Closed-system pressurized fermentation technique!

RiverCityBrewer said:

It would need to be in the locked (down) position as that opens the gas and liquid valves into the keg.

Click to expand...

Perfect, thanks! That's what I figured when I was messing around with it, just wanted to make sure I had it right.

I did a batch and forgot to engage the lever. I thought I had abused my yeast when I had no pressure after 2 days. When I figured out what was wrong and engaged the lever, the gauge was pegged. The faceful of yeast I received is a reminder for me to always check the lever before I put the keg to bed.

As far as dry hopping goes...I've had good luck with my 15 gal batch, pressure transfer through a filter into 3 cornies with a paint bag full of dry hops in the bottom of the keg. I just serve out of these until the beer is gone. No bad flavors or anything like that no matter how long the beer sits on the hops.

Yeah I guess I'm lucky that the valve was pointed away from me although it was hard not to get wet regardless. If I know I will be drinking the beer relatively fast I think straight into the serving keg is fine but if it's going to last a while I would be worried about over hopping (if that's at all possible). No data to back me up on this assumption of course... More worried about making it extra green/grassy than deliciously hoppy.

cino101 said:

. More worried about making it extra green/grassy than deliciously hoppy.

Click to expand...

remember, IPA's went on a 5-7 month ocean voyage while dry hopped.. longer isn't going to hurt it..

Mysticmead said:

remember, IPA's went on a 5-7 month ocean voyage while dry hopped.. longer isn't going to hurt it..

Click to expand...

Hasn't anyone heard of breweries now a days limiting dry hop time to 5-7 days to avoid vegetal flavors?

I've heard of that a couple times on BN interviews.

I try to put all my IPA's on a boat for 5-7 months while on dry hops. Modern techniques be damned.

so I'm hearing 2 weeks and an IPA 7% is ready with this technique..

So does this taste better than a bucket fementor or is just faster?

also..Do hops also taste better using this technique as in... does it taste like I just added 1 more oz of hops or does it also give a better flavor profile of the hops.

have you guys compared same recipe using the 2 different techniques?

Hey guys, thanks for this great thread. I've got a couple questions, and I'll admit to reading a lot of it, but not all 1127 previous posts So I apologize if these have already been answered.

Background: I've got a Brewhemoth, and am making 15-20 gallon batches. I keg in Cornelius kegs.

Wiki said:

Another approach, that I do not consider Closed-System Pressurized Fermentation only as far as this article is concerned, is to ferment open (meaning normally, like with a blow-off tube or an air-lock) and then "spund" at the last part of primary fermentation. This is done with the last 20% or so points of potential gravity so that you can still achieve natural carbonation.

Click to expand...

This is what I'd like to do with the Brewhemoth - it will hold pressure, so I want to cap it towards the end of fermentation. My concern with a fully closed ferment would be with blow-off exiting through the spunding valve. Even with my not-so-vigorous ferments, there always seems to be some gunk that is left in the blowoff tube. Do you find any issues in your ferments just using a spunding valve and no blowoff?

Wiki said:

Since you have carbonated beer at this point, you will have to use counter-pressure transfer to get from your primary fermentor to your serving keg...I always see the beer clear the line and hear bubbles in the keg, at which time I un-tap the serving/target keg and then the fermentor keg to stop the process.

Click to expand...

I also want to do this, but now I'm wondering how you know when the keg is full. Since I have 15+ gallons in the conical and only 5 gallon kegs, I can't use the method above. I'd really rather not let the beer come up into the OUT diptube, since that's already too late. I can't open the thing to look in, because there goes my counter pressure. Anyone have a good solution for this?

Thanks!

-Joe

I also want to do this, but now I'm wondering how you know when the keg is full. Since I have 15+ gallons in the conical and only 5 gallon kegs, I can't use the method above. I'd really rather not let the beer come up into the OUT diptube, since that's already too late. I can't open the thing to look in, because there goes my counter pressure. Anyone have a good solution for this?

