Corny Keg as Secondary?

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cd2448

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I've noticed a few times people have mentioned using corny kegs as secondaries. I appreciate that fermentation is for the most part done, but wouldn't you need an airlock for this? Or can you use the pressure release on the keg once in a while to reduce pressure that builds up?
 
I purge with co2 and then seal the keg. From there I release almost all the pressure. I keep the release valve shut and vent it every couple days. You won't build up much pressure in there, but I like some to blanket the top...
 
If you do build up too much pressure, you've racked it way too soon. However, even if you do end up with 20 psi, it's not a big deal at all. No harm in half carbing while you clear except for the fact that you'll lose a lot of it when you rack over to the serving keg unless you do it under counterpressure. This works really well if you take the bottom 1/4" off the dip tubes.
 
So I'd have to rack from 2ndary corny to serving corny if I was kegging? Hmmm. I was wondering if I could serve out of the 2ndary corny. Because I am lazy.

I see kegs in my future, seems inevitable, really. That and all grain, growing your own hops, blah blah.
 
cd2448 said:
So I'd have to rack from 2ndary corny to serving corny if I was kegging? Hmmm. I was wondering if I could serve out of the 2ndary corny. Because I am lazy.

I see kegs in my future, seems inevitable, really. That and all grain, growing your own hops, blah blah.

Yeah you can serve from the secondary corny but you'll lose like 1-2 pints to sediment. Not the big of a deal IMO...
 
cd2448 said:
So I'd have to rack from 2ndary corny to serving corny if I was kegging? Hmmm. I was wondering if I could serve out of the 2ndary corny. Because I am lazy.

I see kegs in my future, seems inevitable, really. That and all grain, growing your own hops, blah blah.

That's what I do. Use the secondary as a serving cornie.

But I do not lose 1-2 pints.

In my experience I only draw about 8-10 oz. that have sediment. Maybe I'm
doing a better job racking I don't know. But after that 8-10 oz. my beer is clear.
But either way you'll lose a little either by racking to a 2nd keg or by tossing a beer or 2 away. But by using the cornie as a secondary and serving keg it's 1 less thing to clean and sanitize.

I haven't cut anything off the dip tube but I suspect the effect would be the same. Rather than have 8-10 oz that I'd throw away I'd have 8-16 oz. I could not get.

You do need to be careful about moving the keg around because there will be some sediment in the bottom. If I intend to take the keg to a party then I would rack to a 2nd keg to keep from resuspending the sediment.

The really great thing is you can rack from the secondary without exposing your beer to oxygen. You can use co2 pressure to rack upwards, no need for gravity. Plus using the secondary as a serving keg you never expose you beer to oxygen except during the rack from the primary
 

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