Fermenting in standard 5 gal cornies (3 gal batch)

So SWMBO will be taking the kids and herself to the inlaws later this week and I will be joining them at the weekend so I thought it would be a good time to get a few new/different things fermenting.
I was thinking of doing a Edworts Apfelwien and this ginger beer recipe Ginger "Beer" (with wine yeast)

But I only have 1 fermenting barrel, although I have just got my cornie kegs setup but no beer to put in them yet (3 kegs, QDs, tube, cobra taps).
I have seen some people fermenting in cornies but it seems that they are removing diptubes/pressure reliefs etc. and doing full ~5 gal batchs.

What I was thinking is to leave the cornie standard and just hook up a gas disconnect with some tube going into a blowoff jar and doing 2.5-3 gal batchs. Once they have done fermenting I was going to use CO2 to transfer the cider/"beer" to another cornie for carbing with priming sugar. I would use a liquid to liqid disconnet jumper to move the "beer" between kegs but somehow "dump" the yeast cake (and wash it) that will come out first.

Ok question time:
1) Any thing that is hugely obvious that I shouldn't do?
2) Is the headspace going to be an issue (too much/too little) and should I purge the keg with co2 (before or after pouring in the "wort")
3) Is it even worth moving it to a secondary keg to get it off the yeast cake (just though it might be benificial to help get a clearer end result since I would be carbing ontop of the yeast cake)

Thanks in advance!

1) No, try it.
2) If the wort is 3 gallons headspace shouldn't be a problem, no need to purge, you will want to sanitize the keg though. Fermentation will purge the oxygen.
3) I would let it ferment completely, then transfer to another sanitized keg and either prime it or pressurize with co2, wait 3 weeks then drink. (unless you're using it for the apfelwijn of course)

Ok I put the Apfelwein in last night, use a bit of keg lube to seal the lid, attached a gas QD to a blow off jar and it is sitting in my garage now. No sings of activity yet but we'll see when I get home from work tonight. I know my lid was not sealing all that well so I might not see anything at all, I'll give it a spray with water in a few days to see if anything is leaking out the lid!
Onto the ginger beer tonight!

Edit: Got home and it looks like there has been a little bit of activity, the gas is slowly inching its way down the tube!

Update:
Got the ginger beer in the second cornie the next day (and a cooper's kit in the fermenter as well) and they are going strong.
Now I have been thinking about when I go to bottle these, my current plan is:
Carb
1) Disconnect blow off,
2) Prime with 1/2 the normal sugar use to bottle,
3) Connect CO2 and hit it with 30 PSI to seat lid,
4) Disconnect CO2,
5) Leave for 2 weeks to carb,
6) Cold crash in fridge for 3-5 days,
Bottle
7) Clean and sterilise bottles as usual,
8) Bleed pressure from keg,
9) Connect CO2 and party tap/bottling wand (with ~3' of 3/16" tube) to keg (CO2 @ ~2 PSI just to push),
10) Dump first drawings (yeast, etc) until clear,
11) Fill bottles slowly,
12) Cap on the foam,
Wash yeast
13) Pour cooled boiled water into keg,
14) Shake to mix up trub,
15) Tap trub/slurry into sterilised jars and wash yeast.

Any suggestions or comments on this? I think the ginger beer will be done fermenting next week so bottling will be 3+ weeks away still.
Cheers!

Your sideways picture gave me an idea. My first time fermenting in a corny worked well, except when I went to rack off the yeast cake. I applied CO2 and plugged the dip tube. So, I am thinking the next time, keep the corny on it's side with dip tube up, so it does not get clogged with yeast cake. Or at least on a 45 so it forms on one side.

Pick said:

Your sideways picture gave me an idea. My first time fermenting in a corny worked well, except when I went to rack off the yeast cake. I applied CO2 and plugged the dip tube. So, I am thinking the next time, keep the corny on it's side with dip tube up, so it does not get clogged with yeast cake. Or at least on a 45 so it forms on one side.

Click to expand...

What pressure were you pushing it out at? Thanks for mentioning this as I think I am going to run into this as well. You do mean you plugged the dipp tube with sediment and nothing qould come out? What did you do to salvage it, open the keg up and rack into a bottling bucket?
Cheers

Some people with kegs for fermenting will cut the dip tube to make it shorter to sit above the yeast. I would think a normal siphon and racking cane method would work best.

carnevoodoo said:

Some people with kegs for fermenting will cut the dip tube to make it shorter to sit above the yeast. I would think a normal siphon and racking cane method would work best.

Click to expand...

Yeah I saw that but didn't really want to have kegs specific to fermenting in. I'll try my method above and see if it will work, might have to crank up the pressure!
Cheers guys.

