Can I ferment completely closed in corny keg under pressure?

[mattd2]

Ferment in a keg connected to an empty 10lb co2 tank with no check valves.

Would you get a useable amount of Co2? and would that alleviate enough pressure on the keg?

I'm going to take a stab at that one without actually doing any work to back this up... No, don't do it.

 

[Golddiggie]

That's probably over simplified. I would check with a local brew pub or microbrewery to see what the setup actually consists of. You should be able to alter it to your scale, but don't compromise the safety factor.

 

[Retrofit]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned a bleeder valve or spunding valve? It seems your making this more complicated than it needs to be.

Use a bleeder valve to blow off the excess pressure. Yeast don't die, beer done and carbonated fast.

Problem solved.

 

[sj_engr]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned a bleeder valve or spunding valve? It seems your making this more complicated than it needs to be.

Use a bleeder valve to blow off the excess pressure. Yeast don't die, beer done and carbonated fast.

Problem solved.

Where's this man's chicken dinner?

 

[mattd2]

Why would you want to capture the initial stages of CO2 fermentation off gassing? It does not always smell that nice and I'd prefer it stays out of my beer. Best bet would be to follow the techniques outlined elsewhere on HBT for capturing the CO2 from the later stages of fermenting with a spunding valve set-up.

I think Sam got there first

 

[Retrofit]

I bow to Sam's brilliance, but I still have dibs on that chicken dinner!

 

[BARBQ]

Do use an adjustable pressure relief valve and a pressure gauge to know exactly what your beer is doing. Do not allow the beer to go over 15 psi.

You might want to check with White Labs and Wyeast to see if they have any particular stains that work better under pressure.

I am gonna try this too. Seems the easiest option so far. I just gotta find a cheap adjustable relief valve now.

 

[chrissomebody]

i haven't read all the way through this thread, but isn't there a fail safe considering the yeast will begin to die around 30ish psi? it seems like the yeast cell walls would collapse and all fermentation would cease long before the pressure hits 100 psi, and definitely before the keg fails. of course, it's not a good idea to allow the pressure to build to the point of killing the yeast (or putting significant stress on them), but i don't understand all of the concern that he's going to blow himself up with it.

 

[BARBQ]

tried, it so I thought I should post my comments.

I did it with three kegs. What I did was attach my gas quick connects to the kegs to let air out that way instead of in, then the blow off would go to through my three way manifold then I detached the nut on the end of the hose from the regulator and stuck it in a bottle of water for blow off.

It worked great for one of the kegs and the co2 was coming out into the water bottle just as planned. The other two however either got clogged at the post/quick connect or something cause they held pressure.

Once all the pressure was in it, there was only one way to get it out. Either the release valve or the post. There was so much pressure in it so I just pulled the release valve and locked it open on both of the kegs. I watched 2 gallons from each keg spew up into the ceiling and all over the kids bikes, mini van, etc. Wow I dont think I will do it again that way. To risky. Once the pressure is trapped you are screwed, its like a shoken up bottle. So I put what was left in buckets. I did however use a coke keg and removed a dip post and put a 1/2" hose with a water trap.

The only reason I tried this was to fit 4x batches in my fridge for ferm. Now I figure I can do 2x buckets and one coke keg to fit 3x in it to ferm at one time.

 

[ArendM]

Some will say unless you can crop the yeast off the fermentation you may get some flavor issues, very much dependant on the overall conditons. You can start and go all the way with a top pressure, but it needs to be controlled, not just a Corney blow off! I think bad things may happen. If you fit a ball lock connector with a small air regulator in reverse fitted with a 0-60psi guage on the in side of the keg you will be in control. Look up your PVT=C table and choose your pressure based on your target CO2, and ferm temp. Should work just fine. Thats how we did it in the brewery, with a small trim just prior to bottling if necessary.
I have had flavor problems with some yeasts, probably because I have over pitched and over feed and not been able to off crop yeast. Its a one shot deal, I think if you get the recipe dialed in its a great way to have repeatability, problem is most of us are tweaking things all the time.

 

[BARBQ]

dang, just had another bad experience. I was able to fit two buckets and a coke keg in my temp controlled fridge last time now problem. This time the one in the coke keg plugged up the hole at one of the posts where I had the airlock. Luckliy I had a loose enough hose connecting the post to the airlock that I think released the excess pressure. They only thing is the otehr two btaches are still going and this one is not.

Should I re-pitch? I thought of getting some yeast from one of the other two batches later and re-pitching.

 

[yehaww]

I was also thinking of doing this. I got some cheap 5 gallon soda kegs. They don't have a pressure relief valve, but they did come with one of these, http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=484

I brew 2.5 gallon batches and was thinking about just fermenting in a 5 gallon keg, with this little valve depressor attached. Seems like it would work fine. Let it sit for 2 weeks and then transfer into an empty 3 gallon corny when one becomes available.