Thanks!

-Joe

Click to expand...

Hey Joe,

Two options I can think of are:

1. Jumper one keg to another from 'IN' on the first to the 'OUT' (dip tube) on the second, that way when the first is full one next will start.

2. (the one I use) Use a scale. I have weighed my empty kegs and have written their 'dry' weights on them. 8.33 lbs is 1 gallon of water -- beer is similar enough for me. I add the weight of the keg to 41.65 and sit the keg on a scale while I transfer. I usually stop the transfer 0.5-1 lb from hitting the 5 gallon weight. OR you could zero the scale with the keg on it and transfer till just before 41.65.

I've done this about 7 times and so far its worked well.



Cheers!

nostalgia said:

Hey guys, thanks for this great thread. I've got a couple questions, and I'll admit to reading a lot of it, but not all 1127 previous posts So I apologize if these have already been answered.

Background: I've got a Brewhemoth, and am making 15-20 gallon batches. I keg in Cornelius kegs.

This is what I'd like to do with the Brewhemoth - it will hold pressure, so I want to cap it towards the end of fermentation. My concern with a fully closed ferment would be with blow-off exiting through the spunding valve. Even with my not-so-vigorous ferments, there always seems to be some gunk that is left in the blowoff tube. Do you find any issues in your ferments just using a spunding valve and no blowoff?

I also want to do this, but now I'm wondering how you know when the keg is full. Since I have 15+ gallons in the conical and only 5 gallon kegs, I can't use the method above. I'd really rather not let the beer come up into the OUT diptube, since that's already too late. I can't open the thing to look in, because there goes my counter pressure. Anyone have a good solution for this?

Thanks!

-Joe

Click to expand...

My volume is similar to yours but I ferment in a Sankey. I do 15 gal and use a blow off tube for the first 24-48 hours. Then put on the PRV and crank it up.

Hop particulate and other solids in the krausen will plug your PRV and make a keg bomb. I've done that many times settling on the technique I'm now using. If you whirpool your boil kettle for 15 min before chilling you can minimize how much hop particulate gets in the fermenter.

If you weigh a corny full of water it's somewhere between 45-50 pounds. I crash cool then counter pressure transfer my fully carbonated beer through a filter to 3 cornies. I put each corny on a scale while transferring and stop when I get close to the desired weight. Also, you'll see a sweat line on the side of the corny to indicate the beer level depending on ambient temp and humidity.

I would encourage you to try the technique. It's simple and works great!

Has anyone done this in a keg that isn't ever moved. I have a "huge" 7 foot tall crawl space under the house that I could put a couple of sankes down into to ferment in, but the access blows, and I wouldn't want to ever go down there (trapdoor in floor with no ladder). I could run lines to the kegs however...

Will silicone tubing and tube clamps hold the pressure between keg fittings and spunding valve located 5-7 feet above?

Could I effectively collect and wash yeast?

Could I clean well enough using a pbr then rinse then sanitize method without rocking the keg?

Wow that is asking alot. I'm not going to say that it can't be done because I've seen some people do some crazy things on here.

Silicon probably won't work. Use regular beerline (vinyl).

Yeast washing shouldn't be a problem. You can push sterile water into a kicked keg and then pull yeast slurry out.

Cleaning and sanitizing is where I thing it gets tricky. It will be nearly impossible to clean by simply pumping pbw in and out. Or at least it would take a whole bunch of rinsing.

Another issue that is worth mentioning is that you will be limited to you're brew selection, ie no dryhop no secondary additions, you would basically need to make only simple beers that are to be drank fairly quickly (don't want the beer sitting on trunk for a year) .

With all that being said, I would love to see you make this happen. (With pics) !

Help me think this through...

I just moved into a house, and previously have been doing everything in an apartment. I have been brewing large batches and keep about 35-40 gallons of beer fermenting or kegged at all times. In the past, I have fermented in carboys, buckets, and corny and 1/6 kegs because of limited space.