You don't have to have a specific keg, just the diptube. One diptube can be used in all of your kegs.

I was pushing it out at 3 PSI. I just siphoned it out after it plugged, then took out the dip tube and cleaned it.

Thanks Tom, but with only 3 kegs and no spare parts it would be a bit of a dedicated keg. I supose it is really just missing the last glass and all the sediment if I was to use that keg to serve so not a real big issue.
Thanks Pick, I plan on using 1/4" tube now and only a short section so the pressure loss through this will be as little as posible, and I'll turn up the pressure untill I get the sediment to flow (within reason) the once it has cleared drop it back to 2-3 PSI. Hopefully that works, I have to get some samples tonight (if I get a chance) so we'll see.

Hey Tom, got your PM but can't reply to it from work. The recipe for the gingerbeer is in the first post, just follow the hyperlink. I didn't have any hops so I used the zest and juice of 1 lemon & 1 lime in a 3 gallon batch. It still going so I can't tell you if its good or not yet sorry!

Update:
Firstly my regulator is broken so there will be no fancy pants'd transfer with CO2. New plan will be rack into fermentor with priming sugar and bottle.
I tested the Apfelwein last night and the gravity was 996, this seems about right as I had a bit more dextrose in there compared with Edwort's recipe. It tastes damn good! I estimate the OG as per the recipe (1066) so this would be about 9.5% right?
Best cider I have ever tasted.
I had fun trying to get the sample out with my siphon tube being curled up it kept turning back up when it went under the cider and stuck back out into the headspace, had to start it by sucking and so ended up with a lung full of CO2 and that sucked!
I also couldn't help myself and opened the gingerbeer for a look and that smelt soooooooooo good, seemed like there was still a lot of activity so I will leave it a bit long (it is still bubbling at a steady pace), can wait to test that for FG!
In regards to fermenting these in the cornies;
The apfelwein used brewtec cider dry yeast, this seemed to produce much more krussen than the champagne yeast in Edworts recipe (the corny was half fill and the scum line was up another 1/4 of the corny about the liquid),
The ginerger beer used brewtec ginger beer dry yeast, There was no appaerent krussen as it was pretty clean inside the corny when I checked. It also seems that a few slices of ginger made their way into the corny, wonder if this has imparted any different flavours?
Cheers and more updates will follow (eventually)!

Don't know if anyone is reading this at all but,
Update:
Bottled both the cider and gingerbeer last night. My regs still busted so I racked into my fermenter barrel with priming sugar and bottles from there, all up got 12 bottles of cider and 15 bottles of ginger beer (750 mL bottles) + 1x 2/3 bottle of each that I drunk last night, and what a buzz just from that!
For priming; Cider - 90g dextrose for 9 litres, GB - 100g brown sugar + 200g lactose as it was very dry and alcholic. I didn't know how much lactose to use, mixed some up in a glass and scaled from there, the GB sample was quite sweet but it also had the priming sugar in it.
I washed the yeast, the cider I just poured it out of the corny, for the GB I hooked up a liquid QD to a picnic tap with a short piece of 3/16" tube, put the corny at about chest height, and 3/8 tube from the picnic tap to the floor. Poured cooled boiled water in the corny, swirled, let sit then tried to siphon. It clogged so ended up blowing back through the siphone to clear (didn't take much) and then started the siphone again and it was all good.
So my thoughts on the original plan to carb in and bottle from the keg; I would need to purge the dip tube before bottling, so I would hook up a liquid QD to my reg (with check valve ofcoarse), vent keg then connect the QD to the keg and vent for 1 sec. I would do this 1 day before bottling, then on bottling day still pour for the first dregs untill the line runs clear.

Again this might be just for me (maybe I should start a blog?) but update:
Tried the Cider and GB with the wife and brother and his fiance about 1 week in the bottle (they were down for the weekend), I seemed to be the only one that sorta liked it (and fair enough I think I might of only liked it because it was mine!)
The cider was very alcoholic and not much fizz, ginger beer was less fizz and not enough sweetness to it/kinda harse.
Well I tried them again last night and they are both much better, the cider could do with a bit more fizz to it be was very nice and the ginger beer has a very nice taste to it. The MIL might be down this weekend and she likes her cider so I guess that will be the best test I can get.
Cheers for putting up with me rambling to myself!

Hi mattd2, thanks for the updates, I've enjoyed reading them. The ciders do take a long time to mature, I've got a 2.5 month old that's drinkable, but I'll give it a few more months.

I did a graff that was totally ready to go in 1 month
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/

Yeah I only actually found out that ciders take a while to mellow today, so 2 more will go in the fridge for the family to try and then rest is going to be put away for another 4-5 months. I'll try the GB every month to check on how thats going.
Cheers
Matt