kererubrewing
Member
I am starting a tiny microbrewery and have been having some teething issues with getting used to using my .5BBL stainless cylindroconicals FVs.
Previously I did my primary and secondary fermentation in 6 and 5 gallon glass carboys. Fitted with an airlock this was generally a very simple and regular process.
It's my plan to bottle condition my beer and to force carbonate when I keg it (either in cornelius or proper beer kegs).
My questions surround the configuration of the cylindroconicals during secondary/maturation. I had been leaving them with a blow-off tube in a bucket of sanitizer to act as an airlock, but I am concerned that I am ending up with badly oxidized beer and wonder if the blow-off tube is actually allowing air to enter back into the FV when the fermentation has settled and the beer is conditioning. Am I better off fitting a small airlock to the top of my FV or, should I simply close it off and leave it a closed vessel for as long as the maturation time requires?
Previously I did my primary and secondary fermentation in 6 and 5 gallon glass carboys. Fitted with an airlock this was generally a very simple and regular process.
It's my plan to bottle condition my beer and to force carbonate when I keg it (either in cornelius or proper beer kegs).
My questions surround the configuration of the cylindroconicals during secondary/maturation. I had been leaving them with a blow-off tube in a bucket of sanitizer to act as an airlock, but I am concerned that I am ending up with badly oxidized beer and wonder if the blow-off tube is actually allowing air to enter back into the FV when the fermentation has settled and the beer is conditioning. Am I better off fitting a small airlock to the top of my FV or, should I simply close it off and leave it a closed vessel for as long as the maturation time requires?