I am now able to get 3-4 sanky 1/2 kegs and have an idea for using a 7' tall crawl space under house to ferment.

The interesting thing is that it seems that the original entrance to the crawl space was sealed, and now there is only a small hatch in a closet to enter and exit.

There is enough room to get a keg down, and a window ac unit however.

I am thinking about building a foam insulated box that will hold 2-3 kegs and hook the ac unit up and a light bulb on a temp controller so that I can control the temp to 62-65 year round for fermenting ales. If this system worked, I would consider building another small chamber for lagering.

I would pump wort down to a clean fermenter through the beer out side. The gas in would be open to allow air to escape and beer enter. A spunding valve would then be attached to allow pressurized fermentation and so that the beer would be naturally carbed before serving.

After fermentation, I could transfer to another keg through the beer out using co2 to push.

I would catch the first 1/2 gallon in a gallon carboy for later yeast washing and trub removal. After the first gallon, I would use a filter to filter the beer before entering the second keg which would now become the serving vessel.

Next I suppose that I would pump 15 gallons of oxyclean down to keg, let it sit over night, and then flush with 8-10 gallons of water before filling with a sanitizer to be ready for the next batch.

1)Could i use the sanke adapted tap with a remote spunding valve for this?

2)Will the 3 stage cleaning do an adequate job for an unobserved and stationary clean?

3)Will catching a 1/2 gallon of the wort first, get the cake and trub to be saved for yeast washing?

4)Can u hook up a spunding valve 8 feet above keg to adjust and monitor?

5)What other issues and ideas can you add?

Knowing my curious nature, I expect that I will go down and check on it monthly, but over time maybe less...

benbradford said:

I am thinking about building a foam insulated box that will hold 2-3 kegs and hook the ac unit up and a light bulb on a temp controller so that I can control the temp to 62-65 year round for fermenting ales. If this system worked, I would consider building another small chamber for lagering.

I would pump wort down to a clean fermenter through the beer out side. The gas in would be open to allow air to escape and beer enter. A spunding valve would then be attached to allow pressurized fermentation and so that the beer would be naturally carbed before serving.

After fermentation, I could transfer to another keg through the beer out using co2 to push.

I would catch the first 1/2 gallon in a gallon carboy for later yeast washing and trub removal. After the first gallon, I would use a filter to filter the beer before entering the second keg which would now become the serving vessel.

Next I suppose that I would pump 15 gallons of oxyclean down to keg, let it sit over night, and then flush with 8-10 gallons of water before filling with a sanitizer to be ready for the next batch.

Click to expand...

I don't believe this to be a good idea... with the exception of if you could remove empty kegs for proper cleaning. Also that sounds like a lot of bent over work, but that is more of a "it's your preference" sort of thing. Let me address your following questions with a bit more detail on my opinions.

benbradford said:

1)Could i use the sanke adapted tap with a remote spunding valve for this?

2)Will the 3 stage cleaning do an adequate job for an unobserved and stationary clean?

3)Will catching a 1/2 gallon of the wort first, get the cake and trub to be saved for yeast washing?

4)Can u hook up a spunding valve 8 feet above keg to adjust and monitor?

5)What other issues and ideas can you add?

Knowing my curious nature, I expect that I will go down and check on it monthly, but over time maybe less...

Click to expand...

1) A remote spunding valve is completely doable. I feel a length of hose from your tap connector to the spunding valve is completely OK.

2) No, Cleaning the way you described will not work. The way the kegs are shaped they can only be cleaned by taking them apart, unless you are the brewery with a keg washer. Then the keg would be cleaned and filled upside-down, which is the only way to get everything out of the keg (gas port is below the top of the keg when upside-down). Cleaning as you mentioned will leave you with a dirty keg.

