How to avoid sediment in Corneys?

I usually keep my beer in a primary for 3-4 weeks and then keg it for 1-2 weeks, before tapping it. I dump the first pint, but still the next 6-10 pints are cloudy, not bad, but semi-cloudy. Is there something I can do about it? What if I simply cut off 1/2 of an inch of the "Out" tube? Would that help? Any other ideas?

I know a lot of brewers who swear they don't do a secondary. Without using a secondary your corny becomes one.

If you crash cooled before racking to a keg that would reduce more sediment also.

After reading the title, my first thought was "crash cool"

Also, if you are talking about cloudiness in a chilled beer, it may be protein haze and have nothing to do with yeast. If that;s the case, you have a whole new set of concerns. You could probably start with sufficient hot and cold breaks.

Scooby_Brew said:

What if I simply cut off 1/2 of an inch of the "Out" tube? Would that help? Any other ideas?

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I dont get this idea at all. I would much rather have a few beers be cloudy than cut the diptube and lose a few beers from each keg.

I rack all my beer and cold crash it for 24 hours prior to kegging and i get nice bright beer everytime.

OMJ said:

I dont get this idea at all. I would much rather have a few beers be cloudy than cut the diptube and lose a few beers from each keg.

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A few beers? Taking a 1/4" off the tube would leave about 3oz of beer behind.

I agree that crash cooling the primary 3 weeks after fermentation ends prior to racking is a great way to avoid sediment in the first place. Don't move your fermenter for at least an hour before racking. Avoid stirring up the sediment during racking.

If you are having cloudyness, First i would make sure you are using irsh moss to help clarify. After your ferment in the primary...Move it over to a secondary and cold crash it. Be carefull on not sloshing the beer around when you move the carboy. Siphon carefully and you should have beer that is clear as can be.

I hate to see a empty keg and i want every last drop, So cutting the tube i think would be a major mistake.

I know the first few times i siphoned off beer i got sediment into the secondary and keg... After you do it enough times you get rather good at leaving just a little film of beer over the trub/yeast cake.

Anouther trick that works really well, Is when siphoning off the carboy stick the "drawing a blank" airlock cork under the carboy to tip it a little bit. This will move the beer to one side and make it a tad bit easier not to get the trub into your keg or secondary.


Hope this helps

+1 to the carboy tilt.

I think most of us accept we will leave wort in the mash tun, leave wort in the brew kettle, but we feel like we need to get every drop out of the fermenters (I know I do). Why not just adjust the brewing so you can leave a little in the fermenter and have crystal clear brews? maybe becuase at that point it contains that precious little thing we call alcohol...

Grizzlybrew said:

+1 to the carboy tilt.

I think most of us accept we will leave wort in the mash tun, leave wort in the brew kettle, but we feel like we need to get every drop out of the fermenters (I know I do). Why not just adjust the brewing so you can leave a little in the fermenter and have crystal clear brews? maybe becuase at that point it contains that precious little thing we call alcohol...

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This is exactly why I secondary even though I primary for 3+ weeks. I can be as greedy as I want and suck the beer right off the surface of the yeast cake when I transfer from primary to secondary. Then, whatever yeast I stirred up in transferring will settle out in a couple days. After a week (or more) in secondary, I can rack it off the little layer of sediment at the bottom of the better bottle and get nearly every precious drop.

Before I started kegging I used to have crystal clear bottles and then I had the exact issue as the op. I also move kegs from time to time and that would stir up a bit of sediment each time too.

Since then I'm like Cheshire, I now secondary and cold crash for a few days just prior to kegging. I also now include gelatine when I rack to secondary. My goal is to have as little sediment as possible actually make it into the keg in the first place. I'm now back to crystal clear beer from the very first pint and can move the keg without stirring anything up.

dontman said:

I now secondary and cold crash for a few days just prior to kegging. I also now include gelatine when I rack to secondary.

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+1! No secondary here, I have been cold crashing the primary, then adding gelatin and giving it a few days to clear prior to kegging. Works great and makes a world of difference for me. I can go grain to glass like nobody's business w/ pretty clear results.

Gelatin is a secret I just recently learned. I am now using it on every batch. It makes a nice cake that will not stir up easily and will drop any remaining yeast out in 2-3 days after adding it. Works in primary secondary or even in the keg. It's THE STUFF.

I allways leave a little bit in the bottom of the carboy. Knowing that when i am brewing i allways make sure if i am doing a 10 gal batch i have around 10.5 and end of boil.
This way i am still going to get my 10 gal of brew, but still have some extra to loose. Can only fit so much in a corny, So what if you loose a few oz.


