From carboy to corny...

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I was unable to find threads using the search...

I will preface by saying that I'm not referring to using a corny as a secondary. I am curious to know people's results of transferring right from the carboy after primary fermentation to the keg. Does anyone with experience using this time saving technique have any suggestions?

I do it 90% of time and it works just fine. I prefer to cold crash in the carboy for a couple days first.

Good point, most of the crap will settle out... How about adding gelatin to the keg?

cl330b said:

Good point, most of the crap will settle out... How about adding gelatin to the keg?

Click to expand...

You can, but I never do and the beer always seems good and clear after the first pint.

If you let your beer have enough time in the fermenter and if you are careful to not stir up the trub when you transfer, your beer should be pretty clear right away.

I do it all the time.

Cold crash for a couple of days before kegging, and after the first pour, it's clear sailing!

I recently got a fridge with a freezer just for my brews. What's a reasonable "cold crash" temp? 32f?

cl330b said:

I recently got a fridge with a freezer just for my brews. What's a reasonable "cold crash" temp? 32f?

Click to expand...

Regular fridge temps work just fine.

The first time I kegged impatience was my main problem. I didn't cold crash, didn't ferment long enough ( I gave it the recommended 7-10 days, now I go at least 3 if not 4 weeks) and actually thought it would be a good idea to transfer from one keg to another to try and clear up. What a waste of time, extra work, not worth the hassle. Now I ferment longer, cold crash, transfer to a keg, purge the air with some CO2, let it sit a day in the fridge to get colder and then force carb a few days at 30 psi, bleed off pressure reset to 11-12 and drink by the third or fourth day.

cl330b said:

I recently got a fridge with a freezer just for my brews. What's a reasonable "cold crash" temp? 32f?

Click to expand...

Anything under 40F

cl330b said:

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I was unable to find threads using the search...

I will preface by saying that I'm not referring to using a corny as a secondary. I am curious to know people's results of transferring right from the carboy after primary fermentation to the keg. Does anyone with experience using this time saving technique have any suggestions?

Click to expand...

Do you mean skipping the cold crash?

I'm sure you can. I cut about 1" off my dip tubes. You can add flavorless gelatin when you keg. I haven't used it but a fellow brewer does all the time.

I am referring to skipping the cold crash in the carboy and just cold crash in the keg. If I were to use gelatin in the keg I should be able to get rid of most of the sediment on the first couple pulls.

You'll be fine. Some people from the Pressure Fermentation thread serve from their fermentor keg, yeast cake and all. If they can get clear beer from on top of a cake of yeast, you'll definitely be fine without gelatin. Just rack, and cold crash as low as you can. 32F and 31F for 24-48 hours and you'll have a rock solid cake of yeast and trub at the bottom of your keg/carboy. And as long as you don't move the keg around, you won't pick it up while serving.

I do this all the time. 4 weeks in the carboy, and then I cold crash at 32F for 4 or 5 days. I do a C02 push to transfer the beer to the keg* (after flushing the keg with C02) so as to not disturb the yeast cake. It sits for 3 weeks cold while it's carbonating, and the first 1/4 pint is always cloudy but the beer is crystal clear after that. I stopped using gelatin using this method; not needed. I dry hop in the fermenter too with great results.

* I know, this is dangerous, pressurizing a glass carboy. Not recommended, etc.