3) No, it will get the little bit of yeast around the end of the dip-tube and any yeast/trub that gets stirred up during the transfer. You are better off transferring the whole thing through your filter and then washing the fermentor after the beer is gone for your yeast. Another good reason to have the keg removable so you can shake it up good after adding your wash water.

4) Yes

5) I think I would not do this, but if you do... I would make the kegs removable. I would fill them in place, transfer them to a floor level keg with a filter, and then I would remove the fermentor keg as stated before.

I would definitely build a way to easily get down there if it were me. Great place to store/age your beer.

Thanks Wortmonger.

I was hoping that you would reply and kind of just thought about "pm"ing you to get your insight.


Ya, I went down there last night and it is only about 5 feet tall, and kind od a pain in the a$$ to move around with a bad entrance... It really is the keg washing that is the issue I suppose...

What if i were to put a bulkhead in bottom of keg to drain from and wash from top through the bottom?

benbradford said:

.

What if i were to put a bulkhead in bottom of keg to drain from and wash from top through the bottom?

Click to expand...

to me that would be adding another point of failure. if the bulkhead isn't pressure rated and it fails you have beer everywhere

Mysticmead said:

to me that would be adding another point of failure. if the bulkhead isn't pressure rated and it fails you have beer everywhere

Click to expand...

^^This!^^

To me, it sounds like you have a really great place to age beer/wine/mead in smaller containers, but I would leave the bulky fermentors and things on ground level. It will just be easier that way. I like your idea about the a/c unit and the foam walls for down there though. Maybe you could put a serving station above and close to your stored beer underneath and make it a storage/serving cellar. You could always throw some washed and sanitized kegs down there to transfer into from the ground floor and really have a cellar.

WortMonger said:

^^This!^^

To me, it sounds like you have a really great place to age beer/wine/mead in smaller containers, but I would leave the bulky fermentors and things on ground level. It will just be easier that way. I like your idea about the a/c unit and the foam walls for down there though. Maybe you could put a serving station above and close to your stored beer underneath and make it a storage/serving cellar. You could always throw some washed and sanitized kegs down there to transfer into from the ground floor and really have a cellar.

Click to expand...

Ya, I guessed that much about the pressure rating on another opening in keg.

So your idea is to ferment at ground level and then filter and push beer below to secondary keg for aging? I could then push it back up for transferring into serving kegs.

Or, are you saying that my three tap kegerator could be pulled apart to serve three kegs that are kept below? Could I just flush these kegs out without pulling apart to clean?

The idea sounds great. Brew, transfer to keg (probably fit in my current kegerator and be temp controlled) and ferment for 10-15 days under pressure before moving to keg in basement through filter and serving from there after it ages for whatever time chosen?

benbradford said:

So your idea is to ferment at ground level and then filter and push beer below to secondary keg for aging? I could then push it back up for transferring into serving kegs.

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly! If it were possible to have your serving faucets close enough to where you store the beer in the floor, then I would utilize the space as a true cellar and serve from there as well. This might mean more compartments or etc in your crawlspace to get you cellaring temperatures and serving temperatures, but that could be as simple as having the air conditioner in the serving chamber and a temperature controlled fan port into the cellaring chamber (ie computer fan hooked to a thermostat). Little more work, but how cool would it be to have all that stuff in the floor and utilize the topside for fermentation and cleaning.

Or, are you saying that my three tap kegerator could be pulled apart to serve three kegs that are kept below? Could I just flush these kegs out without pulling apart to clean?

Click to expand...

You could use your kegerator with as many taps as you had kegs to serve below. I would pull and clean every keg, every time. I know you are looking at it from a point of view of thinking it easier to leave the kegs down there, but to get the kegs truly clean they need to be on the floor level. I fill my kegs a little past the halfway point with oxy or PBW and let it sit upside-down for a time determined by just how dirty it was from fermentation. Sometimes it is a whole day, then I flip it right-side-up for another day. Serving kegs, I let sit an hour each side and flip.

