Keg ferment hefe?

[Moosebeard]

Hi all! Has anyone here tried to ferment a Hefeweizen in a corny keg?

I have a 6.5 gallon corny keg and was planning on putting ~5 gallons of hefe into it and either removing the poppet on the gas post and using a hose over it in case there is any blowoff, or remove the prv and put a hose there.

Yeast will be WLP300.

Guess my main concerns is whether the 1.5 gallons or so would be enough headspace? Also, is there any reason not to use fermcap with a hefe?

At the end of the day it’s not that serious as long as I have a blowoff tube, but I’d rather not make too much of a mess and preferably just use a airlock if possible

 

[day_trippr]

Have you investigated fermenting under pressure? It should greatly reduce the risk of overflowing your 6.5g keg...

Cheers!

 

[Moosebeard]

Yea, I typically ferment my IPAs under pressure with a few drops of fermcap and almost never have any blowoff.

From what I have read, it seems you should not ferment a Hefeweizen under pressure since it could limit ester production? In the past I have used a 7.9 gallon bucket, but I had a nasty scratch in my last one and didn’t want to replace it.

Might be worth doing a half batch and fermenting warm under pressure since I typically prefer more banana than clove. See how it turns out.

 

[lumpher]

Bad idea to pressure-ferment a hefe. It'll scrub all the esters and what makes a hefe what it is. The best pro hefe makers use open ferm, the exact opposite of pressure ferms.

 

[Graham H]

Instead of modifying the gas post, can you attach a gas QD with a blowoff tube?

 

[wdavis2003]

Instead of modifying the gas post, can you attach a gas QD with a blowoff tube?

This is what I do. Into a vessel filled with starsan of course

 

[conlun]

I’ve done a few Weissbiers in kegs mostly with WLP300 (I use a 23L / 6Gal keg) non pressurized with fermcap, last time around I got 5 gallons final product out of it, but WLP300 is a crazy one so I defiantly keep an eye on it.

What I typically do is to run a blowoff for the first ~70% of fermentation and then put a spunding on 20PSI to carb it up, last time I did 8days grain-to-glas with that method (was pressed for time for a party)

 

[odie]

I do a hefe in the keg. 5 gal batch in a 5 gal corny. I remove the gas post and stick a blowoff tube into a bucket for a few days. Then cap it and spund with a 10psi PRV to finish.

I tried "open" on the last one. No keg lid. It left dried krausen on the lip where the lid seals. Made sealing the keg difficult.

 

[beersk]

Bad idea to pressure-ferment a hefe. It'll scrub all the esters and what makes a hefe what it is. The best pro hefe makers use open ferm, the exact opposite of pressure ferms.

Agreed. I fermented a hefe under pressure in the keg last year and ended up with an undrinkable sulfur bomb. One downside to pressure fermenting is if you use a high sulfur producing yeast, that tends to be trapped in the beer due to the pressure of the ferment.

So, IF you do decide to ferment a hefe under pressure, let it ferment with almost no pressure for the first few days, then ramp it up to naturally carbonate. Otherwise, ferment at your own risk.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it did blow off like mad through the blowtie spunding valve. It was a 3.5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon keg.

 

[Moosebeard]

Thanks for all the input. Sounds like even with the 1.5 gallon headspace I will still need to be prepared for Krausen to blow out. Think I will just remove the prv and put a hose over it to I don’t have to worry about any clogs. Then when the TILT show it close to being complete I’ll either put the prv back in if it’s not dirty or just swap with another lid and put the spunding valve on.