Best investment in brewery?

[Stikius]

I would daisy chain them. No guesswork, and once the CO2 in the first keg drops, its output is effectively purging the next keg.

As for effectiveness, it depends a lot on the volumes involved, final ABV, spunding, etc. Are you purging two 5 gallon kegs with a 10+ gallon fermentation? If so, that will work fine.

IMO 5 gallons of ~5% ABV un-spunded beer can conservatively purge one 5 gallon keg really well, and a second one adequately for most uses*. 3rd keg iffy, and depends a lot on specifics.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...cheap-co2-storage-system.728099/post-10341634

*Tubing permiability may play a huge role in final O2 concentration, even for EVA barrier.

YMMV however when I'm doing a 5 gallon batch, it seems to produce enough CO2 to effectively purge it for NEIPA's and I don't have any quality loss while packaging to a keg. With a 10 Gallon batch, I'll daisy chain kegs.

Here's a tread based on purging with CO2 from Fermentation - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/keg-purging-with-active-fermentation.628658/

I guess the CO2 production is linear, so assuming I'm doing 5 gallons it doesn't really matter if I want to purge one 5 gallon keg or five 1 gallon kegs? The same if I'm only doing 1 gallon I assume it would produce sufficient amount of CO2 to purge a 1 gallon keg.

Thanks for the links! I'll check them out

 

[cfrazier77]

YMMV however when I'm doing a 5 gallon batch, it seems to produce enough CO2 to effectively purge it for NEIPA's and I don't have any quality loss while packaging to a keg. With a 10 Gallon batch, I'll daisy chain kegs.

Here's a tread based on purging with CO2 from Fermentation - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/keg-purging-with-active-fermentation.628658/

This is exactly what I do and I do not have oxidation in my hoppy beers for months.

 

[mashdar]

I guess the CO2 production is linear, so assuming I'm doing 5 gallons it doesn't really matter if I want to purge one 5 gallon keg or five 1 gallon kegs? The same if I'm only doing 1 gallon I assume it would produce sufficient amount of CO2 to purge a 1 gallon keg.

Thanks for the links! I'll check them out

It matters how it's configured. Per Doug's megapost, the rate of CO2 production is slow enough that it may mix with the vessel's mixed gas, rather than pushing it out in series. Using five 1gal kegs performs much better because mixing is pretty much prevented between kegs.

 

[sunbeam]

So I've got some serious reading to do it seems. I'm still in the early '90s doing it how Charlie Papazian taught me then... Time to catch up!

 

[Ballaratguy]

You should be able to purge and fill 4 kegs from a 23Lt ferment (6 US gallon)

 

[Jaybird]

I mean between RIMS and HERMS...
Thrifty RIMS all the way

https://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Jaybird-Thrifty-RIMS-110-Volt-Kit.html

Cheers
Jay

 

[thormj]

Exactly this. Temperature control is everything for me, and has radically improved the quality of my beer.

What environment are you in? This sounds like it might be a worthy upgrade for me (my beers taste a little off, IMHO "oily")? Do you run water through a heat exchanger at 74 or do you go colder?

 

[jerrylotto]

What environment are you in? This sounds like it might be a worthy upgrade for me (my beers taste a little off, IMHO "oily")? Do you run water through a heat exchanger at 74 or do you go colder?

Temperature control is critical for two phases of brewing; mashing and fermentation. A chest freezer and oil pan heater both plugged into a temperature controller (Inkbird ITC-308 wifi) with the probe in a thermo well is the only way I'll ferment. Keeps the temperature within a 3° or 4° range of the target regardless of whether I'm fermenting a lager at 50F, an ale at 65F, or a kveik ale at 85F+. For mashing, I use a Brewers Edge Mash&Boil with a recirculation pump. It lets me hold the mash temperature or raise it for step mashing. It's capable of boiling but I don't use it for that step, preferring a gas burner and a pot.