Closed transfer from Fermonster/Big Mouth Bubblers

[murphyslaw]

You again, eh?

I bought it ported. It was about $5 more. If you search "spigot" on morebeer's website, they sell them for $4. I think you'd just have to be very careful about making the hole juuussst big enough. When I did that on a pot I used a step bit but I don't know if that would work on plastic.

 

[Yesfan]

Here's something I've been working on. I tried using it on my last batch but the Fermonster wasn't holding pressure so I'm presuming somewhere it isn't airtight.

I drilled 2 holes in a solid Fermonster lid. I'd have to measure it to remember the sizes.

I purchased some SS hardware:
NPT x Ball Lock Gas Threaded Post
Washer
Gasket
Threaded lock nut
Ball Lock Gas Post

The assembly should be pretty straightforward from the pictures. On the inside of the lid is the gasket and lock nut. On the outside of the lid is the washer. Screw on the gas post sans poppet. The racking cane and rubber stopper go in the 2nd hole.

Theoretically, this would allow me to not have to hold onto the gas line when doing closed transfers. Right now, I have a different lid with 2 holes and put an MFL x Barb into a rubber stopper in one hole (for gas in) and the racking cane into a rubber stopper in the other hole.

I had high hopes for this but until I figure out where the leak is, I can't use it. The gas post that screws down doesn't feel like it's getting a super tight seal so it could be there. I tried teflon tape on the both ends of the threaded fitting but that didn't work.

Anymore news on where your leak problem was coming from? I'm thinking about doing something similar with my Fermonsters and was going to go ahead and order my parts. The NPT x ball lock post, I'll have to order from Adventures. I don't see them on More Beer's site.

 

[hezagenius]

Anymore news on where your leak problem was coming from? I'm thinking about doing something similar with my Fermonsters and was going to go ahead and order my parts. The NPT x ball lock post, I'll have to order from Adventures. I don't see them on More Beer's site.

No, but I made a new lid with a much more basic setup that doesn't leak. I used a step bit to drill out 2 holes in a new solid lid. I then put 2 rubber grommets in. I put 1 hole in the middle of the lid for a 3/8" barb x 1/4" MFL flare and 1 hole near the side for the racking cane. At a pressure of a few psi, there is enough grip from the grommet to keep the barb from popping out.

 

[doug293cz]

No, but I made a new lid with a much more basic setup that doesn't leak. I used a step bit to drill out 2 holes in a new solid lid. I then put 2 rubber grommets in. I put 1 hole in the middle of the lid for a 3/8" barb x 1/4" MFL flare and 1 hole near the side for the racking cane. At a pressure of a few psi, there is enough grip from the grommet to keep the barb from popping out.

What size grommets did you use?

Brew on

 

[hezagenius]

What size grommets did you use?

Brew on

Looks like the ID on the grommets is 3/8". My LHBS sells 2 sizes of grommets so I bought 2 of each size. The ones I used are the smaller of the two.

I do not know what the OD of the grommets are but they fit really snug into the 9/16" holes I drilled.

Edit: Looks like maybe the OD of the grommets are about 0.50". That's the part that creates the seal, not the flanges. The OD of the flanges looks to be about 11/16".

 

[Yesfan]

5 months later.......

Well, I finally got around to getting parts to try mine. I bought a gas post, 1/4 NPT to Gas post adapter from Williams, and 1/4 NPT nut from Amazon. I already had the necessary post Oring and poppet valve as well as a stainless racking cane.

I don't remember the size holes I drilled out. For the post, I drilled it just big enough for the adapter to slide through. For the beer side, I used a step bit and drilled a hole for a #2 stopper that the cane slides through.

I filled the Fermonster with 5 gallons of water, screwed on the modified lid, and hooked up the CO2. I did all this in the garage just in case the carboy gave and spewed water everywhere. I turned the pressure all the way down, opened the shut off valve, and then slowly turned the regulator until I heard gas hissing and water started up and out of the cane.

As far as a pressure reading goes during the transfer, my regulator (a Tap-Rite) bottoms out around 4psi. So what, 3lbs max? The carboy didn't seem to flex any during all this and I didn't detect any leaks around the lids or fittings either. I did have to tighten the lid a little once the gas pressure starting building.

