Secondary Fermentation in a Keg?

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rudy0498

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So, I'm wanting to increase my rate of brewing because I bought a 2 keg system and obviously want to make full use out of it. I almost bought another secondary fermenter so I can have 2 brews in secondary fermentation at one time. Then I began to wonder if my money would be better spent on an additional keg or two since the price it pretty much negligible. The way I see it, there would be one less carboy to clean, and you would reduce the risk of infection while transferring it from the secondary fermenter to the keg.

So is there really any advantage to using a carboy as a secondary fermenter rather than a spare keg? Since the first glass of the keg will dump the trub anyway, would I really lose any clarity or have any off flavors?
 
You could go that route. You definitely will have a lot more sediment in your keg if you use it to secondary. Might be enough to be more than one draw off the keg. You could bend or cut the dip tube so as to make it higher and less likely to pick up sediment. I've skipped secondary and it worked out fine for me. It will take longer for it to clear. Many people on this forum don't use secondary at all so it should be fine.

:tank:
 
I don't bother with secondary either. I just leave it in the fermenter until it starts to clear, rack to the keg, let it sit for a few weeks, blow the bottom out of the keg to clear out the trub. Once the beer is carbonated, I might get some sediment in the first couple of glasses but after that it's just clear beer.
 
If you wait to transfer until the beer is clear, going straight to kegs is a good idea. But, this means tying up the fermenter. Since you are trying to boost production, you might be better off getting another primary.
 
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