3 gal IPA 1.070 with all Mosaic hops to be bottled soon
3 gal American Stout fermenting 5 days
3 gal Barelywine aging on oak
3 gal American Stout fermenting 5 days
3 gal Barelywine aging on oak
I brew 3 gallon batches. I have 3 batches in kegs, 6 more cases in bottles now. 3 more batches in fermenters and another bigger 5 gallon batch I’m about to get back from a club bourbon barrel brew. I have enough bottles to cover all this, but just barely. I have one keg about to kick.Nothing but fresh air! I've got a bottle neck, no pun intended, of lack of free bottles to justify(to the Wife) another batch. I am waiting on three cases of 500mL cappable Belgian bottles from my LHBS still or else I would be ramping for another batch of hefeweizen.
Hey Danimal:
Here's what you might want to try with your Fermzilla/keg setup next time. Start with an empty sanitized keg, but don't worry about purging it with your CO2 tank. Run a beer line from the gas port of the Fermzilla to the beer port of the keg. Connect your spunding valve to the gas port of the keg...and let the fermentation CO2 do all of the work.
It is important to set up your lines as described even though it may go against logic. Doing so will allow the fermentation gas to leave the Fermzilla and flow through the beer port directly to the bottom of the keg through it's internal dip tube. Since CO2 is a heavy gas it will collect at the bottom while it fills. All of the the lighter air (mainly nitrogen and oxygen) will bleed out of the gas port at the top of the keg controlled by the spunding valve.
Don't worry about not being sure about getting all of the oxygen out...the average fermentation will produce 18 times it's volume in CO2 gas. Or simply put, that keg is going to be purged about 18 times during a brew. I've even "daisy chained" multiple kegs together and this process works great.
Why go through all of this to purge the keg you might ask. Here's the most important reason why:
By doing it this way, the keg's pressure will be equal to that of the Fermzilla. When it comes time to keg, you can use two beer lines to do a gravity transfer of the already carbonated brew from the Fermzilla to the keg. And, there's no need to force carbonate. Simply, do the transfer under pressure, drop the keg into the keezer, cool it down, and you're ready for the first sip. This method allows you to do an entire brew from grain to keg without the need for your CO2 tank.
(BTW, using your setup will not fully purge your keg. By allowing the gas leaving the Fermzilla to force out the 5 gallons of StarSan through the beer port, you are initially introducing air (not CO2) from the headspace of the Fermzilla (approx 3 gallons of volume) into the keg as that initial volume of air is expelled from the Fermzilla. Since air is lighter than CO2, it will immediately rise and become permanently trapped in the top of the keg because all the heavier CO2 is being forced out of the bottom through the keg's dip tube. This phenomena would not happen if you used your CO2 tank to displace the StarSan. You could also just wait a few hours to connect the keg after active fermentation has started. By that point the original air in the Fermzilla headspace would have been been purged by the fermentation CO2.)
Hey DuncB:
Interesting reply, but not entirely correct. Let's start with the molar mass of oxygen as 15.9994 and that of carbon dioxide as being 44.0095. As you can see CO2 is quite a bit heavier than oxygen. This is confirmed if you use the density number you reported.
Now let's play a little "Mr. Science" and think of an oxygen molecule as a 2" ping pong ball and a carbon dioxide molecule as a 2" wooden ball. Now take 100 of each and toss them into a box and stir them up. Now ever so slightly jiggle the box for 30 seconds. Now just using intuition, where will the heavier wooden balls and the lighter ping pong balls be after the jiggling?
You are correct that if an outside force is introduced (such as vigorous stirring), the the mixture will become homogenous as long as that outside force is present. But, on a molecular level once that outside force is removed the heavier molecules (CO2 in this case) will immediately begin settling to the bottom of the vassal. It take only a short time for that layering to occur.
You are absolutely correct that if there were no stirring of the gas mixture we call "air" on planet earth we would have a layering of those gasses with the heavier gasses at the lowest level. But due to the rotation of the earth causing night and day, the heating and cooling of the earth on a 24 hour cycle produces an incredible amount of continual stirring...it's called wind.
When the Fermzilla and a keg are configured in the manner I described, there is no "wind" introduced to the inside of the keg therefore a layering exists inside the keg. The "burping" of the CO2 from the fermentation into the bottom of the keg via the dip tube is incredibly slow and produces negligible amounts of stirring energy (which dissipates quickly.)
If you need a hands on demonstration in your own kitchen, try putting equal amounts of olive oil and water into a blender and hit "high" for a few seconds. Notice that as long as the blender is turned on, oil and water do mix. But after the blender is turned off, note how long it takes the heavier water to settle at the bottom after the outside force is removed? The same thing happens at a molecular level with carbon dioxide and oxygen, but at a different rate. They don't "stick" together in any manner and the force of gravity on the molecules is constant.
I am only a student of Physics but have lots of years of experience. Since a blog like this is generally not conducive to any sort of real teaching, you may want to check these facts with a local authority on the subject where interaction is present.
A bitter w Mandarina sounds delicious. I’m thirsty now.A strong bitter with EKG and Mandarina Bavaria added at flameout, I gotta get my actual grain absorption rate right in berrsmith since I get way too much wort preboil when using the suggested amount of sparge water and low gravity as a resultat.
This became som sort of best/strong bitter hybrid, but the wort tasted yummy and I think it will become good beer anyway.
What hops did you use to make it "Aussie"?Brewing another Aussie type lager. I might actually lager this one for a while if I can find freezer space.
An once of Pride of Ringwood.What hops did you use to make it "Aussie"?
DH on the Italian pils complete. Gonna do a closed transfer in 2-3 days. DH upcoming for the DIPA.Did a DIPA yesterday. An Italian pils from last Sunday is done fermenting (pressurized). Going to DH the pils tomorrow.
@Gusso What makes an Italian Pilz?DH on the Italian pils complete. Gonna do a closed transfer in 2-3 days. DH upcoming for the DIPA.
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