I want to try my other carboys just to have a little more piece of mind, but for now I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Sorry it took so long to do an update.

 

[fragged]

For the guys having trouble with their Big Mouth Bubbler universal lids coming off easy:

Flip the gasket upside down. After doing that, the lid WILL NOT come off easily (read: don't plan on removing it with beer in there, or have a towel handy).

 

[fragged]

Also, I have a solution on the BMB with a spigot. I posted a crap version of it on the LoDO thread, but will post a better one saturday when I do my next transfer.

The short sweet version is to jam 3/8 hose in the stem in the bottom portion of a 3 Piece airlock, with the other end on a barb from the co2 tank. Connect keg liquid port to spigot on bmb (keg should have some residual co2, so you purge the line and spigot doing it this way, just be quick).

Flow co2 at ~1 psi through tube and airlock assembly, remove existing airlock, Jam the assembly in it's place and open the spigot. Full keg in 5 minutes, open PRV as needed to keep flow.

 

[Buckeye_Brewer1]

I have the fermonster Carboy and came up with the following setup. I utilize a demi-john bung and the orange carboy cap blow off cap. I run the racking cane through the carboy cap and through the standard bung hole. To get the gas in, I used a stainless steel straw through the bung and up the blow off outlet of the carboy cap. I used a narrow mini screw driver to make a pilot hole in the bung to feed the straw through. You will need the hollow (demo-John) bung style to minimize how much rubber you have to go through. I then used two hose clamps to seal the gas tubing to the straw / blow off port. This is a bit of a jerry rigged system but gets the job done.

 

[murphyslaw]

Looks like that should work well. But I'm curious, what purpose does the orange cap over the bung serve?

I think I'm working towards something similar to this now. I have a spigot on my fermonster, though, so I may just get a solid bung, drill a hole, and stick a hose with a carboy cap through it.

 

[Buckeye_Brewer1]

Looks like that should work well. But I'm curious, what purpose does the orange cap over the bung serve?

Well its probably not necessary but I essentially copied the designs that utilize them for carboy necks. I figure I get a better seal on the connection for the gas tubing / straw. As long as the seals are good I don’t think the orange cap is necessary.

 

[jjw5015]

Possible dumb question incoming. Are you fermenting with these setups already installed, or switching the lids when it's time to transfer? Or just swapping the racking cane for the airlock?

 

[doug293cz]

Possible dumb question incoming. Are you fermenting with these setups already installed, or switching the lids when it's time to transfer? Or just swapping the racking cane for the airlock?

It's best if you can arrange to ferment with the transfer plumbing in place. Any time you break a seal, you let some O2 in. Different situations let in differing amounts of O2, but the best situation is to not let any in.

Brew on

 

[murphyslaw]

It's a lot like this:



But without the arrows shooting at me.

 

[murphyslaw]

Any good ideas on how to avoid the Temple of Doom scenario? Its a small flaw, but one I'd like to eliminate.

I like @hezagenius idea of putting a keg post on the lid, since then you can add co2 without switching fittings. But he still has to switch from an airlock to a racking cane on his other port. I have a spigot, so I could copy his design without having to switch anything....except then I've still got an airlock attached as I fill the headspace with co2 which seems wasteful. Perhaps putting tape or something over the airlock cap would be enough.

I'd also love to hear any good ideas people have as far as adapting this for cold crashing. Would the plastic and bung hold at a low pressure, like 1-2 psi, for 2 days or so? That would let you crash, replacing the additional head space with bottled co2, then disconnect once you reach the cold crash temp.

 

[hezagenius]

Any good ideas on how to avoid the Temple of Doom scenario? Its a small flaw, but one I'd like to eliminate.

I like @hezagenius idea of putting a keg post on the lid, since then you can add co2 without switching fittings. But he still has to switch from an airlock to a racking cane on his other port. I have a spigot, so I could copy his design without having to switch anything....except then I've still got an airlock attached as I fill the headspace with co2 which seems wasteful. Perhaps putting tape or something over the airlock cap would be enough.....