I always rinse with regular water immediately after emptying the cleaner and then follow that rinse with a vinegar water rinse. Then I rinse with regular water, fill with about a gallon of Star-San solution, and seal everything up. I then purge with CO2, tap the keg with a unmodified tap connector, and serve the Star-San into a container to use later or another keg. There is always a little pressure left so I untap, flip the keg upside-down, let it sit a while to drain everything towards the top of the keg, then retap (this time with a modified tap connector; gas check valve removed and spigot attached to sanitize it while draining the dip tube clean of any remaining sanitizer) to sneeze the remaining sanitizer out of the keg and dip tube.

The idea sounds great. Brew, transfer to keg (probably fit in my current kegerator and be temp controlled) and ferment for 10-15 days under pressure before moving to keg in basement through filter and serving from there after it ages for whatever time chosen?

Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea. You can then use your kegerator as a fermentation chamber, run your serving lines from the crawlspace to the kegerator, and still serve from it. I would wrap the serving lines with insulation so they will be at the cooler temps of the serving chamber in the crawlspace as they run through the fermentation temperatures of the kegerator. Then, like I said before, you can have as many lines as you need running from the crawlspace to your taps. Talk about uni-tasking! Or, you could make a nice serving cabinet and have the kegerator completely empty to use for more fermentation space. The possibilities are endless.

I just won the grand prize in the raffle at the St Louis Brews Holiday Homebrew Competition. It was a Brewhemoth with all the bells and whistles (tri-clamps, pressurizer, chiller coil, even valves for a ready-to-go rig). Thanks to Josh and Dale for the fantastic donation.

I plan to install a spunding valve and run some pressurized fermentations, I am really intrigued by the method and am hoping it will give me results more like commercial craft brews that have excellent malt flavor. My only indecision is whether to make the adjustable spunding valve with gauge, or simply replace the 50psi relief valve on the pressurizer with 15psi relief valve.

Lennie said:

I just won the grand prize in the raffle at the St Louis Brews Holiday Homebrew Competition. It was a Brewhemoth with all the bells and whistles (tri-clamps, pressurizer, chiller coil, even valves for a ready-to-go rig). Thanks to Josh and Dale for the fantastic donation.

I plan to install a spunding valve and run some pressurized fermentations, I am really intrigued by the method and am hoping it will give me results more like commercial craft brews that have excellent malt flavor. My only indecision is whether to make the adjustable spunding valve with gauge, or simply replace the 50psi relief valve on the pressurizer with 15psi relief valve.

Click to expand...

15 psi won't be enough. For most of the beers I'm making 2.4 vol of CO2 at 65-68 degrees is 25 psi. So with a 15 you wouldn't be able to get there. Mine is 60 psi. I think most people use this one or the 30 psi one.

I also use a 60 psi. What I've noticed is between the three gauges I own, not every gauge reads true. Some are off by as much 2 psi- which I think matters. I've considered 'down grading' to 30 psi gauges because I've read the small range is more accurate. Furthermore, when you factor in the psi range of most beers- a 60 gauge is over kill. So while I own 60's if I had to do it all over again- I think I'd go 30. Hope that helps?

Thanks, I wasn't going to use the constant pressure relief valve for anything but the pressurized fermentation part but after reading some more in this thread (up to page 35) I did go ahead and also order the parts (valve and glycol gauge) for a 0.5-30psi spunding valve. I debated about the 60 but I don't have a problem using my CO2 tank to top things up as far as carbonation is concerned. I'll also chill the beer to some extent prior to filling the kegs, just not sure how low I can get the temp with the internal coil chiller and a bucket of coolant in my keezer. Should work for British bitters and the like that don't require the higher carbonation.

Appreciate the feedback.