So i look at it in helping me in 3 ways. First, I am getting every last drop out of the kettle. 2nd if i leave a little bit of beer behind in the primary and if i am not lazy; the secondary. and 3rd if i have to much to fit into 2 cornys well....I did damn good and oh well. Long as my target is right on, Who cares if you loose a glass of beer from primary to corny keg. A glass is more than worth it to me for clear beer and no floaters...But then again...A "dirty" beer is always nice to hand to a freind that comes over and wants a beer Makes sure they dont drink to much hehehe

Saccharomyces said:

Gelatin is a secret I just recently learned. I am now using it on every batch. It makes a nice cake that will not stir up easily and will drop any remaining yeast out in 2-3 days after adding it. Works in primary secondary or even in the keg. It's THE STUFF.

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How do you exactly use gelatin? How, when, how much and where you get it from?

Unflavored Knox gelatin from the supermarket. Use 1/2 to 1 full envelope in about 8-10 oz water. Heat mixture to 170 stirring frequently to dissolve. Let cool to maybe 120 or so and either pour into secondary and then rack on top or like Sacch. just pour the warm mixture into the primary.

It is great if you can then chill the carboy for a couple, few days for best effect as this will help the gelatin also grab ahold of some more protein on its way to the bottom of the carboy but this is not crucial.

I second Scooby Brew's question...

...nevermind, Thanks!

dontman said:

Unflavored Knox gelatin from the supermarket. Use 1/2 to 1 full envelope in about 8-10 oz water.

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Careful, using too much gelatin can thin your beer.

Gelatin primarily binds to protein and tannins, pulling them out of suspension. For a 5 gallon batch, I do well with 1/2 tsp of gelatin in 4 oz of water heated to 170F for 1 minute. No need to cool such a small volume, just dump it right in.

I just naturally carbonated my house ale in a Corny keg for the first time. Until now i always force-carbonated it, but I wanted to try something new. To avoid drinking the sediment in the first ten pints I simply laid a plastic water bottle cap on the bottom of the beer tube. This way I avoid drinking the sediment, instead I'm taking the beer from 1/4 inch off the bottom of the keg. So far so good, the beer is still slightly cloudy, but it does not have those big chunks of yeast you see on the bottom of a naturally carbonated beer.
mug:

Scooby_Brew said:

I just naturally carbonated my house ale in a Corny keg for the first time. Until now i always force-carbonated it, but I wanted to try something new. To avoid drinking the sediment in the first ten pints I simply laid a plastic water bottle cap on the bottom of the beer tube. This way I avoid drinking the sediment, instead I'm taking the beer from 1/4 inch off the bottom of the keg. So far so good, the beer is still slightly cloudy, but it does not have those big chunks of yeast you see on the bottom of a naturally carbonated beer.
mug:

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Now that is just plain genius! Kinda like the cap on the bottom of the racking cane! Awesome

JesseRC said:

Now that is just plain genius! Kinda like the cap on the bottom of the racking cane! Awesome

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If you want foreign matter in your keg, that scares me. That's precisely why I cut all my dip tubes, the notion that you lose a lot of beer is pure crap.

To avoid drinking the sediment in the first ten pints I simply laid a plastic water bottle cap on the bottom of the beer tube.

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I think this is genius too...would one of those caps from a racking cane work??? I don't really want to cut my tube.

primary 3 weeks crash at 36° add gelatin careful racking and I get clear beer pretty much from the first pour . I have moved kegs and still little to no sediment in the beer

On the flip side, A little sediment never killed anyone
Plus...Not real apealing to the eye of some of my freinds, So they dont ask for much beer

What i usally do is, Primary for a week or so. Then i move to a secondary and crash it to the 30 degree range let it set for a week or more depending on how fast i am running out of beer.
When i siphon the beer, A trick that works great is put the airlock cork * cant think of the right name at the moment * under one edge of the carboy so it tilts at a angle.

This helps get all the beer to one side. When i siphon off i go slowly edging down the side of the carboy..get near the bottom near the trub and if you are really carefull you can not disturb the cake at all and have cystal clear beer from the first to the last beer.

Takes a little practise...but with time you will be a master at it....Unless you have had a few to many beers

last time when i had alot of sediment in the bottom of on of my kegs i just moved it over to another keg with a jumper, left ALOT of sediment behind (after a 3 week primary) in the secondary keg.. the (3rd/tertiary) was nice and clear..
I did make suer the pressure was way down and left most of the sediment behimnd..