rojopem
New Member
Do 5 gallon Corny Kegs, fitted with a Spunding Valve have enough head room in the keg to ferment a 5 gallon batch without gumming up the Spunding Valve?
Pressure Fermenting
- Thread starter rojopem
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No. A 5 gallon keg filled with 5 gallons doesn't have any extra room, and will almost certainly foam into the exit disconnect. If you must fill as much as possible, you could try a blowoff tube until high krausen is over and then attach the spunding valve. But it is a lot simpler to just do 4.5 gallons (or less if you expect a lot of krausen).
[...] where you could easily lose half a gallon of beer to blow-off... netting also 4.5 gallons.
I'd stick to 4.5 gallon batches. It's less messy too.
If you really need the extra 1/2-3/4 gallon, ferment it on the side in a gallon-size glass jug. Combine when packaging.
The obvious solution is to brew bigger batches and ferment in two kegs!
Great point. I have a 15 gallon corny I use for double batch pressure fermentations. Plenty of head space for a 10 gallon batch. I think next time, I'll just split 9 gallons to two 5 gallon cornys. I'm giving up a gallon of beer, but the trade off is not having to do a transfer to a serving keg since the fermenter is the serving keg.
