Corny Keg Fermenter?

fratermus said:

My understanding is that I should get:
ball lock cornies (sold locally for $25 each)
mesh dip tube sleeves to minimize trub pickup
gas in disconnects for blowoff

What am I missing here?

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New O-Rings if the cornies are used
tubing for your blowoff (as well as a vessel of some kind)

Other then that, whatever typical sanitizer you use for cleaning as usual. Now that I think about it, it is that easy!

Thanks for the feedback. I also located the issue of BYO with the article in it an will review that as well.

Everyone keeps mentioning the issue of BYO....I've gotten the last couple and don't remember seeing it. What's on the cover?

Parva said:

I'm not saying that a cornie couldn't be used as an FV but why the hell would you want to!

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1. They are stainless.
2. They cost no more than a carboy or better bottle.
3. You can generally fit 2x as many of them in a fridge as other similar sized fermenters, cutting your fermentation refrigeration requirements in half.
4. Easy to purge and transfer under closed conditions.
5. Can be pressurized.
6. Easy to carry full.

7. Scratching isn't a problem
8. Easier to clean all surfaces
9. Won't shatter or spill if dropped (and lid is secured)
10. Can also be used to serve beer
11. Can be sold at almost cost and will gain in value over time

But about #3 above, I think it's all relative. You can't fit a full 5 gal batch in a corny, so you gotta scale things down. You may need to use 2.

Me, I'd like to get ahold of a few slim quarter kegs. They're 7.75 gallons....perfect size for a 5 gal batch, can do all the things listed above, and still have a slim footprint.

Excellent info, but one thing that I haven't seen discussed is how do you know what your fermentation temp is. I'm used to fermenting in plastic with the strip thermometer on the side. How do you guys tell?? I really appreciate the feed back! :rockin:

BrewGuyFromHP said:

Excellent info, but one thing that I haven't seen discussed is how do you know what your fermentation temp is. I'm used to fermenting in plastic with the strip thermometer on the side. How do you guys tell?? I really appreciate the feed back! :rockin:

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Simple...put a strip thermometer on the side.

RayInUT said:

Simple...put a strip thermometer on the side.

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The kegs are double walled (right?) so my thinking was that the temp on the strip would not accurately reflect what's going on inside the keg.

BrewBeemer said:

It cost me less than $30 for the stainless sheet and the nipple.
I cut the stainless and had a friend with a slip roll roll the cone. I have a big Tig welder in my shop.
Unless you want to add the Argon gas and filler rod used, labors free it was by guessing $32 total. This conical added another 3/4 gallon of volume to the corny.
Around two to three years ago someone was cutting and making taller corny's without the conical bottom for a volume of 7 1/2 gallons
I may be wrong on this volume. Sold thru a commercial equipment supplier or company that had other items of equipment for sale.
I do recall it was not cheap for these extended corny's like in the crazy asking price range. Not to offend anyone with any of this reply like on one of my recent replies I have been now called a "visitor" on this forum.

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A little correction was needed on my reply above that was a while ago.
The Volume I quoted was wrong as I ran across some old notes (hell little notes all around the computer) that the extended corny keg held 6 1/2 gallons volume as a fermenter. The price was $149 each. I do not recall who had them but they were being sold buy one of the larger brewing equipment supply stores. This was app two years ago, maybe a project that was added by an outside welder or fabricator to a brew supplier and added it to their product list. I haven't a clue who it was or if they are still available. To me it's still a almost flat bottom corny just more head space without a trub cone and still asking $149 for them. With a cone bottom that would be within a reasonable price. Better if it was a corny with a cone welded to the botton with a racking arm. This alone will add 0.86 gallon volume to the corny. This I did to one 4 1/2 years ago. I got a rather large offer on it way more than I would of dreamed and sold it. I did not like the 2.6:1 high ratio of the corny's diameter vs length not counting the 8 1/2" long cone I welded on. This was still too small for 15 gallon net batches plus the labor to build two more I lost intrest rather quick. The best part they would take up little space and frige could hold 4 at a time.

ScubaSteve said:

Everyone keeps mentioning the issue of BYO....I've gotten the last couple and don't remember seeing it. What's on the cover?

