Airlock / Spunding valve Question

[Edulord]

Hi everyone, my first post here (and i dont know if i am skipping some introduction).
I just have a question regarding airlocks / temp control and spunding valves.

I just made my first 100+ liters batch of a blond ale. I am using conical fermenters with a cooling cilinder inside to control temp ranges.
After 24 hs. yeast woke up and airlock began activity as normal. After another day, room temp went near upper limit of ideal temp and the cooling system started lowering just a few °F (1 °C) and stopped inmediatly.
After that action the airlock stopped. I suppose it just slowed the yeast work.
My question here is: with no airlock activity at all will my spund valve work? This was supposed to be my first test of the valve.. I was going to test it when near FG.

Any thoughts?
(If im missing more detail please tell me)

Thanks!

 

[odie]

fermentation can happen fast. it's probably just finishing up and going slow now. I would pull the airlock and put the spund valve on and watch the pressure gauge. You do have a pressure gauge on it? Don't you?

 

[Edulord]

Hi! thanks for answering.
It seems that it happened way to fast in this batch. And no more C02 was generated after. Weird.. Maybe a leak o something.

So I made another ALE (Scottish), 130 liters in other fermentor and i plugged the spund valve (with the gauge) at the second day after airlock activity appeared ... it reached 0.7 BAR (10 PSI). No leaks. No more than that pressure. Its locked in 0.7 and the valve is SHUT 100%.

In a few days i will make another batch and will update you.

These are my first pressurized fermentations. I have 250 liters of beer now.. hehe

Thanks

 

[Golddiggie]

I've used my conicals for two batches so far. A best bitter brewed on June 2nd and a stout last weekend. The spunding valves were releasing CO2 for at least a week. I had set the best bitter to 5psi (bar equal) and the stout to about 8-9psi. I used the chill coils to keep fermentation temperatures where I wanted them (70F for both).

Did you pressure test your fermenters before using them? I did that in order to ensure I had zero leaks in either one.

I'm still getting my process ironed out with these fermenters, due to the additional capabilities over what I was using (easy temperature control as well as being able to dump the yeast and carbonate in fermenter). Not to mention how they take up less floor space than the old fermentation chamber did, for the same amount of beer being produced.

For the yeasts I use for the majority of my beers, I'll target the middle of the listed temperature range for fermentation. Once that's done, I plan to cool things down before dumping the yeast (50-55F target for that stage). Then fully cold crash to 35F to carbonate. Time between those two temperatures will be determined if I'm dry hopping the batch or not. For the first yeast dump, I didn't chill the batch before hand. So I'll be doing that before I dump the yeast for the stout. Again, fine tuning the process at this stage will help me in the future.

 

[Edulord]

Hi Golddiggie, thanks for the info.
Your plan is to force carbonate (after reaching 35F)?. Because reaching that temp with low PSI the beer will be under carb.
Im new to conical as well, i have 3 different conicals tested and only one has a leak so i did not used it (for now).
THe first batch (the one that failed in gaining pressure) its being crashed right now.. I will force carb it in kegs later...
The last batch is still LOCKED at 10 PSI / 65F temperature controlled too.. so there is no problem there. How much pressure is suppose to generate on second and third day?. At 65F i need at least 20-25 PSI to carb. naturally (2.0 vols).. im a bit far from that. (Will force carb after crashing)
I think my problem is my PITCH RATE.. my lasts FG (several batches) did not break the 1020 points.. (1055 OG).. Maybe i am short in yeast pitching rate... And my fermentations are ending sooner... (just a thought).

 

[Nate R]

Edit- apparently i had to read your post 4 times to get it. My bad.

Side note- you do have a safety release (prv) in place correct? Just a good idea in case the spunding valve fails.

 

[Golddiggie]

@Edulord I have the carbonation stone item (from Spike) that goes at the racking arm that infuses CO2 into the beer. The wetting pressure of the stone is 4psi, so you simply add that to what you need to infuse into the beer to get your desired CO2 volumes at temperature. I already know I want to hit the beer with 9psi, so the regulator feeding the stone is at 13psi. That puts it at the upper half of the CO2 range.

I'm not foolish enough to NOT use bottled CO2 to carbonate my beers. Even for the batch that would have enough CO2 at the carbonating temperature, it will drop as the batch chills to be not enough. Hence the reason I got the carbonation stone with the conicals. I'm crazy, not stupid.

I have the gas manifold setup (complete with gauge, PRV and gas in ball lock post) on both my fermenters. As well as the spunding valve from SSBrew Tech. I like their spunding valve setup for my conicals. I was using the blowtie with the kegmenters (no PRV but never needed one either). I'm using the manifold more to see what the internal PSI is on the batch than anything else. Since I plan to ferment under the working pressure rating of the conicals, it's no issue.