Corny Fermenting

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PJoyce85

PJoyce85

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Hey everyone,

Because of the free freezer I got, I will be fermenting lagers in corny kegs. I have gas QD's with some hose run to a pitcher that I will use as airlocks. Now my question is do I remove the poppets or leave them in?

Thanks and cheers
 
I'd leave them in. They aren't going to hurt anything fro allowing CO2 to escape and it will be handier if you push the beer out with CO2 later. Did you cut the dip tube down to allow for trub?

I'm thinking about using a keg for lagering in. I've never fermented in one.
 
Good call on the transferring note. I plan on transferring with CO2 so I will have to have them in.

I decided not to cut the tubes. I am going to bend them a little. I figure this way, if something doesn't go right, I can always straighten the tube back out and use the keg for something else.

My freezer will fit 2 corny kegs or 1 carboy. I figured I'd try something new with the corny kegs and 8-9 gallons in the kegs is more than 5 from a carboy :)
 
Northern Brewer has replacement dip tubes for $17, so not cutting might be a good choice.

The only thing to think about is the amount of blow-off you get. For Lagers, it's probably nothing to worry about, but ales can tend to use up the small headspace in a keg VERY quickly! Then you might wish to take out the poppet, else it might get clogged. They are easy to put back in on racking day.
 
I will only be doing lagers in these. I have a part of the house that will stay around 65 all summer so the glass carboys with the ales go there.

As for blow off, lagers will produce a little less and I have heard people swear by Fercap-S, so I'm going to give that a shot if there is too much blow off.
 
I have also been thinking about fermenting in cornies.

Is clogging the diptube really an issue? I had thought that 50 or 60 PSI would push trub/yeast through the tube?
 
If it is an issue, you can always take off the post and slide some 1/2 inch tubing on the threads.

This should be a good learning experience when I finally try it.
 
There are a few good articles on doing this, many ales and many lagers. It appears that the most you want to put in them is 4 gallons in the 5 gallon corny and you probably want to use foam reducer. Some people have attached tubes to the removed popits, others use a quick disconnect with a tube. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference.

The biggest variation is performing pressurized fermentation, something I am planning on testing this spring.
 
Hey everyone,

Just an update. Both corny kegs are working great for lager fermentation.

I thought the Pils wasn't going, but turns out that there wasn't a good seal around the lid which was letting the air out causing no airlock activity.

Can I use keg lube on the seals when using the corny kegs for fermentation?
 
Yeah go ahead the keg lube won't hurt anything and I use it on all of my rubber seals and o-rings.
 
Awesome. Thanks.

I was freaking a little because of no activity but the internal temp is reading about 5 degrees higher than ambient so I knew something was happening.

Also, someone told me not to put more than 4 gallons in without foam control or I would get a ton of blow off. The Maibock started around 1.062 at 4.5 gallons in the keg with no foam control and not even close to having blow off.
 
Yeah I have read that you do not want to fill it up too close to the top or else you will have a mess on your hands. I have found when I use a starter and oxygenate I almost always get blow off but there are so many variables I would just always assume that it is going to happen and plan for it. The other reason not to fill up the keg too high is the fact that a lot of beer would be lost to blow off with little head space. I am sure it will be fine but some fermcap wouldn't hurt either.
 
biohaz7331 said:
Yeah I have read that you do not want to fill it up too close to the top or else you will have a mess on your hands. I have found when I use a starter and oxygenate I almost always get blow off but there are so many variables I would just always assume that it is going to happen and plan for it. The other reason not to fill up the keg too high is the fact that a lot of beer would be lost to blow off with little head space. I am sure it will be fine but some fermcap wouldn't hurt either.
Click to expand...

I made 2-stage starters for each so I pitched appropriate amounts of yeast into each beer. I put fermcap in one and nothing in the other. The one with fermcap has more krausen AND is the slower yeast. I will have to see if I get blow off ever, but 4.5 gallons into the keg is not too much like I have been told.

Unless you fill that the keg all the way to the top, I don't see a lager fermentation blowing off that much, if at all.
 
Corny fermentation worked out great. Both beers reached their FG and was easy to clean. A few adjustments and the next run through them should be flawless.

Thanks for all of the help!!

Unfortunately, I scorched the wort and both were dumped.
 

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