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Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - View by Issue - January/February 2009

I have the issue. "6 award-winning recipes"

Jan-Feb 2009, Vol.15, NO. 1

Thanks for the replies. I'm almost ready to try it. My concern is the blow-off approach. I posted in another thread but I'll ask again: is there a detrimental yeast loss when using a blow-off tube?

Thanks

rad

I'll just answer it here as opposed to here; I've lost yeast on violent ferments, where I probably had too much wort in the corny. All of my beers to date have come out great, with the gravity almost dead on (I do age in keg as well). You shouldn't have any problems. Happy brewing!

hi just have a few questions, im planning on lagering in a corny since i have no room to fit a carboy but i can squeeze a keg into the garage refrigerator and i was just wondering what i would have to do to the corny? any modifications at all?

I'm using a corny as a fermenter for the first time. While I'd eventually like the ability to push beer around with CO2, I'm planning just to rack out of the keg on this one. So far, so good. I took off the gas post and dip tube and fit some tubing over the opening for blowoff. I'm also using Fermcap-S, so I'm hoping this won't be an issue. In the past, I've only had some Krausen blow out of a 5 gallon carboy when using foam control.

As for stick on thermometers, I find them useless anyways. They kind of measure the temp, but not well. I find it measures the temperature of the air rather than the temperature of the wort. Plastic and glass are insulators anyways, so you can't be getting that accurate of a reading.

Sorry for the Zombie Thread.


I'm trying to ferment in Cornies, and it seems like blowoff isn't working well. The kegs themselves don't seal unless you put them under pressure, so i just get leaking krausen around the lid. Any tips?

Did you use a healthy dose of keg lube on the big O-Ring?

BrewGuyFromHP, they are not double walled. I don't have temp strips on my cornies, but I want to get some.

I have noticed some suck back issues, but I put an airlock on mine instead of a blow off tube, and have so far only done apfelwien. However I'm going to secondary / dryhop while priming for my amber. Then I'll serve from it.....

RegionalChaos said:

Did you use a healthy dose of keg lube on the big O-Ring?

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Naw, never needed to when kegging.

I guess thats the next step. I guess its also an excuse to make an order from BMW, and get some Brett L.

Synovia said:

Sorry for the Zombie Thread.


I'm trying to ferment in Cornies, and it seems like blowoff isn't working well. The kegs themselves don't seal unless you put them under pressure, so i just get leaking krausen around the lid. Any tips?

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Apart from open fermenting in kettles, I've also been fermenting in cornies for years. Most of the time you can get a good seal if you pressurize the keg until the seals set (which you've already observed). I turn this to my advantage. What I do is fill the keg with sanitizer, close it up, then pressurize. Flip it over to make sure the top gets a good soak, then push out the sanitizer with CO2. Once it's empty I remove both valve bodies and the liquid tube (sometimes I just stick a connector on the gas-in valve, just to open the poppet to vent). Squirt a little Fermcap in the open liquid post, then push your sanitized 1/2" id transfer hose right on to the post. Sometimes if I'm feeling paranoid I'll use a removable plastic squeeze clamp to make sure the hose won't pop off during transfer, but it's usually not a problem. Then transfer from your BK. Once it's full (you'll have to be careful to not collect more than 5 gallons - less if you have a large yeast starter), remove the transfer hose, pitch your yeast (use a sanitized funnel and short piece of hose) and attach your blowoff to the same post (be sure to remove the gas connector or put the valve body back on the other post). I've never had any blowoff out the tube when using Fermcap, but I still use the blowoff instead of an airlock, just in case. Transferring to a conditioning/serving keg is as simple as removing the blowoff, inserting the liquid tube and valve, then use CO2 to transfer.

Nice thing about this is that there is absolutely zero chance for airborne contamination before or after the yeast gets pitched, and I've never had an infection using this method. Open fermenting, now that's been a much more interesting experience...


MrH

I pressurized the keg last night, and then reattached the ball lock fitting (I'm essentially just putting a fitting with a tube on the gas out post), and the lid seems to be holding its seal. Just have to remember to hit them with a little co2 I guess.


Might try to find some thicker gaskets/o-rings for fermenting. We'll see.