Heres a pic of my spunding valve. McMaster Carr sent the 0.5-30psi valve and gauge super fast, it arrived today so I went to Lowes and stood there for 45 minutes until I found the parts I needed to plumb this baby up. Also shown is my new setup, I'll be trying to use the peltier wine cooler to chill a reservoir that'll pump through the internal cooling coil on the Brewhemoth. The spunding valve is on a QD on the pressurizing attachment.

I must confess that the very first thing I did to my new spunding valve was to put it carefully on the out side of a keg of German pils. Its one of those kegs with identical posts and I could have sworn the one side said 'out"' not "in". Oops. May have helped it seal though.

I brewed a 6gal batch of black IPA yesterday and pitched it in my Brewhemoth. Using US05 dry yeast so it hasn't taken off quite yet. I pitched another packet this morning and am going to replicate the batch so I have 12gal in the fermentor. Figured I'd go big for the inaugural run on this fermentor.

Awesome stuff there Lennie! Let us all know how it turns out for you.

My usual technique is to ferment in a sanke at 7psi, then ramp it up at the end to carb. I usually crash cool for a week, then counter pressure transfer to serving kegs.

Well, I've been busy lately and kind of preferred drinking off the fermenter keg to actually kegging it.

Is there some point at which autolysis or some other negative flavors will ruin my beer?

I'll probably keg tomorrow, but Sundays are my only day off right now and, well, it may not happen.

Thanks for the advice. Cheers!

there are people that ferment in the primary for well over a month.. of course that's not pressure fermented but I don't see how it would matter.

Mystic, theres usually some carryover of yeast in kegs and I've never had it negatively impact the beer.

Wortmonger, thanks for the encouragement.

I brewed another batch, it came out a little stronger and 5.5gal. The average OG for the total batch is 1.072, 11.3gal. I'll get two kegs plus some bottles for possible competition entries (if its any good). When I went to check the fermentor this morning the spunding valve read 5psi, I backed it off a little and heard the hiss so its working great. I'm going to raise it to 7psi and let it go a few days, then bump to 15psi.

The temperature is running 64F (taped a thermocouple to the cone of the fermentor), I have the recirculating chiller set at 60F. I'll see if this thing will hold the temp, its cool in the basement anyway.

I'm off to the races!

Dgonza9 said:

Is there some point at which autolysis or some other negative flavors will ruin my beer?

Click to expand...

I am sure there is a shorter time table due to there being more yeast, and under pressure. However; I am unsure how long this would be since we have proven the autolysis to be El CuCuy (the boogieman) in home-brewing on our "normal" fermentations, I would assume it to be just short of that. I am also thinking about bottle aged beers... that have yeast in them on purpose with no worry about autolysis. Of course, these beers are clean of old yeast prior to priming and pitching with healthy stuff before final packaging. I honestly wouldn't worry until I knew i needed to start worrying about it on our scale of production.

Mysticmead said:

there are people that ferment in the primary for well over a month.. of course that's not pressure fermented but I don't see how it would matter.

Click to expand...

Yep, my thoughts exactly... except that it is/probably a shorter timeframe than under normal practices (but this is just speculation on my part).

Lennie said:

Mystic, theres usually some carryover of yeast in kegs and I've never had it negatively impact the beer.

Wortmonger, thanks for the encouragement.

I brewed another batch, it came out a little stronger and 5.5gal. The average OG for the total batch is 1.072, 11.3gal. I'll get two kegs plus some bottles for possible competition entries (if its any good). When I went to check the fermentor this morning the spunding valve read 5psi, I backed it off a little and heard the hiss so its working great. I'm going to raise it to 7psi and let it go a few days, then bump to 15psi.

The temperature is running 64F (taped a thermocouple to the cone of the fermentor), I have the recirculating chiller set at 60F. I'll see if this thing will hold the temp, its cool in the basement anyway.

I'm off to the races!

Click to expand...

Awesome! Someone needs to design a relatively inexpensive digital adjustable back-pressure relief valve. Then you could set it and forget it... especially if it had built in temperature to pressure control. Alas, I can only wish and pray.

