Corny Keg Fermentation Upside Down?

[OEHokie]

I generally ferment in kegs and thought of a concept that I wanted to run by the group.

Normally I ferment with them upright and use a siphon to transfer. I don't use the built in pipes because of the sediment in the bottom and I don't want it to clog up.

What if you fermented with the keg upside down though. You could hook a tube up to the (normally) out line that goes into a bucket for an airlock. Then when you want to transfer you could hook up to the gas line and transfer through that. The gas tube inside the keg should be above most of the sediment. You sacrifice a little beer for the amount that is below the tube, but that may not be a big deal. You could also modify the gas pipe to reach down a little more.

Are there any glaring errors with this? I know some people modify the beer tube to do transfers (bending it so it doesn't reach the bottom) but then I sacrifice some of the beer I'm serving instead of the sediment. Modifying the gas tube won't make a difference either way.

Or, is there an easier way? Possibly just switch out the beer line dip tube between transfers (haha, I just thought of this after typing the above)

Thanks for your discussion

 

[kpr121]

The only thoughts I can bring to the table is that I hate cleaning my cornies after they are done fermenting. Im not sure if fermenting upside down would be easier or messier to clean. The other thing is you might need to prop it up somehow in order to connect and disconnect tubing/QDs. One of my favorite parts of fermenting in the keg is that I dont have to move the vessel around, keeping the sediment rousing to a minimum.

 

[weirdboy]

You could bend or cut off an inch or two of the liquid dip tube. I think there are some people here on HBT who do that anyway to avoid sediment when serving.

 

[kpr121]

I personally just keep all my hops in bags - during the boil I have a large hop bag, and if I am dryhoping they go in pantyhose or muslin. I never have trouble with the yeast/trub getting clogged.

I simply hook up a picnic tap and pour out a half pint of gunky beer, then the rest is clear. I use the 1/2 pint as a gravity sample once the sediment drops.

 

[Royski]

Yeah, I just cut a bit off the dip tube - works great. The amount of beer left behind is surprisingly slight since the bottom of the keg is tapered.

 

[OEHokie]

Thanks for the responses. I think what I'm going to end up doing is what I eluded to at the end of my first post... Have two sets of dip tubes. They're probably cheap anyways. The end goal is to be able to pressure transfer.

Thanks

 

[Ruffins]

I've been doing this for awhile, I'll post pictures this weekend

 

[BrewBarron]

OEHokie,

Give it a try before you cut or bend your dip tubes. I've been fermenting in cornys for a while now, and have not modified anything (except removing the popit when hooking up a blow off tube or airlock). I usually cold crash then transfer under pressure to the serving keg. I'll pour off the first pint of sludge (if that), then the rest is usually clear. Works great every time. Never had anything stuck in the tube.