out port. Issue with this is I'll be using a hop filter on the kettle output; I'm thinking the filter might block some yeast, especially if gummed up with hop & break.
I'm still in system-testing mode; my spunding valve seems to be controlling pressure nicely:
Hi All,
I have read through this thread and the majority of the people do not cut the dip tubes, but I dont understand why?
I have about 1 to 1 1/2" of yeast and trub in my 6.5 gallon fermenters.
I usually scale up my recipes to finish at 6.75 gallons of wort in the kettle so that end up with 5 gallons of clear beer in my serving keg.
So with this pressurized system if I dont cut the sanke spear short I will get pint(s) of sludge any time I try to get a sample or when I transfer.
Please help me understand this process.
thanks Kevin
mchase79 said:So I have read a bunch of the stuff here and am getting ready to start pressure brewing. But I have one question how long do you let the beer sit after primary fermentation for carbonation.
haeffnkr said:2 questions please -
People have no issues with a picnic tap and the 30 ish pounds pressure created with this process, when the picnic tap is used to sample the beer/fermentation?
I saw one post where a guy lost his whole batch to a failed picnic tap and 20 pounds of pressure.
Next question-
When transferring out of the sanke I will draw off the yeast/beer until it runs clear ....then put it in the serving corny kegs.
Then what?
Do you stop right before you empty the fermenter in order to not blow the remaining yeast back into the serving keg or is that not an issue like when you empty a serving keg...I assume it is?
thanks Kevin
Why the second gas connection you ask? WHY NOT. No it's so I can carbonate a second keg with the pressure if I wanted. I haven't tried it, but it'll work in theory right??? I don't plan on fully carbonating with it, but I suppose anything helps.
-I've seen people increase pressure as fermentation progressed. Should I change pressure in proportion to gravity changes?
-If it gets hotter, should I compensate with more pressure?
-Is there such a thing as too much pressure? Physical limitations aside.