If you are still looking to use the my lid concept, you could attach a blow off tube to the gas post during fermentation. Then remove the blow off tube and hook up the CO2 when you are ready to transfer.

I've since moved on to fermenting in a pony keg with a TC fitting with 2 gas posts, a thermowell and a filtered diptube. This allows me to have a blow off tube, a spunding valve, be able to purge, and do clean pressure transfers, all without changing the lid. I only need to open up the lid once for dry hopping. I can even cold crash and carb in the fermenter without worrying about sucking back oxygen. And ramping up the pressure is not a problem. It wasn't cheap to buy all the parts but it's a pretty hassle-free fermentation and pressure transfer.

 

[murphyslaw]

If you are still looking to use the my lid concept, you could attach a blow off tube to the gas post during fermentation. Then remove the blow off tube and hook up the CO2 when you are ready to transfer.

I've since moved on to fermenting in a pony keg with a TC fitting with 2 gas posts, a thermowell and a filtered diptube. This allows me to have a blow off tube, a spunding valve, be able to purge, and do clean pressure transfers, all without changing the lid. I only need to open up the lid once for dry hopping. I can even cold crash and carb in the fermenter without worrying about sucking back oxygen. And ramping up the pressure is not a problem. It wasn't cheap to buy all the parts but it's a pretty hassle-free fermentation and pressure transfer.

Thanks. I've been thinking about fermenting in kegs, or even just buying one of those new anvil SS bucket fermenters. That'll probably be my next big purchase.

 

[hezagenius]

Thanks. I've been thinking about fermenting in kegs, or even just buying one of those new anvil SS bucket fermenters. That'll probably be my next big purchase.

I really wanted to go with the BrewTech Brew Bucket but my big concern was the pressure rating. I want to be able to use a spunding valve on the fermenter and I don't know if that would be possible on the Bucket. Ideally, I'd like something with the pressure capabilities of a keg with a conical bottom that can fit in a counter-height kegerator and doesn't break the bank. I have yet to find anything that meets all those criteria.

 

[TheMadKing]

I'm going to necro this thread a bit but I'm about to switch to pushing my transfers with CO2 out of a standard Big Mouth Bubbler and I was curious how you guys get rid of the air thats already inside the tubing when you start pushing beer? Do you CO2 purge the tube? or run off beer until the air is gone into a cup or something?

 

[Hannabrew]

Either really. I have a gas post on my fermonster lid so I can pressurize it a bit and then blow some off thereby purging the tubing and when I disconnect it it stays purged since there are QDs on both ends.

 

[day_trippr]

You definitely want to purge everything before hooking up to the keg otherwise you'd be pushing air into a presumably purged keg.
I put the racking cane and carboy cap in place with the cane pulled almost completely out, stick a spare keg beer post in the beer QD, turn on the gas and flush the whole thing end to end. Then I hook up to the (purged) keg...

Cheers!

 

[TheMadKing]

You definitely want to purge everything before hooking up to the keg otherwise you'd be pushing air into a presumably purged keg.
I put the racking cane and carboy cap in place with the cane pulled almost completely out, stick a spare keg beer post in the beer QD, turn on the gas and flush the whole thing end to end. Then I hook up to the (purged) keg...

Cheers!

I like that idea, thanks!

 

[TheHopfather]

I fill the keg with Starsan, purge, then push the Starsan to another clean keg. The receiving keg is now empty and full of CO2 at about ~4 psi. When I'm hooking everything up to the fermentor I'll attach the line to the receiving keg first, this releases the CO2 in the keg purging the line at the same time. Then transfer as normal.

 

[Sbe2]

Either really. I have a gas post on my fermonster lid so I can pressurize it a bit and then blow some off thereby purging the tubing and when I disconnect it it stays purged since there are QDs on both ends.

Do you have a pic of your lid?

 

[TheHopfather]

Do you have a pic of your lid?

Look at post #20.

 

[Samudell]

I know this is an old thread. But I was wanting to use a spunding valve connected to 1 gal keg to purge of oxygen and then do a closed transfer with the spigot. Is this possible