Spunding

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Home brewing spunding valve in action! Spunding Valve.JPG


Don't forget to check out Poindexter's Spunding Valve Video in this link.

Definition:

To Spund is German for bung, meaning to close up or seal. Spunding in brewing refers to the act of closing off a vessel containing beer or wort and allowing pressure to build inside the liquid. This is useful in the natural carbonation of a beverage such as beer. The spunding valve is a device consisting basically of a pressure gauge to show vessel pressure, and some way to release unwanted excess pressure from that vessel. Normally something such as an adjustable back-pressure relief valve is used to control a set pressure, venting any excess gas out of the vessel.

Bleeder.jpg

In this picture a simple on/off valve is used when venting, so there can be many variations on the broad idea.

Use in brewing:

Spunding valves help the brewer by allowing natural carbonation to build up. This happens inside a fermenting beverage when the vessel is sealed up toward the end of primary fermentation, or after the beverage is transferred to another vessel containing more fermentable sugar for carbonation during a secondary fermentation. Transferring or racking into another vessel containing fermentables after primary fermentation is complete is known as priming. This, is a really good article on spunding I found on the web while doing my research. Here, is a really good article where Kaiser talks about transferring or racking beer from one keg to another under pressure or "counter-pressure".

Also used in conjunction with the Closed-System Pressurized Fermentation technique.

Sources about spunding and to some brewers who use this device:

Article from Trailmonkey.com, WortMonger, Poindexter, Kaiser, WBC, and John Beere

If you or someone you know uses a valve like this, please feel free to edit yourself into the Wiki. This is a spot where the more the merrier really counts.

--By WortMonger, member of HOMEBREWTALK.COM 11:41, 4 September 2008 (CDT)

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