Oh please someone justify the stainless conical…PLEASE!
3 years doing 15G in buckets…3 years trying to pull the trigger on a conical….3 years not being able to justify it…
I WANT MY CONICAL DAMN IT!
HELP ME…PLEASE…I‘M BEGGING YOU
I just kegged my first batch from my new Spike CF10 and I couldn't be happier with my choice to buy it. Here's why....
I make a lot of hoppy beers and like many have struggled with aroma and flavor destroying oxidation issues using buckets and carboys. I tried at least a half dozen different schemes to minimize oxygen ingress during dry hopping and quasi-closed transfer to kegs, but it was always hit or miss whether the beer would end up drinking well for more than a few weeks (and sometimes even a day). With my new setup, once I finish oxygenating the wort, my beer doesn't get exposed to open air until it goes in the glass. This is priceless!
DETAILS: I used a 1.5" sight glass and butterfly valve for dry hopping (up to ~3 oz in one shot), with 4 cycles of vacuum sealer and CO2 pressurization to drop the O2 level in the remaining air to <= 1%. I spunded to 12psi @ 68F, cold crashed to 35F, then carbonated to 9psi (13psi on the gauge due to the wetting pressure) in about 12 hours. I filled the keg with Starsan, purged with C02 with the liquid post connected to my closed transfer line, then connected the transfer line to the racking arm with the CO2 still flowing (leaving the connection loose for 10 seconds to purge as much O2 as possible from the dead space in the racking arm butterfly valve). Adjusted the spunding valve to start releasing at the current fermenter pressure, closed the butterfly valve between the fermenter and spunding valve (I have a separate safety PRV), and connected the spunding valve to the keg's gas post. Switched the CO2 to a gas post on the fermenter, turned the CO2 up a couple of psi above the fermenter, opened the racking arm valve, and put 5 gallons of crystal clear beer into the keg. Put the keg in the keezer and a few hours later pulled a perfectly carbonated glass of beer, with no yeast sludge to be seen. Loved it!
Only time will tell how long the hops hold up in this beer, but I guarantee you it received far less oxygen exposure than any previous IPA I have ever made. And while I am sure there are other, cheaper ways to achieve the same effect, I decided life was too short for me to keep taking half measures. Others are free to make other choices.
P.S. I've said this elsewhere, but I was explaining the plans for my home brewery to my uncle a few years ago and he asked me: "How many beers do you need to make for this to be cost effective?" To which I replied: "About as many as the fish you need to catch to make your new boat cost effective!"