Corny Keg As Secondary Fermenter

[StoneHands]

1. Yes, you can definitely use the secondary keg as a serving keg. Did you leave the beer in primary until it was at final gravity? If so, you won't have a tremendous amount of sediment. You'll have sediment in the keg pretty much every time, so use it to serve!
2. Let it sit room temp, definitely pull the hop bag out before serving. Crash cooling before or after dry hopping is up to you and your tastes.

In response to the guy last year with his Ofest, I hope he transferred it to a new keg. Even drawing off the first few pints, it'll still have sediment that'll get stirred up when moving a keg. I'm of the opinion that if you are going to move kegs, transfer them to a clean keg before doing so, whether you draw off the first few or not. There's still sediment in the keg outside of the draw of the dip tube.

 

[poley]

1. Yes, you can definitely use the secondary keg as a serving keg. Did you leave the beer in primary until it was at final gravity? If so, you won't have a tremendous amount of sediment. You'll have sediment in the keg pretty much every time, so use it to serve!
2. Let it sit room temp, definitely pull the hop bag out before serving. Crash cooling before or after dry hopping is up to you and your tastes.

In response to the guy last year with his ofest, i hope he transferred it to a new keg. Even drawing off the first few pints, it'll still have sediment that'll get stirred up when moving a keg. I'm of the opinion that if you are going to move kegs, transfer them to a clean keg before doing so, whether you draw off the first few or not. There's still sediment in the keg outside of the draw of the dip tube.

+1

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

In response to the guy last year with his Ofest, I hope he transferred it to a new keg. Even drawing off the first few pints, it'll still have sediment that'll get stirred up when moving a keg. I'm of the opinion that if you are going to move kegs, transfer them to a clean keg before doing so, whether you draw off the first few or not. There's still sediment in the keg outside of the draw of the dip tube.

True, but if he just waits another 2-3 days it should settle out again. I guess it depends how urgently you want to start drinking off it again.

 

[Joakgust]

Great, thanks for the quick response. Seems logical to transfer to a new keg after secondary ferm in a keg if moving around the keg.

Would it not also be pretty wise to add gelatine or similar during secondary ferm?

 

[StoneHands]

True, but if he just waits another 2-3 days it should settle out again. I guess it depends how urgently you want to start drinking off it again.

True, very true. I got the impression he was dragging the keg down the hill and hooking it up immediately to drink. Recipe for cloudy beer unless you transfer.

 

[StoneHands]

Would it not also be pretty wise to add gelatine or similar during secondary ferm?

I think gelatine works best when the beer is cold, but I also only use it as a last resort when a beer just won't clear. I've used gelatine in an undisturbed, already chilled keg (carbed already too). As long as you're not moving the keg, use it there - or transfer to a clean keg.

 

[Joakgust]

That's what I'm thinking as well.

Gotta love them kegs! Really versatile even though I'm not intending to give up on regular plastic buckets for primary fermentation.

We got better bottles here in Sweden, using a five gallon one for secondary/aging of a cider atm, though those nice clear glass carboys are hard to come by over here.

 

[-Fusion]

Can we explore this topic again? I just racked my first beer to a corny keg after a two week primary. I have it set at 3psi.... Is this a good idea? Should I cold crash it or let it sit in secondary for two more weeks.

I made a hefeweizen.

 

[cgm]

I have a robust porter that is likely ready for secondary, i brewed it almost two weeks ago and it has been sitting in my kegerator temp controlled to 67 degrees. This is my first solo all grain batch. I have brewed three all grain batches with a buddy using his materials and techniques. Now that I have my own gear, it is time for me to experiment to get the best beer I can.

Everyone likes pics, so... here it is the day after brewing:


The next day, I was starting to get krausen passing through the airlock, so I rigged up a blow off tube. If you would like to see lots of co2 burping out of a growler: http://vid210.photobucket.com/album...rew stuff/VID_20160111_184345_zpstfdqtnkn.mp4

Anyways, here is my dilemma:
I have bourbon barrel oak chips that have been sitting in Bulleit rye bourbon. The plan was to put them in secondary but then remove them when the beer was kegged.

I brewed with a few buddies at my house yesterday. I should have moved my porter over to my 5 gallon carboy for secondary and put my sculpin grapefruit clone into the 6.5 gallon carboy that currently holds my porter. I don't have any more carboys, but I have three corney kegs that are not yet holding beer.

Should I let the oak chips float around in the keg I am using for secondary, and once the beer is properly oaked, just use co2 and push the beer to another keg to serve. I imagine I will dump the first pint or so as I transfer because there will likely be some yeast, etc.

Does this sound reasonable, or should I save a step and keep the oak cubes in a hop bag and just remove them when I am happy with the taste, then pour off the junk from that keg and serve?

 

[cgm]

Well, I said f-it and racked to a corney keg for secondary fermentation! The porter tasted awesome so I added 4 oz. of bulleit rye soaked oak chips to the keg and will let is sit for a few days to see how it tastes. Everything I have read online tells me that the oak chips bring a ton of flavor very quickly so once the oak and bourbon level is good, I will likely use co2 to push the beer over to another empty keg and let it mature a bit before drinking

The porter is in the keg and the sculpin clone I brewed yesterday is in the carboy! I am very happy that they both fit in my kegerator because my basement is too cold to keep them at 67-70 degrees. I picked up a temp controller to turn on either the carboy heater or the kegerator fridge if temp starts to fluctuate.


It probably doesn't need a blow off, but I put one together anyways. I removed the poppet from the gas post on the keg and ran a blow off tube down to a growler filled with sanitizer. This is the same line I used during primary fermentation, so I just rinsed and sanitized it.