First time closed transfer tips?

[nonamekevin]

I transferred a dunkelweizen last night to a serving keg for the first time, and I accidentally blasted it in. Here was the process:

- emptied my corny keg full of sanitizer using a picnic tap and ~5psi into a bucket to catch the sanitizer.
- hooked up the jumper between fermenting and serving keg. The fermenting keg was cold conditioning at 10psi for about 13 days
- gas side of serving keg was hooked up to the duotight keg filler auto stopper thing (didn't need since I was going from one corny to another) and a duotight ball valve.
- pressurized the fermenting keg to ~10psi
- slowly opened the ball valve to release pressure from the serving keg

The whole process went much faster than I anticipated, as I heard the splurting sounding of CO2 gurgling from my fermenting keg. One of the challenges I had, I just couldn't tell how fast the beer was being transferred. I couldn't really feel it going through the line and I didn't see any bubbles or anything. I'm sure with how fast it transferred, it's gonna be a while before the foam goes down? Any tips for making this process smoother? I'd like to get a sounding valve in the future, but if there is another tip that doesn't involve $, I'm interested.

 

[RCope]

When you are transferring fully carbonated beer from one keg to another, you need some way to slow the transfer to minimize foaming. I thought that the "duo tight keg filler auto stopper thing" was used in-line after a spunding valve. If you don't want to use a spunding valve, then you can simply intermittently release the PRV on the keg to keep the beer flowing during the transfer.

If the receiving keg is warmer than the fermenting keg then you should see a condensation line. That can help you know when you're close to done. Or put it on a scale.

But the ideal solution is to hook up the transfer line to two equally pressurized kegs, adjust the spunding valve on the receiving keg gas out to create a small gradient, and transfer the beer gently without foaming...

 

[jdauria]

Think for transferring, you had too high of PSI. Try starting at 2 psi next time, then slowly increase it to you have a good flow, but not a rush of beer. I do closed transfers, but from plastic carboys to kegs and 2 psi for me is a good flow and will transfer the beer in 5-6 minutes. I cannot go higher because of the plastic carboy, but I think you will find 3-5 psi will probably work perfect for you.