Sanke fermenter question

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stevenb

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I just bought a Sanke keg from a scrap yard (side note, it was the last one they bought as they are now refusing to buy any more due to theft) and plan to make one of these. I brew 10 gallon batches and thought it would be nice to ferment in one fermenter. My method of brewing is draining the cool wort into glass carboys from my kettle, let the trub settle for a bit and then I would transfer into the Sanke. When it is time to transfer to secondary I feel I will need to use CO2 to transfer, since there isn't a way for me to get the filled Sanke elevated to use gravity for a siphon. Would I drill a second hole in the clear lid, use a solid stopper while it is fermenting, then use the double racking cane setup when I make the transfer? I have never had to use CO2 to move beer before so I am a bit unsure. I have an extra tank and regulator I could use.
 
Why not just let the trub settle in the kettle before you rack into your fermenter. It just seems odd to have to sanitize two carboys just to rack out of them an hour later. I mean, the guy Ken in that link you provided states that he ferments out IN the boil kettle. This is a really interesting idea to me because I pretty much guarentees that you're fermenter is sanitized. It's been heated to over 200 degrees for an hour or more. My only concern is any affect on hot/cold break and hops on the fermentation. I suppose it doesn't hurt at all. I'm really tempted to give this a shot. Ferment out for a week in the kettle and transfer to secondary... it sounds genious.
 
I don't think the trub and all the hops (I used 10 ounces in my last batch) would settle out below my copper manifold. I use carboys because they are below the spigot on my kettle, whereas the Sanke wouldn't be. As for fermenting in the kettle, I'll let others go ahead and report what they experience. I'm not convinced yet.
By the way, I watched a couple of your videos on YouTube last night and they are very good. Hope you do some more. Just curious, what's the music score in the 3 batch aeration experiment? Sounds so familiar.
 

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