I did buy a nonadjustable 15psi pressure relief valve. I may give it a try some day. The pressurizer attachment on the Brewhemoth has a 50psi relief valve built in so I could just replace that one. I like the adjustable option though.

What size npt threads are the built-in 50 psi relief valve? That is probably what I would do if it was 1/4". Then again, even if it were 1/2" I would buy a fitting that could get me a pressure gauge and adjustable back-pressure relief valve.

WortMonger said:

What size npt threads are the built-in 50 psi relief valve? That is probably what I would do if it was 1/4". Then again, even if it were 1/2" I would buy a fitting that could get me a pressure gauge and adjustable back-pressure relief valve.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping its 1/4" NPT, thats what I ordered. I still have the 50psi valve installed, I put the spunding valve on a keg ball lock QD. That way I can pull that off and put gas on the fermentor if I want. I don't know that I'll ever use it, the spunding valve gives you more control especially when it comes time to carbonate.

Its been three days at 7psi, and I'm bumping up to 10psi today. Haven't taken a gravity yet, was hoping my order from Brewing Hardware would show up and I could put a picnic tap in the racking port. Might just open the valve into a pitcher this evening and take a reading. I have a feeling that the ferment is pretty well along, the temp fell a couple of degrees this morning.

Hi guys,

Not to sound lazy, but it's tough to find the information I'm looking for in this 100+ pages. I was hoping someone could help dial me in to get set up.

My first question is: Where are you getting your parts from? I see an adjustable pressure relief valve on grainger that looks like the right one. I can't seem to find the brass T fitting for it though. Is there a place I can order nearly all the parts from at once?

My second question is: How do you control the krausen from blowing out of the corny keg?

Thanks in advance!
~j

I'll give some thought to this. Search LamarGuy within this thread since he posted this. You should be able to buy it all through McMasterCarr

My suggestion is you keep the corny for drinking beer, and use a sanke for your fermenter. You can get a tri clamp SS fitting with gas port, racking cane, and thermowell from brewers hardware.

The pressure you create and manage will keep the krausen in control but folks here will use fermcap sometimes to control.

Good luch and welcome to the pressure crew

1: I got my parts from Mc Master:

1 48935K25 1 Each Vacuum/pressure Adjustable Brass Relief Valve, 1/4 Npt Male, 0-20 Psi
2 4089K23 1 Each Multipurpose Gauge, Plastic Case, 2" Dial, 1/4 Npt Ctr Back, 0-60 Psi
3 4429K223 1 Each Low-pressure Brass Threaded Pipe Fitting, 1/4 X 1/8 X 1/4 Pipe Size, Inline Reducing Tee
4 50675K161 1 Each Brass 37 Degree Flared Tube Fitting, Adapter For 1/4" Tube Od X 1/8" Npt Male Pipe

2: I use fermcap (10 drops per corny), and also only fill to about 4.5 gallons (I generally pull about 1/2 to a full gallon of wort off to use as starters, then decant and pitch the yeast). I also have rigged up a blowoff container inline from the gas QDs, its a water filter that has barb connections on either side. When I do get blowoff (about 50% of the time), it simply collects in the water filter and doesnt gunk up the spunding valve. The valve is obviously on the 'out' port of the water filter.

I used the 99045K24 adjustable relief valve, it goes 0.5-30psi. Its a lot more expensive than the one listed above. 0-20psi would be fine for the pressurized fermenting part, it won't get you as much carbonation after ferm is done. I bought the 0-30psi gauge, glycol filled although I don't think you need that unless you are putting this in a ferm fridge where there is significant moisture/humidity.

These part numbers are found in one of the quick links in the first post of this thread.

I also use a corny with 10 drops of FermCap-S and pressure ferment at 12.5 psi with a full 5 gallons of wort right up to the welded seam. I have no blow off, just the gas. I do make sure I have no pellet hops just in case, I don't want a clog in the poppets...